Breaking news: Home Office releases details of Endorsing Bodies for the new Tier 1 Innovator and Start-up Visas

Whilst the Home Office announcement releasing the identities of the approved Endorsing Bodies for the Start-up Visa and Innovator Visa is welcome news, the best London immigration solicitors anticipate that there will be regular updates to the list of Endorsing Bodies.

top London immigration solicitors are anticipating that applicants for the new Start-up Visa and Innovator Visa will have a host of questions about the application process and the role of the non-government agency Endorsing Bodies.

Central London based OTS Solicitors, team of dedicated Immigration solicitors, have the expertise to help you apply for a Start-up Visa or Innovator Visa.

OTS Solicitors are ranked in the Legal directory, Legal 500, for business immigration advice and have a wealth of experience in advising entrepreneurs on UK business visa options.

To speak to a member of the OTS Solicitors business immigration law team, please call us on 0203 959 9123 and one of our experienced London immigration solicitors will be happy to help.

top London immigration solicitors advise that to apply for either an Innovator Visa or a Start-up Visa, an applicant must first be endorsed by a recognised Endorsing Body.

If endorsement from the Endorsing Body is obtained, then stage two of the application process for the Innovator Visa or Start-up visa is an application to the Home Office to assess whether the applicant meets the additional requirements of the specific visa scheme.

The best London immigration solicitors advise that the role of the Endorsing Body is not to make Immigration decisions. The Endorsing Body is, in effect, acting as a gatekeeper and allowing visa applicants with innovative business ideas and good business plans to progress with their Start-up Visa or Innovator Visa application to the stage of consideration by the Home Office.

To secure endorsement by an Endorsing Body, an applicant for a Start-up Visa or Innovator Visa must be able to show that they have a business idea that is:

• Innovative;

• Viable;

• Scalable.

The top London immigration solicitors are already being asked questions about the different Endorsing Body criteria for Start-up Visas and Innovator Visas. An applicant for a Start-up Visa has to demonstrate business attributes of innovation, viability and scalability to an Endorsing Body. An applicant for an Innovator Visa needs to show the Endorsing Body that they have the experience and skills to run the planned business and that they can scale the business up with additional job creation and growth into international markets.

The Home Office Immigration Rules state that an Endorsing Body must be either:

• A higher education institution (HEI) in the UK that gets public funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the Scottish Funding Council or the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland. The institution must have an established process for identifying and developing entrepreneurs (Start-up Visas only); or

• An organisation that has an established record of helping UK entrepreneurs or is a new body set up by another organisation that has a proven record (for Start-up and Innovator Visas).

The Endorsing Body procedure

If an Endorsing Body is prepared to provide an endorsement to a visa applicant applying for a Start-up Visa or Innovator Visa, then an endorsing letter will be supplied to support their visa application.

The top London immigration solicitors advise that the role of Endorsing Bodies does not end with the provision of the endorsing letter. The Endorsing Body will remain in contact with the successful visa applicant at six months and twelve months after the grant of the Start-up visa and, in the case of the Innovator Visa holder, after six, twelve and twenty four months. The Endorsing Body will let the Home Office know if:

• They do not consider that the visa holder is making satisfactory business progress; or

• They have reason to believe that the visa holder is working in breach of their visa conditions.

The best London immigration solicitors advise that whilst Start-up Visa applicants have the option of securing endorsement from a HEI on the list of approved Endorsing Bodies for Start-up Visas, applicants for Innovator Visas can only secure endorsement from a business organization on the Home Office approved list of Endorsing Bodies.

The business organizations on the separate approved Endorsing Bodies lists for Start-up Visas and for Innovator Visas are currently identical. The top London immigration solicitors anticipate that this may change as Endorsing Bodies may end up specialising in either Start-up Visa or Innovator Visa endorsement.

• The Bakery;

• Seed Camp;

• Invest Northern Ireland;

• Zinc;

• Deep Science Ventures;

• Wayra;

• Ignite;

• Bethnal Green Ventures;

• Codebase;

• Capital Enterprise;

• Cylon;

• Tech X;

• Seed Haus;

• Med City;

• Scottish Edge;

• Royal Society Edinburgh;

• Tech Nation;

• NatWest entrepreneur Accelerator;

• Royal Bank of Scotland entrepreneur Accelerator;

• Ulster Bank entrepreneur Accelerator;

• Set Squared Bristol;

• Set Squared Exeter;

• Set Squared Southampton;

• Set Squared Surrey;

The top London immigration solicitors recommend that Start-up Visa and Innovator Visa applicants carefully consider their choice of approved Endorsing Body prior to applying for endorsement. That is because many of the Endorsing Bodies are highly specialised and applications therefore need to be targeted for endorsement by the Endorsing Body most likely to understand their innovative business concept.

When it comes to choosing an Endorsing Body to approach, the best London immigration solicitors advise that preparation and research and the use of experienced London immigration solicitors is key to a successful endorsement application. For example:

• Cylon focusses on growing cyber security businesses;

• Bethnal Green Ventures focuses on technology businesses with a particular emphasis on health, sustainability, education and civic engagement, amongst other specialist areas;

• Capital Enterprise has a focus on London start-ups with multiple programmes;

• Tech X focuses on acting as an incubator for start-ups and SMEs in the oil and gas industry;

• Tech Nation has a track record of endorsing Tier 1 Exceptional Talent and Promise visa applicants.

The top London immigration solicitors are experienced in working with business organisations to secure visa endorsement and, together with other trusted advisors, can help advise on the paperwork required to make what appears to be a daunting endorsement process as straightforward as possible.

Our Legal 500 recommended central London OTS Solicitors can advise you on the application process to apply for a Start-up Visa or an Innovator Visa or help you look at your alternative options.