Start Up vs new Graduate Route

[sah10406]

With the new 2-year Graduate route coming in next summer (3 years for PhD graduates), will there be any reason or advantage for a student to switch into the 2-year Start-up route rather than the Graduate route if they are starting a business?

The only one I can think of is that if you are endorsed by a business body, not your university, this may come with seed funding and the body will probably prefer that you start your business under their supervision and visa endorsement.

I wonder if Start-up will in effect become mostly entry clearance only, with students just switching into the Graduate Route for starting a business?

Any thoughts?

[Omar5]

That is an interesting thought, but I believe that has its limitations. for eg. the graduate route is only valid for 2-3 years.

If the person wishes to extend his visa while doing a business they'd have to transfer a different kind of visa. If they'd chose a startup/innovator visa they'd need to get endorsed etc where they'd also have to show that its a "new/innovative" business and maybe a 50k investment.

[sah10406]

Since I posted that query back in October, a colleague who has seen the draft rules for the Graduate route tells me that, if they understand correctly, the Graduate route appears to not allow self-employment anyway.

If that is what the final Rules for the new route say, my question is moot.

No, I don't have a copy of the draft rules, nor do I know anything else about them.