Endorsing bodies
Who actually decides your application
The Home Office does not assess whether you are a leader in your field. It passes that question to an approved UK organisation with expertise in the field, and it is that body's answer which decides Stage 1.
The bodies
Nine organisations, three fields
Each body publishes its own criteria, its own evidence formats and its own service standards. They are not interchangeable, and applying to the wrong one is not a correctable clerical error — it costs you the application fee and the months.
Tech Nation
Digital technology
Product-led digital technology businesses across fintech, artificial intelligence, cyber security, gaming, health tech and enterprise software. Assesses both technical and business applicants.
Criteria for this routeThe Royal Academy of Engineering
Academia and research
Engineering, across disciplines and applied research.
Criteria for this routeUK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Academia and research
The endorsed funder route, for researchers named on qualifying grants, and research and innovation more broadly.
Criteria for this routeArts Council England
Arts and culture
Combined arts, dance, literature, music, theatre and visual arts, assessed directly. Also the lead body that works with the specialist partners below.
Criteria for this routeProducers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT)
Arts and culture
Film and television, including animation, post-production and visual effects.
Criteria for this routeChoosing
When your work spans two fields
A machine learning researcher who has spun out a company, an architect who teaches, a games composer — plenty of strong candidates sit between two bodies. There is no neutral answer: you have to pick the body whose published criteria your evidence answers best, and then write for that body specifically.
In practice this is the single decision where an outside view pays for itself. The same career, framed for Tech Nation and framed for the Royal Academy of Engineering, produces two very different applications — and often two different outcomes.
Endorsing bodies, their remits and their criteria are set by the Home Office and revised from time to time. Confirm the current position on GOV.UK and with the body itself. We are independent of all of them and are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any body listed on this page.
Not sure which body should assess you?
Send us your profile. Choosing between 4 routes and nine bodies is the first thing we look at, and it is free.