GB
United Kingdom · Startup · apply online · processing 21–56 days
Three-year visa for a founder whose new UK business is endorsed as innovative, viable and scalable. There is no set investment minimum. The visa can be extended, and settlement is possible after three years on this route if the business meets the success tests. The visa itself requires English at B2.
The fee for an application made outside the UK is £1,357 per person, about USD 1,795. An extension or switch inside the UK is £1,693 per person, about USD 2,239. Dependants pay the same Home Office fee as the main applicant. The endorsing body charges £1,000 for the endorsement and £500 for each contact-point meeting, both excluding VAT. At least two contact-point meetings are required; the public guide places them at 12 and 24 months. The endorsement letter must be no more than three months old. USD figures use the Bank of England sterling spot rate of 8 October 2026, £1 = 1.3226 USD. The 9 October rate was not on that table yet. The Immigration Health Surcharge is separate from the visa fee. Adults pay £1,035 a year, so a three-year grant is £3,105, about USD 4,107. Applicants under 18 pay £776 a year. The surcharge is how the holder accesses the NHS. It is not private health insurance. An applicant outside the UK, or inside the UK for less than 12 months, must have held £1,270 for 28 consecutive days. That money cannot be the business investment funds, and it cannot be earnings from illegal work. Someone who has already had UK permission for 12 months or more does not have to show this sum again. A partner needs a further £285, the first child £315, and each further child £200, held for 28 days. Those add-ons are not a single per-dependant income figure. A first endorsement is for a new business. The founder must be the sole founder or an instrumental member of the founding team, with a day-to-day role. The same-business rules apply when the person already has, or last had, permission as an Innovator Founder or on the Start-up or Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) route. The visa can be cut short if the endorsing body withdraws the endorsement. There is no limit on the number of three-year extensions. Work for the endorsed business is allowed, including as a director or as a self-employed member of a partnership. Other employment is allowed only in a role at RQF level 3 or above. The founder cannot hire their own labour out to another business, including through their own company or an agency. Professional sport is not allowed. A partner or child can work, including self-employment, except as a professional sportsperson or coach. Settlement for the founder is after at least three years on the Innovator Founder route. Time on another visa does not count. Absences cannot exceed 180 days in any 12-month period. A fresh endorsement must confirm significant progress, an active Companies House company of which the founder is a director or member, sustainability for the next 12 months, and a key day-to-day role. The business must meet at least two of these tests, and the same test cannot be used twice: £50,000 invested and spent in the business; customers at least doubled over three years and above the mean for comparable UK businesses; significant research and development plus a UK intellectual-property application; £1 million gross revenue in the last full year; £500,000 gross revenue with at least £100,000 from exports; the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs for settled workers; or the equivalent of five such jobs with a mean salary of at least £25,000. A partner's own settlement qualifying period is five years, not three. The settlement fee is £3,226 per person. Naturalisation is a separate application. The usual rule is five years' residence and indefinite leave held for 12 months. A founder who settles at three years can meet the 12-month settlement wait inside that five-year residence period. A spouse or civil partner of a British citizen can apply after three years' residence without the extra 12 months. Absences should not exceed 450 days in the five years, or 90 days in the last 12 months. The citizenship fee is £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee. The minimum language proof for citizenship is B1. Settlement applications made on or after 26 March 2027 will require B2 in speaking and listening. That change is not in force. A UK resident is taxed on worldwide income. For 2026-27 the main rates are 20%, 40% and 45%. Scotland sets its own rates on non-savings, non-dividend income. From 6 April 2026, capital gains tax is 18% or 24%, with a £3,000 annual exempt amount. Since 6 April 2025, a qualifying new resident can claim the foreign income and gains regime for up to four tax years after at least ten years of non-residence. The claim is optional and is not a feature of this visa. Without a claim, foreign income and gains are taxed. The UK allows dual citizenship. British and Irish citizens do not use this visa. A proposed earned-settlement reform had not replaced the three-year rule on the pages checked.
Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Last changed Oct 10, 2026 Source
replaced the combined 20-45% tax label with the 2026-27 main rates of 20%, 40% and 45% (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/11/part/1/crossheading/income-tax-charge-rates-and-allowances/enacted).
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