Keeping Your UK Innovator Visa

Here are some perspectives on keeping your UK Innovator Visa.

Many people don't appreciate that getting the visa is not the end of the story. It is just the beginning. The endorsement bodies, and indeed the Home Office, who now seem to interfere in every application, will check on you. They want to know if you're making progress with your idea. And if you don't make sufficient progress, you're at risk of losing your visa.

So what does that mean in practice? It means that you need to have help and support, what you might call a sort of concierge service after you've actually got the visa. And this is something we like to offer our clients.

What does that mean? It means helping with things like finding new premises, advising you on the best sort of premises, the best sort of agreement. It involves helping you recruit people for your business, considering their employment contracts, telling you what sort of people you might look for. It involves introducing you to people who might help your business; people in banking, people in finance, people who can provide services for your business. It involves helping you with interviews that the endorsement body will request to check on how you're doing.

Although it is impossible for us to speak directly on such an interview, we can guide you as to the sort of reports you need to provide and the sort of questions you may be asked. These are all practical things, which need to be done after you get the visa to make sure that it works for you.

The other extremely important aspect to consider is whether you could meet the requirements that would enable you to get permanent residency or indefinite leave to remain after just three years. There are a number of additional criteria which you have to meet in order to apply for a three-year clearance instead of running the full five years. So these are matters that need to be carefully thought through.

So by providing what we might call an aftercare service, you are able to make the best use of the fees that you have paid and achieve the best outcome. It's certainly no good in my view for your lawyer to get the visa for you, wish you the best of luck and leave you to your own devices. In my experience, there are not many people who can simply function without any support for the first 12 months.