Innovator Founder is the British route for those coming to build a business rather than take a job. Since the 2023 reform the visa has no minimum investment — the old £50,000 was scrapped. The filter is no longer money but the quality of the idea: an endorsing body must find the business plan innovative, viable and scalable.
How the Route Works
Endorsement comes from designated endorsing bodies assessing three criteria: innovation (not another coffee shop but a new answer to a market), viability (a realistic plan and founder competence) and scalability (growth and job potential). After the visa is granted the founder meets the endorsing body at checkpoints at 12 and 24 months: the business must track the plan. Secondary employment is allowed — but only in skilled roles.
ILR in 3 Years — Against Criteria
The route’s main prize is indefinite leave to remain after just 3 years, faster than most UK visas. It is not automatic: you show at least two achievements from the list — £50,000 raised, customer base doubled, meaningful R&D, five jobs at £25,000+, £1 million revenue or export sales. Family holds status with work rights; citizenship follows a year after ILR.
The 3 Years and the Earned Settlement Reform
The three years sit in INNF 18.1 of Appendix Innovator Founder: the applicant “must have spent at least 3 years in the UK with permission as an Innovator Founder”. The achievements are in INNF 17.1(f), a list of seven criteria of which any two must be met: £50,000 invested and actively spent furthering the business; a customer base doubled over three years and above the mean for comparable UK businesses; significant research and development activity with an application for UK intellectual property protection; gross annual revenue of £1 million in the last full year of accounts; revenue of £500,000 with at least £100,000 from exports; ten full-time equivalent jobs for settled workers; or five full-time jobs paying at least £25,000 each. Home Office caseworker guidance for the route, version 11.0 of 4 August 2026, confirms the same three years and the absence rule (no more than 180 days in any 12 calendar months), and imposes no separate English test at settlement for the main applicant — B2 across all four components is required earlier, at the permission stage (INNF 11.1), while for a partner and children the settlement threshold rises from B1 to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027 (INNF 39.1 as amended by the Statement of Changes HC 1691 of 5 March 2026).
The backdrop to those three years has changed. The Home Office consultation “A Fairer Pathway to Settlement” (CP 1448, 20 November 2025) proposes raising the default qualifying period for settlement from 5 to 10 years, and to 15 years for roles below RQF Level 6. The consultation closed on 12 February 2026; in written answer UIN 6482 of 8 June 2026 the Home Office confirmed “over 200,000 responses” and that the outcome will be announced publicly once the final model has been chosen, alongside economic and equality impact assessments. There is no final Immigration Rules text as at 14 August 2026: neither HC 1691 nor HC 259 (9 July 2026, in force from 30 July 2026) alters the settlement qualifying period, the government response and impact assessments are unpublished, and rules are expected in autumn 2026. Nothing official has been announced about closing or replacing the Innovator Founder route itself.
In the proposed reductions table (Table 2 of CP 1448) the route looks protected: three years of continuous residence as a Global Talent worker or Innovator Founder attracts minus 7 years, i.e. 10 − 7 = 3 years — the same three years as today. But that is a reduction from the baseline rather than a preserved entitlement: it is measured by time held in that specific permission, so switching routes or a gap in status could break it, and the model’s mandatory requirements (English at B2 or above, clean conduct record, no reliance on public funds) sit on top. The route is set beside other options in the business owner routes overview, and the fragility of investment-linked status is covered in investment migration status risk.
Innovator Founder or Global Talent
A strong tech founder often qualifies for both routes, and the choice is not trivial. Global Talent does not tie you to a specific business and has no checkpoints, but asks for a dossier of recognition. Innovator Founder is lighter on the personal dossier but harder on the business: plan, metrics, reporting. The practical rule: public recognition — go Global Talent; a strong business idea without a media footprint — Innovator Founder.