Applicants who are applying from in the UK and has been in the UK for more than 12 months at the time of
application they will automatically meet the financial requirement.
Where an applicant is applying from outside of the UK or has not already been in the UK for at least the 12
months before their application they must demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and
any dependants.
The relevant levels for innovator applicants are: £1,270 for the main applicant, £285 for a dependant partner,
£315 for a first child and £200 for each subsequent child.

Applicants can switch into the Innovator route unless their last grant of permission was in any of the following
routes:
• visitor
• short-term student
• Parent of a Child Student
• Seasonal Worker
• domestic worker in a private household
• outside the Immigration Rules.
Applicants who are on immigration bail are also unable to switch into the route.

The Home Office may carry out a genuineness assessment for innovator applications in certain circumstances
An endorsing body will already have assessed an applicant's business plan and the Home Office are not
expected to duplicate that assessment. A balance of probability test should only be carried out on an application
if the Home Office have reason to believe that there are specific grounds to doubt a migrant's genuineness. This
power is primarily intended to be used where the Home Office has information that would not otherwise
been considered by an endorsing body when it has assessed a migrant's suitability for endorsement.

An applicant must complete a continuous residence period of 3 years as an innovator. In order to meet the
continuous residency requirement, applicants under the Innovator visa category should not be outside the UK for
more than 180 whole days in any of the three consecutive 12-month periods, preceding the date of the
application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

In order to qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain (or ILR visa), an applicant under Innovator visa must meet at
least 2 of the following: -
• at least £50,000 has been invested into the business and actively spent furthering the business plan, or
• the number of the business's customers has at least doubled within the most recent 3 years and is currently
nigher than the mean number of customers for other UK businesses offering comparable main products or
services, or
• the business has engaged in significant research and development activity and has applied for intellectual
property protection in the UK, or
• the business has generated a minimum annual revenue of £1 million in the last full year covered by its
accounts, or
• the business is generating a minimum annual revenue of £500,000 in the last full year covered by its
accounts. with at least €100.000 from exporting overseas or
• the business has created the equivalent of at least 10 full-time jobs for settled workers, or
• the business has created the equivalent of at least 5 full-time jobs for settled workers Each job must have
an average salary of at least £25,000 a year (gross pay, excluding any expenses).
Applicant should also meet other settlement requirements.

Applicants who are applying from in the UK and has been in the UK for more than 12 months at the time of
application they will automatically meet the financial requirement.
Where an applicant is applying from outside of the UK or has not already been in the UK for at least the 12
months before their application they must demonstrate that they have sufficient funds to support themselves and
any dependants.
The relevant levels for innovator applicants are: £1,270 for the main applicant, £285 for a dependant partner,
£315 for a first child and £200 for each subsequent child.

Applicants will have the following conditions attached to their leave:
• No recourse to public funds;
• Registration with the police, if applicable;
*taken over; ament other than working for the business or businesses that you have established, joined or
• No employment as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach).

If applicants submit their application before their authorised stay ends, their existing immigration status will
continue until their application is decided, even if the decision is not made until after the end of their permitted
stay. An applicant can continue to work until their case is decided if the conditions of their existing leave allow
them to do so.

Non-EEA nationals applying under Innovator visa have to apply for a biometric residence permit.
The biometric residence permit is a residence permit which holds a migrant's biographic details (name, date and
place of birth) and biometric information (facial image and fingerprints), and shows their immigration status and
entitlements while they remain in the UK. This also means that a UK visa will no longer be stamped in the
applicant's passport and all applicants will be issued one of the new Biometric visa cards instead. These cards
look very similar to a (pink) UK driving license, except they have a microchip in the back.
Once the application for Skilled worker visa is submitted online, applicants are required to attend their biometric
appointment at one of the Visa Application Centers to provide their fingerprints, photo and signature..
Successful offshore applicants will receive a 30-day' vignette sticker' in their passport instead of a vignette with
the full grant of leave. This 30-day visa will be the date they indicated as their intended travel date in their visa
application. Applicants under Skilled worker visa will be required to collect their BRP from the Post Office branch
detailed in their decision letter within ten days of arrival in the UK. The Post Office branch is linked to the
postcode that they submitted in their visa application. The BRP card can then be used as proof of right to work,
study and access public services in the UK.

EEA nationals making an application under the Innovator visa using the UK Immigration: ID Check app will be
given digital status if their application is successful.
EEA applicants as a part of the Skilled worker visa application process can use the UK Immigration: ID Check
app to complete the identity stage of their visa application. Using the app, they should confirm their identity, verify
their documents and take a picture.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) was introduced by the Home Office on 6 April 2015. People coming to
the UK for more than six months have to pay this health surcharge as a part of their immigration application
towards the National Health Service (healthcare in the UK). Offshore applicants will have to pay the health
surcharge if they are applying for a visa for a period of longer than six months, and onshore applicant will have to
pay the health charge for any length of visa.
Applicants will have to pay £470 per year as a student, or as a Youth Mobility Scheme or applicant who is under
18 years. For all other visa and immigration applications, they have to pay 624 per year. Dependants will usually
need to pay the same amount as the main applicant. The exact amount they have to pay depends on how much
leave they are granted. They can calculate how much they will have to pay before you apply. If the period of
grant applied for is less than 6 months, then half of the yearly amount to be paid and if the period of grant applied
for is more than 6 months, then whole year amount is to be paid.
Visa application will not be granted if applicants do not pay the healthcare surcharge or application will be
delayed if the right amount is not paid.

Following persons are exempted from paying the IHS: • diplomats or a members of a visiting armed forces and not subject to immigration control • dependants of a member of the UK's armed forces • dependants of a member of another country's armed forces who is exempt from immigration control • applicants for a visa for the Isle of Man or Channel Islands • British Overseas Territory citizens resident in the Falkland Islands • asylum seekers and applicants for humanitarian protection, and their dependants • domestic workers who have been identified as victims of slavery or human trafficking • those applying for discretionary leave to remain in the UK as someone who has been identified as a victim of slavery or human trafficking, and their dependants • those applying for permission to remain as the victim of domestic abuse, and their dependants • those claiming that being made to leave the UK would be against their rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and their dependants • Applicants and their dependants applying for Health and Care Worker visa

In line with the Home Office service standards for processing UK visa applications for Innovator visa, they decide
within 3 weeks if applying from the outside UK and within 8 weeks, if applying within UK.