The UK’s route for founders who want to build a business in Britain — rather than take a job there — is the Innovator Founder visa, which replaced the old Innovator and Start-up visas in April 2023. It has no fixed minimum investment, which surprises a lot of people expecting an investor-visa-style threshold. Instead, the entire route runs through independent endorsing bodies who vet your business idea before the Home Office will even look at your visa application. Here’s how it actually works in 2026.
Who this visa is for
The Innovator Founder visa is for people who want to set up or already run an innovative business in the UK, whether solo or with co-founders. Per GOV.UK, your business idea has to clear three tests, assessed by your endorsing body rather than the Home Office directly:
- New — you must be founding the business yourself; you cannot buy into or join an already-trading business, and you cannot simply be an investor without an active founder role.
- Innovative — an original business idea that is meaningfully different from anything already on the market, not a copy of an existing competitor’s model.
- Viable and scalable — you need evidence of realistic growth plans, job creation potential in the UK, and a path to expansion, not just a plan to stay small and self-employed.
There’s no cap on the number of founders per business who can each hold their own Innovator Founder visa, provided each founder plays a genuine, active role — this is a meaningful change from the old Start-up/Innovator rules, which were more restrictive about multiple founders per venture.
Step 1: Get endorsed — before you can apply for the visa
Unlike most UK work visas where a Home Office caseworker assesses eligibility directly, the Innovator Founder route puts an independent endorsing body in the loop first. As of the current GOV.UK endorsing bodies list, a small number of approved bodies issue endorsements — including general business endorsing bodies and, separately, the Global Entrepreneurs Programme (which only endorses founders it has already invited to participate). Because the approved list is short and can change, always check the current GOV.UK list before applying to an endorsing body, rather than relying on a name from an older guide.
The endorsing body reviews your business plan against the new/innovative/viable/scalable tests and, if satisfied, issues an endorsement letter that becomes part of your visa application. You cannot apply for the visa itself without this letter.
Endorsement costs (paid directly to the endorsing body, not the Home Office)
- Initial endorsement application: £1,000 per person.
- Mandatory contact point meetings: £500 per meeting, with a minimum of two required meetings during your visa period (used to check you’re genuinely progressing the business as planned).
Step 2: The visa application and fees
Once endorsed, you apply for the visa itself, paid to UK Visas and Immigration:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Application from outside the UK | £1,357 per applicant |
| Extend or switch into the route from inside the UK | £1,693 per applicant |
| Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) | Paid annually for the length of your visa, on top of the above |
There is no fixed minimum investment amount set by the Home Office for Innovator Founder — unlike the old Innovator visa, which required £50,000. Instead, you need to show your endorsing body you have sufficient funding to execute your specific business plan, and the amount that satisfies that varies by business.
Financial requirement for personal funds
If you’re applying from outside the UK, or you’ve been in the UK for less than 12 months on your current permission, you generally need to show £1,270 held in your account for at least 28 consecutive days before applying, to demonstrate you can support yourself without relying on public funds.
The English language requirement — tightened from January 2026
A change effective 8 January 2026 raised the bar: applicants must now demonstrate English proficiency at CEFR Level B2 across all four components (reading, writing, listening, speaking) through a Secure English Language Test (SELT) from an approved provider. This is a materially higher bar than the older B1 standard used for some other UK work routes, so budget time to sit a SELT test if your qualifications don’t already exempt you (for example, a degree taught in English from a majority-English-speaking country may qualify as an exemption — check the current GOV.UK criteria for your specific case).
Visa length, ongoing checks, and settlement
The Innovator Founder visa is granted for 3 years initially, and can be extended for further 3-year periods with no overall cap on renewals, as long as your endorsement remains valid.
During your stay, your endorsing body checks in through mandatory contact point meetings at around the 12-month and 24-month marks, assessing whether you’re genuinely delivering against your original business plan. If your endorsing body withdraws its endorsement — for example, because the business has stalled or diverged significantly from the endorsed plan — your visa can be curtailed, so these check-ins are not a formality.
After 3 years of continuous residence on the route, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), provided your business still meets the endorsement criteria at that point. For the general mechanics of the ILR application itself (continuous residence rules, absences allowance, the Life in the UK test), see VisaMet’s UK ILR guide.
How it differs from the old Start-up and Innovator visas
If you’re researching this route and keep finding older articles that mention a £50,000 investment requirement or a separate “Start-up visa” for first-time founders — those rules no longer apply. Since April 2023, Innovator Founder is the single route covering both first-time and repeat founders, with the investment threshold removed in favor of the endorsing body’s judgment on sufficient funding for the specific plan.
FAQ
Can I bring my spouse and children on this visa? Yes — dependants can generally apply alongside you, subject to their own financial and relationship evidence requirements; see VisaMet’s general dependant and family visa guide for how UK dependant applications typically work.
Can I switch into the Innovator Founder visa from a Student visa or other UK visa? Switching is possible from several visa categories while in the UK, though not from all — for example, visitor visa holders generally cannot switch in-country. Check current switching rules for your specific starting visa on GOV.UK before applying.
What happens if my endorsing body closes down or loses its approval? You would need to secure endorsement from a different approved body to maintain your status; this is a real risk given how few endorsing bodies currently hold approval, so factor that into your choice of endorsing body up front.
This is general guidance, not legal advice — endorsing body criteria, fees, and the English language exemption rules change and are genuinely case-specific, so verify your circumstances against the current GOV.UK Innovator Founder visa page or a UK immigration adviser before applying. If founding a UK business is part of a longer-term move, VisaMet’s waitlist can help you screen eligibility and get your documents in order ahead of time.