UK immigration advice for entrepreneurs and business owners
You may be preparing to launch a venture, take an active role in an established company or bring an overseas business into the UK. Before committing to those plans, you need to understand which immigration options support the work you intend to do.
Knightsbridge Immigration helps entrepreneurs and business owners assess their personal immigration position alongside their commercial plans. We consider your proposed role, the business’s circumstances and your longer-term intentions, so you understand what needs to be established before proceeding.
Understand what your immigration position allows
Owning shares or registering a UK company does not, by itself, give you permission to live or work in the UK. Your immigration status determines whether you can undertake the proposed activities.
If you already hold UK permission, we begin by examining its conditions and how they apply to your intended involvement. This may include managing the business, working as an employee or undertaking self-employed activity.
Where a different immigration route is needed, we explain the options relevant to your circumstances and the requirements each involves.
Develop a venture under Innovator Founder
The Innovator Founder route may be relevant if you intend to establish an innovative, viable and scalable business in the UK. It requires endorsement from an approved endorsing body, alongside meeting the immigration requirements.
For a new business proposal, the assessment concerns the idea, its prospects and your ability to develop it. The evidence needs to address the relevant criteria.
We help you understand the endorsement and visa stages, identify the information needed and consider how the preparation fits your proposed launch. Where further development is required, we explain what needs attention.
Consider sponsorship through a business you own
“Self-sponsorship” describes arrangements involving sponsorship through a business in which the applicant has an ownership interest. It is not a separate visa category.
Our UK Self-Sponsorship service examines whether the proposed arrangement can meet the relevant sponsor licensing and Skilled Worker requirements. This includes the company’s commercial activities, the genuine need for the role, its duties and salary, and your individual eligibility.
The Home Office also considers whether a business has been established or exists mainly to secure immigration permission. The commercial purpose and supporting evidence therefore need careful examination before pursuing this approach.
Bring an existing overseas business to the UK
If you already operate a business abroad, your options may depend on its trading history, the proposed UK operation and your existing role within the organisation.
We consider your personal immigration position alongside the business’s expansion plans and whether the relevant requirements can be met.
Our Overseas Businesses page explains the support available where a company is establishing or developing its UK presence.
Plan the move around your wider commitments
Your immigration decisions may affect when you can begin working, how you organise your involvement and whether your partner or children can move with you.
We explain the relevant application stages, evidence, costs and any ongoing conditions attached to the route being considered. Where future extensions or settlement form part of your plans, those requirements should also inform the initial assessment.
Understanding these points early helps you decide which commitments to make and which depend on further preparation or an immigration decision.
Discuss your business and personal plans
Tell us what the business does, your proposed role, whether it is already trading and where you currently live. Include your immigration status and any intended start or relocation date.
We will confirm whether we can assist and explain the proposed advice, application support and fees before you decide whether to instruct us.
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