Citizenship Areas
Establish and develop an innovative UK business through an endorsed founder route, with support from the initial assessment to your longer-term plans.
The route is for a genuine business proposal with innovation, viability and scope to grow. We assess your plans and the appropriate endorsement pathway.
You must play a key role in developing and managing the business. The application should reflect your own involvement and the resources available to deliver the proposal.
Innovator Founder permission is normally granted for three years. Further permission or settlement requires a separate assessment; neither follows automatically from the initial grant.
Your business proposal needs endorsement from an approved endorsing body. The assessment considers the business idea, its prospects and your ability to develop it.
We can help you prepare and present the business and immigration aspects of the application, and advise on the endorsement pathway. Endorsement and the visa decision are separate.
The funding needed depends on the proposal and its delivery. We review the business plan, available resources and wider application position rather than treating one investment figure as a guarantee of eligibility.
We assist with overseas applications and eligible switches from within the UK, coordinating the business endorsement and immigration stages.
Review your business plans or trading history, previous permissions and family arrangements to identify the appropriate application.
We help organise and present the business case for the relevant endorsement assessment, including progress where the business is already established.
We assist with the immigration application, supporting information and identity checks, keeping the stages and deadlines aligned.
Review the decision and visa conditions, plan the required business contact points and coordinate family and future applications.
A qualifying spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner may be able to join you or remain with you in the UK, subject to the applicable conditions.
Eligible dependent children may apply, including certain older children who already hold dependant permission. Each child’s circumstances need to be reviewed.
Innovator Founder holders must maintain the required relationship with their endorsing body and demonstrate progress through the relevant contact-point reviews. Changes to the business or endorsement should be assessed promptly.
Qualifying applicants can seek a further three years, with no fixed limit on the number of extensions while the conditions continue to be met. A new endorsement assessment is required.
We can review business progress, changes to the original proposal and the timing of an extension alongside any dependant renewals.
Work outside the endorsed business is subject to conditions. We can advise on proposed employment, changes to your business and the implications of an endorsement being withdrawn.
A potential settlement application can arise after three qualifying years on Innovator Founder or Innovator permission. A fresh endorsement must confirm the required business progress, and the other settlement conditions must be met.
Time on Start-up or unrelated visa routes does not count towards this three-year founder settlement period. Absences and each family member’s own eligibility require separate review.
The settlement assessment is different from an extension. We review the business achievements, your active role and the appropriate endorsement before advising on an application.
Naturalisation has its own residence, absence, language, good-character and other conditions. Neither business endorsement, visa permission nor settlement guarantees citizenship.
Advice for existing and former holders of earlier business permissions, with the next application assessed under the relevant current and transitional rules.
The former Innovator route is closed to new applicants. Existing holders may have options for further permission or settlement, subject to the relevant rules and endorsement.
Start-up is closed to new applications and is not an extendable route. A qualifying move to Innovator Founder may be possible, following an individual assessment.
An earlier endorsement or business history can affect the next application. We assess your previous grants, business progress and endorsing-body arrangements before advising on the appropriate pathway.
Legacy endorsing bodies can only support applications in specified circumstances. Previous endorsement does not automatically authorise every new, extension or settlement application.
We review your business history and the scope of the endorsing body’s authority, including whether the proposal should be assessed as a continuing or new business.
We review the route you previously held and the current application options before planning your next stage.
Review your business plans or trading history, previous permissions and family arrangements to identify the appropriate application.
We help organise and present the business case for the relevant endorsement assessment, including progress where the business is already established.
We assist with the immigration application, supporting information and identity checks, keeping the stages and deadlines aligned.
Review the decision and visa conditions, plan the required business contact points and coordinate family and future applications.
A qualifying spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner may be able to join you or remain with you in the UK, subject to the applicable conditions.
Eligible dependent children may apply, including certain older children who already hold dependant permission. Each child’s circumstances need to be reviewed.
Earlier Start-up or Innovator family permission should be reviewed alongside the proposed next route. A change in the main applicant’s status does not automatically update family members’ permission.
Innovator Founder holders must maintain the required relationship with their endorsing body and demonstrate progress through the relevant contact-point reviews. Changes to the business or endorsement should be assessed promptly.
Qualifying applicants can seek a further three years, with no fixed limit on the number of extensions while the conditions continue to be met. A new endorsement assessment is required.
For earlier Innovator and Start-up cases, we review the applicable transition and the business’s progress. Start-up permission itself cannot be extended; the appropriate next route must be assessed.
Work outside the endorsed business is subject to conditions. We can advise on proposed employment, changes to your business and the implications of an endorsement being withdrawn.
A potential settlement application can arise after three qualifying years on Innovator Founder or Innovator permission. A fresh endorsement must confirm the required business progress, and the other settlement conditions must be met.
Time on Start-up or unrelated visa routes does not count towards this three-year founder settlement period. Absences and each family member’s own eligibility require separate review.
The settlement assessment is different from an extension. We review the business achievements, your active role and the appropriate endorsement before advising on an application.
Naturalisation has its own residence, absence, language, good-character and other conditions. Neither business endorsement, visa permission nor settlement guarantees citizenship.