29 The new 'Innovator Founder' UK visa - what you need to know!

The new ‘Innovator Founder’ UK visa – what you need to know!

The Innovator Founder visa will replace the Innovator visa from early April. The changes will be implemented on different dates starting from 12 April 2023.

The new route removes the ÂŁ50k minimum funds requirement.

You can also now have secondary employment, provided that its for skilled work.

The start-up visa is also being closed to new applications. What the government has said is that, with the removal of the ÂŁ50k minimum funds requirement for Innovator Founders, it is no longer necessary to retain a separate route for start-up entrepreneurs that don’t have access to this level of funds.

Qualifying periods:

Success criteria effectively unchanged. A legacy endorsing body can endorse for settlement:

A legacy endorsing body can’t endorse you for settlement if you were first endorsed by one of the new endorsing bodies:

You can take up skilled work, but you can’t, for example, or hire yourself out through an employment agency:

The investment requirement is removed. The financial requirement remains:

You still need to show significant progress under your business plan:

The contact points are mandatory and need to be at regular intervals (not two right at the end of the visa term!):

The investment requirement is removed, but this is now all about budgeting!

This is now all about due diligence (and AML):

… and genuineness:

Termination of visa:

Further due diligence at the entry clearance stage:

There are now “Legacy endorsing bodies”:

As a lawyer I also have a consultation service. You can book a consultation with me by clicking on the link below.