Quick Answer
Neither is easy, and they are hard in different ways. The UK Innovator Founder visa has published odds: roughly 36% of applicants clear the endorsement stage, and 84% to 97% of endorsed founders then receive the visa. Singapore publishes no EntrePass approval rate, but its criteria are documentary: S$100,000 from an accredited investor, a recognised incubator, or defensible IP, so a founder can largely assess their own eligibility before applying.
Founders with checkable credentials find Singapore more predictable; founders with a strong story but no formal validation have a real, if minority, shot at UK endorsement. Savvy Platform supports the Singapore route end to end, from incorporation through SavvyStart to the pass application.
How Each Country Filters Founders
Both routes exist to filter for the same founder: innovative, credible, likely to build something that employs locals. The filtering mechanisms differ at the root.
- The UK delegates the judgment: The Home Office does not assess your business at all; 4 approved endorsing bodies (Envestors, UK Endorsing Services, Innovator International, and the invitation-only Global Entrepreneurs Programme) decide whether your idea is innovative, viable and scalable. The gate is a panel's opinion of your plan.
- Singapore documents the judgment: The Ministry of Manpower, with Enterprise Singapore assessing the innovation criteria, checks whether your company meets defined conditions: at least 30% founder ownership, a company under 6 months old, and 1 qualifying credential from a fixed list. The gate is a checklist with evidence attached.
That difference drives everything else in this comparison, including what "easier" means.
The UK Numbers
The Innovator Founder route has usable public data, and it splits cleanly into 2 stages:
|
Stage |
Approval rate |
Source basis |
|
Endorsement by an endorsing body |
~36% to 37% on average; Innovator International's principal puts its own rate around 28% |
Analyses of endorsing body outcomes |
|
Home Office visa decision, after endorsement |
83.7% across Q3 2023 to Q2 2025 (722 decisions, 604 grants); 97.6% in FY2024 |
Home Office quarterly data |
Combined, roughly 1 in 3 founders who start the process end up with a visa, and nearly all of the filtering happens at endorsement. The endorsing bodies reject generic business plans, weak market evidence and applicants without a central role in the venture; one endorser notes that many rejections come from ineligible applications produced by business-plan mills rather than good ideas failing.
FY2024 saw just 411 visa applications. Two practical rules follow from the small, judgment-based system: pick the endorsing body whose sector focus fits your business, and never submit to 2 bodies at once, since a rejection on record makes the next attempt harder.
The Singapore Numbers
Singapore publishes no EntrePass approval rate. Any percentage you see attached to the pass is an estimate; no official figure exists.
What the record does support:
- Applications from founders with no relevant track record and no external funding face a very high rejection rate, per practitioners who handle the route
- The most common rejection reason is funding that fails the accreditation test: S$100,000 from a non-accredited investor does not count, and neither does a friends-and-family round or a generic incubator membership
- MOM explicitly excludes whole categories regardless of framing: coffee shops, bars, retail without proprietary technology, massage and TCM businesses, employment agencies, and similar
- The criteria themselves are checkable in advance: your investor is either on Enterprise Singapore's accredited list or not, your IP is either registered and defensible or not, your incubator is either recognised or not
The checkability is the route's defining feature. A founder who meets a criterion can verify it before spending anything. A founder who meets none of them can also know that in advance, and should not apply.
What "Easier" Actually Means
The UK publishes the aggregate: about 1 in 3. What it cannot tell you is how the panel will read your specific plan, because the test is qualitative. Strong storytellers with genuine innovation but no formal validation, no accredited cheque, no registered IP, have a route here that Singapore's checklist closes to them.
Singapore publishes no aggregate and defines the criteria instead. For a founder holding a S$100,000 cheque from an accredited VC, the personal probability is high and largely in their control: the remaining risk is documentation quality and business-plan credibility. For a founder without a qualifying credential, the personal probability is close to zero, and no narrative fixes it.
Venture-backed and IP-holding founders find Singapore easier, because their case is checkable. Pre-funding founders with a differentiated idea find the UK more open, because a panel can be persuaded where a checklist cannot.
