The UK as one of the most developed countries attracts millions of people from all over the world. Here, anyone is welcomed regardless of race, ethnicity, religion as long as there is no action against the law. People visit the UK for a variety of reasons. Some people visit the country out of curiosity. Some dream to explore their cities and culture. You can guess diversity in the country since it is formed by four different countries. To travel to the UK one may need a visa. To be more clear, there are certain countries where the citizens are required to have a visa to enter the UK. There are various ways to obtain a visa to the UK, however, these procedures might feel overwhelming. You would dream of help for the procedures and this is where Picvkisa can be most useful. Picvkisa aims to ease the procedure and get you a visa as soon as possible. To get acquainted with our services, I will kindly ask you to check our “services” section at the top of our website.
The UK is extremely charming with its career perspectives. Some of the world’s leading, cutting-edge companies operate in the country and they value real talents. Doing business in the UK is lucrative too. So many startups have grown to be successful. The government of the UK also encourages capable foreigners to start a business in the UK as well. That is why today the UK is one of the economic centers in the world. Not only traditional businesses are welcomed but also innovative ones too. To be more explicit, the UK Innovator visa is designed for those who have innovative business ideas in their mind. These people can and should start innovator visa applications to be eligible to start their businesses in the UK as well. For this article, we will discuss and give information on the details of the UK Innovator visa. We will give you constructions on how to get a UK visa. But prior to that, we believe it would fit best to our purpose to introduce some basic information on the visa policy of the country.
UK Visa Policy
The government of the UK has set up its visa policy which defines regulations on entries. You are either from a visa-required country or a visa-exempt country. To identify in which type your country is in, you can check our “visa policy” section. Once you click on it, it will open a page that shows lists of countries. There choose the UK to further learn about visa-free and visa-exempt countries. According to the UK’s visa policy, the visas are categorized with respect to their characteristics. But to make it simple, we can divide them into two groups, short-term and long-term visas. As it can be understood from the names, short-term visas are the ones that do not exceed travels 12 months. Long-term visas are vice versa. Depending on your travel reason you might be asked for a specific document that is not asked for other visa types. How to get a UK visa? There are different ways to start UK visa application. The most popular one is to apply it through foreign representatives of the UK. Nevertheless, you might have other options such as applying it online depending on your nationality.
What is UK Innovator Visa?
This visa type is essentially a visa that opens doors for innovative businesses. You can apply for innovator visa if you meet the following requirements:
- You should start a business that is no other like exist in the UK. It should be different from the ones in the UK.
- You should seek the approval of one of the endorsing bodies. There are many endorsing bodies that you can apply for. All of them concentrate on several sectors.
- You should be eligible to apply for innovator visa
- There are a few eligibility criteria which you will find below:
- First of all, your business should be new, it should not be a business that is already exist.
- Secondly, it should be innovative. It should be original to yourself.
- Last but not least important is that it should have viability. It should meet today’s business conditions. Furthermore, you should be fluent in English.
UK Visa Application for Innovators
Applications will be addressed through the internet to the official governmental platform, but the process will depend on where you live. We can set three routes:
- Applications from outside of the UK.
- Applications from Inside of the UK by extending current visas.
- Applications from Inside of the UK by switching the visas.
If you are applying from outside of the UK, you should be older than 18. You should meet the language requirements and be able to economically sustain yourself. If you want to start a business in the UK, then you should have maintained funds worth at least 50000-pound sterling. You will not be asked for any funding if you have already a business that has been endorsed.
If you want to extend your current Innovator visa, then you should meet eligibility requirements. Also, you need to have an operating business in the UK.
If you want to switch to an Innovator visa from other visas, then you can start an innovator visa application if you are eligible. Nevertheless, you can not switch to this visa type from the following visa types; visit visa, short-term student visa, parent of a child student visa, seasonal worker visa, a domestic worker in a private household visa.
UK Visa Requirements for Innovators
Visa requirements are the main factor for applicants to realize their dreams. Here, you will find UK visa requirements for Innovators:
- You should fill out the application form. Your application should be directed to the online system. You will also pay fees. Note that you might be charged with an additional 55-pound sterling User Pays Fee. Once your application is done, it will be directed to the corresponding application center.
- You should present documents that verify your identity.
- You should present your previous travel documents including expired passports.
- You should present your endorsement letter provided by an endorsing body.
- To be eligible to apply for this visa, you should have 945 GBP in your bank account which should stay in the bank account for at least 90 days unless you have a sponsor (A-rated) who can do the same for you.
- If you are applying from a country that you are not a citizen of, then you should present confirmation of legal residence.
- You should disclose your travel plan which includes accommodation as well. Having said that, you should not book accommodation till you get the visa.
- Nationals of some countries will need to present the results of tuberculosis tests.
Let’s say you meet the requirements. And you wonder about UK innovator visa success rate. If that is the case for you too, then you are in luck. Almost 80 percent of applicants manage to get this visa. Even though the UK innovator visa success rate is high, it is still highly competitive.
UK Innovator Visa fees, and Processing Time
Visa fees changes depending on some factors. These factors include the number of people applying with you, which visa route you have taken, etc. If you are applying alone from outside of the UK, then the fee will be equal to 1021 pounds sterling. If you are extending or switching to an Innovator visa, then it will be 1277 pound sterling. If you have a partner, then you have to pay double the price. Aside from these fees, you will be asked to pay for the healthcare surcharge. The price will be reduced by 55 pounds sterling if you are from one of these countries:
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden or Turkey.
The visa will be given for 3 years, but the processing time for the application takes around 3 weeks. The process will lengthen to 8 weeks if you apply from inside the UK. There is another way to get your visa quickly. For that, you will be asked to pay an extra amount of money. However, you should start your application at least 3 months ahead of your intended travel.
To wrap up today’s topic, we can say that the UK remains to be one of the best places to start a business. Every year, bright people with innovative ideas come to UK to realize their dreams. Some of them achieve their goals by getting an Innovator visa. The number of applications for this visa type does not exceed 1000. You may wish to be among them. We can help you to achive this goal. We can help even if it is not your reason to travel to the UK. Pickvisa provides the best visa services. You can benefit from our services with a few clicks.
