innovator visa

Overview

Here, we are going to discuss the maintenance requirement for the Innovator Visa. This is required by the UK government in order to make sure that you will not become a burden on the state during your stay in the UK. This is one of the most important aspects to consider during your application and is often a common place where applicant make mistakes, thus preventing them from gaining their visa. Ideally, you should apply soon after you have received your endorsement for your business/service.

 What is the maintenance requirement for the Innovator visa?

It is important to be able to support yourself whilst you are in the UK. the requirements include;

1. As the applicant, you will need to have at least £945 in your personal bank account for 90 consecutive days before you apply

(a) It is important to note that your maintenance funds must be placed within a personal bank account

You will need to make sure that you have your bank statements lined up in the requisite evidential form with a date ending no more than 31 days before you apply

(b) It cannot be on a credit card account

(c) The minimum maintenance fund amount must be within this personal bank account for a consecutive 90 days

Those funds need to be present in your bank account for 90 days before you make your application. For instance, if there is a ‘dip’ in your maintenance funds, even for one day, you will need to start over and try to maintain that £945 for another 90 days.

You should also ensure that the last date is within the last 31 days of your application

2. You will not be able to use funds which originate from either;

(a) Your investment funds

(b) Funds which you obtained through working in the UK illegally

(c) A third party3. If you will be entering the Uk with any dependants, you will also need to add additional amounts to your maintenance fund. Each dependant will require an additional amount of maintenance.

Each dependent must have £630 to support themselves.

(a) This requirement can be met by:

having savings of £630 which must have been held for at least three months prior to the date of application; or

a Start-up or Innovator whose endorsement letter confirms the applicant has enough funds for themselves and their dependents do not need to demonstrate maintenance separately.

EG: the applicant for the Innovator visa is making an application at the same time as their spouse and two children. They must show that they have £630 for their spouse and a further £630 for each child, in addition to £945 required for their own support. So in total, the family will require evidence that they hold £2,835 in available funds (£630 x 3 = £1890 + £945).

(b) Requirements will vary depending on whether you dependant family member is applying at the same time as you are. For instance;

If you apply at the same time as the Appendix W Worker, you are only required to provide evidence that you meet the maintenance requirement when the Appendix W Worker is also required to meet the maintenance requirement.

If you apply separately from the Appendix W Worker, you will need to have the necessary funds to meet the maintenance requirement or have a written confirmation in the endorsement letter, unless the main applicant already had leave in an Appendix W category and when applying for their most recent period of Appendix W leave was not required to show evidence of satisfying maintenance requirements.