Innovator Founder

The Innovator Founder route was introduced from 13 April 2023. It replaced the Innovator and Start-up routes, which had come into force in March 2019 for applicants wishing to set up a business in the UK (and had replaced respectively the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and the Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) routes). Start-up was a two-year route aimed at those setting up a business for the first time, and did not require any minimum investment funds, while the Innovator route had a minimum funds requirement of £50,000 but led to settlement. Both routes required endorsement by a Home Office-approved third party endorsing body (which in the case of Start-up was often a higher education institution).

The 2019 changes were brought in broadly to address the 2015 Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) categories. The Explanatory Memorandum to the relevant Statement of Changes commented on the findings of the Migration Advisory Committee’s review, stating that the Entrepreneur category was in need of ‘substantial reform’ and ‘contributed little or nothing to the UK economy’. It also stated that central to the Innovator route would