Indefinite leave to remain if you have an Innovator Founder or Innovator visa
Getting endorsed
Before you can apply, you must show an approved body that you’ve grown your business.
If you meet the criteria, the body will give you an endorsement letter to show that you’re eligible for indefinite leave to remain.
Once you’ve got your letter, you must apply for indefinite leave to remain within 3 months.
You do not need to use the same body that endorsed you for your Innovator Founder or Innovator visa.
Endorsement requirements
You must be able to demonstrate you have an active key role in the day-to-day management and development of your business.
Your business must be:
- registered with Companies House, and you’re either the director or a member
- currently trading, and be able to continue for at least the next 12 months
Your business must have done at least 2 of the following:
- had £50,000 of investment, which you’ve spent on developing the business
- doubled the number of customers in the last 3 years - and this number is higher than the average for similar businesses
- applied for intellectual property protection in the UK
- made £1 million revenue in the last full year covered by accounts
- made £500,000 revenue in the last full year covered by accounts, with £100,000 of this from exporting overseas
- created the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs that have existed for 12 months
- created the equivalent of 5 full-time jobs that have existed for 12 months, with an average salary of £25,000 a year
You may have already met some of these criteria when you applied for your visa.
If you’ve created jobs
The jobs you’ve created must be for ‘settled workers’. A settled worker is someone who was one of the following when they started working for you:
- a British citizen
- an EEA citizen who was living in the UK and working for you by 31 December 2020
- a Commonwealth citizen with a UK Ancestry visa
- someone with indefinite leave to remain or settled status