The Innovator Founder visa did not get a single dramatic overhaul between October 2025 and October 2026. Instead it absorbed a steady drip of smaller changes: a new switching option for students, a fee rise, a tidier list of endorsing bodies, a refreshed version of the Home Office caseworker guidance, three Statements of Changes that mostly touched other routes, and two big policy processes that are still unresolved.
Taken one at a time, each change is easy to miss. Taken together, they shape who can apply, when, how much it costs and what the route to settlement may look like. This article puts them in order, month by month, and links to the detailed piece in this series for each one.
Background: where the year started
Two things set the scene before October 2025. First, the May 2025 Immigration White Paper, which practitioner commentary reports said the Innovator Founder route was under review with the objective of increasing its use and effectiveness, and proposed easing the transition from student visas to Innovator Founder. Second, the structure of the route itself was already settled: 70 points, an endorsement from an approved body, B2 English in all four components, a financial requirement for applicants in the UK for less than 12 months, and settlement possible after 3 years.
Our scorecard of how those White Paper aims have played out is in Innovator Founder and the White Paper: what was promised, what happened.
October to December 2025: students, settlement and a new consultation
14 October 2025 — HC 1333 laid. According to practitioner commentary, including DavidsonMorris's summary, HC 1333 allowed Student visa holders who have completed their course to switch to Innovator Founder inside the UK, with the change taking effect from 25 November 2025. The Home Office caseworker guidance now reflects this: students switching must have completed the course on their Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), or one covered by ST 27.3 of Appendix Student, and PhD students must have completed at least 12 months of their PhD.
The same commentary reports that HC 1333 raised the English requirement for Skilled Worker, High Potential Individual and Scale-up from B1 to B2 from 8 January 2026. Innovator Founder was already at B2, so founders themselves were not affected, but co-founders and early hires on those routes were.
20 November 2025 — earned settlement consultation opens. The consultation, "A Fairer Pathway to Settlement", proposed a 10-year standard baseline for settlement with reductions. Practitioner commentary reports that the proposals would let Innovator Founder and Global Talent holders settle after 3 years. This is a proposal, not law. See Earned settlement: where it stands in October 2026.
9 December 2025 — HC 1491 laid. This Statement of Changes appears in the GOV.UK collection. We have not identified an Innovator Founder-specific change in it, and it is not analysed in this series.
December 2025 — Immigration Skills Charge. Practitioner fee summaries report the charge rising to £1,320 a year for large sponsors and £480 a year for small sponsors. It applies to employers sponsoring Skilled Workers, not to the Innovator Founder visa itself, but it matters once your business starts hiring.
January to March 2026: English, legacy bodies, HC 1691 and the MAC
8 January 2026 — B2 English on other routes. The HC 1333 change reported above took effect for Skilled Worker, High Potential Individual and Scale-up.
12 February 2026 — earned settlement consultation closes.
17 February 2026 — first legacy removal of the year. Community and Business Partners was removed from the legacy endorsing bodies list on the GOV.UK endorsing bodies page.
5 March 2026 — HC 1691 laid. Practitioner commentary reports four headline changes: settlement English rising from B1 to B2 on many routes from 26 March 2027; Skilled Worker salary compliance assessed per pay period from 8 April 2026; a nationality-based "visa brake" on some Student and Skilled Worker applications from 8 April 2026; and a Global Talent design pathway from 1 July 2026. We covered these in detail in HC 1691 explained.
Around 5 March 2026 — MAC call for evidence announced. The Migration Advisory Committee opened a call for evidence on the Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes as part of a review of how best the immigration system could be used to attract international global talent to the UK. See The MAC Talent Review and Innovator Founder.
16 March 2026 — Global Entrepreneurs Programme restricted. The endorsing bodies page was updated to specify that the GEP can only endorse for Innovator Founder (not Scale-up), and only founders already invited onto its programme. See GEP: invite-only, Innovator Founder only.
April to June 2026: the fee rise and the evidence-gathering phase
8 April 2026 — Home Office fees rise. The GOV.UK fees table shows these changes for Innovator Founder:
| Fee | Before 8 April 2026 | From 8 April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Entry clearance (outside UK) | £1,274 | £1,357 |
| Leave to remain (extend or switch inside UK) | £1,590 | £1,693 |
| Indefinite leave to remain | £3,029 | £3,226 |
| Priority service | £500 | £500 (unchanged) |
| Super priority service | £1,000 | £1,000 (unchanged) |
Fees are per person. The endorsing body fees on the GOV.UK visa page are separate: £1,000 for the endorsement plus £500 per contact point meeting (at least two), excluding VAT. The Immigration Health Surcharge is £1,035 per adult per year; it is widely reported as unchanged in April 2026. For a full budget, see The full cost of the Innovator Founder visa in 2026.
20 April 2026 — Innovate Britain removed from the legacy endorsing bodies list.
1 May 2026 — MAC call for evidence closes. Respondent categories included endorsing bodies and individuals on Innovator Founder visas.
June 2026 — MAC minutes. The committee's June 2026 minutes record the secretariat summarising roundtable evidence on both routes and the committee discussing areas for the "Talent Review". No final report had been published as of 22 October 2026. For clearly labelled scenarios, see What the MAC review could change.
