Innovator Founder
The Innovator Founder route is the UK's visa for entrepreneurs with an innovative, viable and scalable business idea. Before you can apply, an approved endorsing body must endorse your business, and that is where cases are won or lost. We shape the concept, build the business plan, secure the endorsement and make the visa application, one named solicitor throughout.
An approved endorsing body must endorse your business against the criteria in the Immigration Rules before any visa application can be made. Nothing proceeds without it.
The three tests every business plan must pass. Original enough to matter, realistic enough to work, and structured to grow and create jobs.
Initial permission runs for three years, with 70 points required. Your partner and children can usually join you as dependants.
Settlement is available after three years where the business meets the settlement criteria, with British citizenship a further step beyond.
The endorsement
Endorsing bodies assess the business, not just the paperwork. Each criterion has a meaning in the Rules, and the plan has to answer all three at once.
A genuine, original business plan that meets new or existing market needs or creates a competitive advantage. Not necessarily a new technology; a genuinely new way of serving a market can qualify. Copycat concepts fail here.
The plan must be realistic and achievable on your resources, and you need the skills, knowledge and market awareness to run it. Financial projections have to hold together under a sceptical read.
Evidence of structured planning, potential for job creation, and growth into national markets. A business that only ever employs its founder is not what the route is for.
We develop the business plan with you against the criteria the endorsing bodies actually apply, prepare you for due diligence and interview, and manage the relationship through to endorsement.
A refused endorsement costs more than any legal fee. The business plan is where the case is won.
Chris Dias, co-founder
Who leads it
Our Innovator Founder work is led personally by Chris Dias, co-founder of Lawyery and a business immigration solicitor in his 25th year of practice. He has taken founders through this route under tight deadlines, including applicants with under a month left on their existing leave, and has resolved the harder problems the route throws up: refused endorsements, lapsed status and switching from other categories.
The route also has its own dedicated home at innovator.lawyer, with the full fixed fee menu, testimonials and a free 20 minute consultation. Same solicitor, same regulated firm, built for founders who want the whole journey in one place.
Free AI pre-check: evaluate your business concept against the innovation, viability and scalability criteria at ukinnovator.online, built by our sister venture Legalaid. Guidance only, not legal advice, and a strong result is not a promise of endorsement.
The journey
An honest evaluation of the concept against the criteria, starting free with the AI pre-check and a consultation. If the idea will not endorse, we say so before you spend.
Business plan development, market analysis and financial projections, submission to an approved endorsing body, and preparation for due diligence and interview.
The 70 point application evidenced line by line: form completion, document compilation and dependant applications for your partner and children.
Checkpoint meetings with your endorsing body, business progress monitoring, and the settlement application after three years, through to British citizenship.
Innovator Founder sits alongside Global Talent, partner and family visas, settlement and appeals. See the full picture on our personal immigration page.
Book a consultation with Chris Dias, or explore the dedicated practice at innovator.lawyer. No lawyer can guarantee endorsement, and you should be wary of anyone who says otherwise; what we promise is an honest assessment and a properly built case.
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