Visa Requirements and Our Process
What are the UK Innovator Business Founder Visa requirements?
Requirements for the Innovator Business Founder Visa, introduced by the UK Home Office in 2023, are that entrepreneurs must apply with a new, proprietary business idea that is innovative, viable and scalable. Entrepreneurs must also have sufficient funds to start their business, and must be able to speak, read, understand and write in English.
What are the UK Scale Up Visa requirements?
The Scale-up Visa endorsement is for UK businesses which are already established in the market and cannot meet the Home Office’s definition of a Scale-up business, but can demonstrate clear potential to do this in the next 4 years.
Applying for a visa can be a daunting and stressful process. That's why we have taken care to make our process as clear as possible.
We focus on providing a human touch by giving you access to a dedicated assessor, who can answer any questions you have about the process.
Stage 1: Online Registration
The process starts with your online registration and payment of the mandatory endorsement consideration fee. These fees, set by the UK Home office are:
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£1000 (+VAT, if applicable) for the Innovator Business Founder Visa
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£1,500 +VAT for the Scale-up Visa
Stage 2: Endorsement Evaluation
After payment is received, you will be assigned an assessor who will guide you through the evaluation process. This process has 4 steps:
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A 15 minute introduction call with your assessor. On this call they will explain the process to you and answer any questions you have.
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Completion of AML & KYC. This requires the upload of documents including a passport, proof of address, and proof of education degrees, if applicable. You will also need to provide two character references. These references must come from professional or academic organisations and not from personal accounts, such as gmail.
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Completion of our online assessment tool, the Business Plan. Here you will provide information on your business, including proposition, competitive analysis, market size, financial history and forecasts, and written descriptions detailing how your business meets the criteria of Innovative, Scalable and Viable.
If you are applying to switch from a Start-up Visa , you will also be required to provide the business plan you submitted as part of your initial application and copies of your review meeting assessments, or a letter from the original endorsing body confirming you attended these reviews.
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A 30-minute presentation and Q&A call with your assessor on your Business Plan.
Once these steps are completed, we will evaluate your endorsement application using our metric-based scorecard. If successful, we'll issue you a formal endorsement letter. If you are unsuccessful, we will provide feedback detailing why your application did not meet the Home Office's criteria.
At Envestors we take great care in evaluating each and every application. The evaluation process typically takes 4-6 weeks.
All decisions are final. If unsuccessful, you may reapply with Envestors or one of the other endorsing bodies, however you will need to pay the £1,000 mandatory consideration fee for new applications.
Stage 3: Checkpoint Reviews
If endorsed, you are required to keep us informed of your progress and participate in formal progress review meetings. In these checkpoint review meetings you will complete a progress report with your account manager which will be submitted to the Home Office. The checkpoint review meetings will occur at 12 and 24 months. The fees for these reviews are set by the Home Office at £500 per checkpoint review, totalling £1,000 +VAT.
Stage 4: Further Settlement or Extension Endorsement
After 36 months you will have a review meeting with your account manager, where we'll guide you through the remainder of your application process, and assess your suitability for a settlement or endorsement extension. The fee for this assessment, as set by the Home Office, is £1,000 +VAT.
Additional Support
Launching and scaling a business in the UK is challenging. To help you achieve success we offer comprehensive packages of support services. These services include help with accountancy, mentoring, compliance, translation, re-location, and business planning. For more details on our support services, see
Support Packages.
