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Guidance

Innovator Founder: caseworker guidance

Immigration staff guidance on how decisions are made about applications from Innovator Founders.

Updates to this page

From:
UK Visas and Immigration
Published:
29 March 2019
Last updated:
5 August 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updates have been made to references to immigration bail under suitability provisions.

  2. Updated to reflect the decommissioning of vignettes in line with the eVisa roll out and to remove the key facts table.

  3. Updated to reflect Part Suitability updates in the Immigration Rules.

  4. Change to the minimum time period that a Student visa holder must have served on a PhD course prior to switching to an Innovator Founder visa from 24 months to 12 months.

  5. Updated with new validity requirement for applicants who have or last had permission as a student. This applies to applications for permission to stay submitted on or after 17 July 2023.

  6. Updated guidance, including the replacement of the ‘Innovator route’ with the ‘Innovator Founder route’.

  7. This guidance has been updated to reflect: additions to the validation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or no longer supporting a migrant at the time of consideration; additions to the cancellation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or supporting a migrant that already has permission to stay in the UK; changes to the section granting and refusing entry and port.

  8. Updated guidance for use on or after 6 April 2021.

  9. Updated guidance.

  10. Updated guidance to reflect change in Immigration Rules coming into force on 1 December 2020.

  11. First published.

Documents

Innovator Founder caseworker guidance (accessible)

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Innovator Founder caseworker guidance

PDF, 434 KB, 41 pages

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Details

UK Visas and Immigration guidance for staff based on Appendix Innovator Founder to the Immigration Rules, which is for experienced business people seeking to establish an innovative business in the UK.

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