July to September 2026: HC 259, guidance v11.0 and more legacy exits
9 July 2026 — HC 259 laid. Practitioner commentary describes it as largely incremental. Its main relevance to founders is that it reportedly standardised compliance requirements — not being in breach of immigration law and not being on immigration bail, with limited overstayer exceptions — across around 30 routes, effective 30 July or 3 August 2026. It did not introduce earned settlement. See HC 259 and the new compliance rules.
4 August 2026 — caseworker guidance version 11.0. The Home Office published version 11.0 of its Innovator Founder caseworker guidance. The only change from the previous version was updated references to immigration bail under the suitability provisions. See Immigration bail and guidance v11.0.
5 and 7 August 2026 — three more legacy removals. MedCity and NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator were removed on 5 August, with the page stating they "no longer operate as endorsing bodies for these visas". SFC Capital was removed on 7 August. See Legacy endorsing bodies: the 2026 wind-down.
27 August 2026 — Home Office statistics. Practitioner analysis of the year ending June 2026 data reports grant rates of 79.2% for out-of-country and 74.8% for in-country Innovator Founder applications, both lower than a year earlier, with dependants making up 49% of out-of-country visas issued. These are reported analysis, not official headline percentages.
3 September 2026 — HC 584 laid. Practitioner commentary reports that most changes took effect on 8 October 2026, focused on modern slavery victims (Skilled Worker), Erasmus+ reassociation (Visitor and Student), domestic abuse dependants, and procedural amendments on fee waivers, variation applications and biometrics. No Innovator Founder-specific change was reported. See HC 584: what founders need to know.
Late September 2026. Practitioner commentary reports that the government response to the earned settlement consultation still had not been published.
October 2026 and what is already scheduled
8 October 2026 — most HC 584 changes take effect.
22 October 2026 — where things stand. The three Business Endorsing Bodies — UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International and Envestors Limited — are unchanged since 2024. The MAC report and the earned settlement response are both outstanding.
Looking ahead, these dates are already public:
| Date | What happens | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2026 | Last day to apply for a 2-year Graduate visa | GOV.UK Graduate visa page |
| 1 January 2027 | Graduate visa applications get 18 months (PhD graduates 3 years) | GOV.UK Graduate visa page |
| 26 March 2027 | Settlement English on many routes rises from B1 to B2 | Practitioner commentary on HC 1691 |
The Graduate change matters to anyone planning to use a Graduate visa as a bridge to a founder route; see The 18-month Graduate visa and founders. The settlement English change does not add a new test for Innovator Founder main applicants, who already show B2 at grant, but partners may need to plan; see B2 settlement English in 2027 and dependants.
What the year means for founders deciding now
A few practical conclusions follow from the timeline.
- The core test has not visibly moved. None of the changes in this timeline, as reported in the official sources and practitioner commentary we reviewed, altered the 70-points structure, the endorsement model, B2 English or the settlement criteria set out in the current caseworker guidance. If you are preparing an application, the work is still the business plan and the endorsement. You can check where you stand with a free assessment.
- The cost went up. Budget on the April 2026 fees, not older figures you may find online.
- The endorser landscape is narrower and clearer. Three Business Endorsing Bodies, plus GEP by invitation. Legacy bodies only maintain existing endorsees, and five left the list in 2026.
- Students have a new option, and graduates have a deadline. In-country switching from Student is now possible after completing your course, while the 2-year Graduate visa ends for applications from 1 January 2027.
- Two open questions remain. Earned settlement and the MAC review could both change the route. Neither has produced a decision yet, so plan on the current rules and avoid acting on proposals as if they were law.
For a side-by-side view of what each 2026 Statement of Changes did and did not do, see the 2026 Statements of Changes scorecard.
Sources and further reading
- GOV.UK — Innovator Founder visa
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules Appendix Innovator Founder
- GOV.UK — Innovator Founder caseworker guidance
- GOV.UK — Endorsing bodies: Innovator Founder and Scale-up visas
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules: statements of changes
- GOV.UK — Home Office fees table
- GOV.UK — Graduate visa
- GOV.UK — Earned settlement consultation
- GOV.UK — Migration Advisory Committee
- DavidsonMorris — HC 1333 (October 2025)
- DavidsonMorris — HC 259 (July 2026)
- Free Movement — HC 584
- Free Movement — MAC call for evidence
Key takeaways
- None of the reported changes in the year altered the core test — 70 points, endorsement, B2 English, settlement criteria — as set out in the current caseworker guidance.
- In-country switching from Student after course completion is now possible; practitioner commentary dates it from 25 November 2025 under HC 1333.
- Fees rose on 8 April 2026 to £1,357 (outside UK), £1,693 (inside UK) and £3,226 (settlement), per person.
- GEP is now Innovator Founder only and invite-only; five legacy endorsing bodies left the list in 2026; the three Business Endorsing Bodies are unchanged.
- Earned settlement and the MAC Talent Review are both unresolved; plan on the current rules.
- From 1 January 2027, new Graduate visas are 18 months, which shortens the runway for graduates planning a founder route.
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