Invest and settle in the UK on an Innovator Visa

The United Kingdom welcomes with open hands investors who want to establish their businesses and settle down there. The UK presents opportunities for experienced business people to set up an innovative business with an Innovator Visa. 

Eligibility criteria for Innovator Visa

You need to demonstrate that your business idea is:

• New – not in an existing business
• Unique – have a one-off idea for business that is unlike anything introduced before in the market
• Worthwhile, showing growth prospects

Proficiency in English

You need to speak, read, write, and comprehend English when you apply for this visa.

Stay duration

You can stay for up to three years if you enter the country on an Innovator visa or transfer from another visa to this visa during your stay in the UK.

If are interested in staying for a longer duration in the UK, you must apply for extension of your stay for three more years just before your visa’s expiry. You can apply any number of times to extend this visa.

Visa fees

If you are applying for yourself from outside the UK, you need to pay £1,036. If you are switching from another visa to this visa while in the UK, you need to pay £1,292

An Innovator visa allows you to establish a business or work for your company, bring your family with, travel to and arrive in the UK, and apply to settle in the UK permanently, with ‘indefinite leave to remain’, if you have been a resident of the UK for three years and meet the other eligibility criteria.

The other eligibility criteria include being above the age of 18, showing proof that you have adequate financial resources to take care of yourself while residing in Britain.

You also need to have a minimum of £50,000 in venture capital funds to apply for the visa.

You will have to show where you are getting the money from.

Before applying for an Innovator Visa, you need to have minimum resources of £1,270 in your personal bank account for twenty-eight uninterrupted days before you apply for an Innovator visa or to extend the existing visa or to transfer to an Innovator visa if your stay in the UK has been lesser than a year. You also have to show proof of your investment funds (if you are planning to establish a new business in the UK).  

Benefits of relocating to the UK on an Innovator Visa

• You can reside in the UK with your family
• Avail of the healthcare and education benefits of the UK