Requirements Side by Side
|
Factor |
Singapore EntrePass |
UK Innovator Founder |
|
Core gate |
1 documentary credential: S$100,000+ from an accredited investor, recognised incubator/accelerator, defensible IP, or research collaboration with a Singapore institution |
Endorsement: innovative, viable, scalable, judged by an endorsing body |
|
Ownership |
At least 30% of shares, maintained throughout |
Significant role in a new business; joining an existing trading business is excluded |
|
Company age |
Under 6 months old at application, or incorporated within 30 days of approval-in-principle |
New business, endorsed as such |
|
Minimum investment |
None as a rule; the S$100,000 applies only to the funded track |
None since the 2023 reform |
|
English requirement |
None |
B2 in all 4 components, raised from B1 on 8 January 2026 |
|
Maintenance funds |
None specified |
£1,270 held for 28 days |
|
Salary requirement |
None |
None |
Costs and Timelines
|
Item |
Singapore EntrePass |
UK Innovator Founder |
|
Government fees |
Roughly S$105 application plus S$225 issuance |
£1,357 visa fee from 8 April 2026 (£1,693 switching in-country) |
|
Gatekeeper fees |
None |
£1,000 endorsement fee, plus 2 mandatory contact-point meetings at £500 each during the visa |
|
Health surcharge |
None |
£1,035 per year, per person, paid upfront |
|
English test |
Not required |
Required, with test fees |
|
Typical decision time |
Around 8 weeks at MOM |
Endorsement varies by body (weeks to months), then a short Home Office stage |
|
First validity |
1 year |
3 years |
A single UK applicant pays over £5,000 in fees and surcharge before setting foot in the country. The Singapore side runs a few hundred dollars in government fees, with the real spend sitting in the business itself.
After Approval: Renewals, Family and Milestones
The passes also differ in what they demand once granted.
- Singapore: 1-year terms and hard milestones. The first EntrePass and first renewal each last 1 year, and renewals require evidence of real activity: rising annual business spend starting at S$100,000 and local hiring milestones. MOM declines renewals for companies with no revenue and no local employees, whatever the original innovation credentials. Family access follows the same logic: Dependant Passes require at least 3 full-time local employees and S$100,000 of annual spend, assessed at renewal, so a founder's family may have no pass in year 1.
- The UK: 3 years, with the endorsing body attached. The visa runs 3 years to a possible Indefinite Leave to Remain, half the standard settlement timeline, and dependants can come from day 1 with fees and surcharge paid. The endorsing body stays in your life through mandatory check-ins, and an endorsement withdrawn mid-visa puts the whole status at risk.
A founder confident of hitting the spend and hiring milestones will find Singapore's 1-year terms workable. A founder wanting family certainty from day 1 gets more from the UK structure, at UK prices.
Singapore Has a Backup Route, the UK Does Not
A founder who fails or skips the EntrePass criteria still has a Singapore route: the Employment Pass through their own company, at a salary of S$5,600/month (S$6,000 from January 2027) under the COMPASS framework, with no innovation test. Lifestyle businesses, agencies and profitable conventional companies, all outside EntrePass scope, relocate their founders this way routinely.
The UK has no clean equivalent. A founder rejected at endorsement has no salary-based route into their own startup; the Skilled Worker path requires a sponsoring employer structure that fits an established company far better than a new venture. In the UK, the endorsement gate is close to the only gate. In Singapore, the EntrePass is the specialist route, and the Employment Pass is the general one behind it.
Which Route Fits Which Founder
The EntrePass fits founders who:
- Hold accredited funding, registered IP or a recognised incubator seat, and can document it
- Are building for Asia-Pacific and want the company, pass and market in one place
- Can commit to local hiring and S$100,000+ annual spend within the renewal windows
The Innovator Founder visa fits founders who:
- Have genuine innovation without formal validation yet, and a plan strong enough to persuade a panel
- Need family relocation certainty from day 1
- Are targeting the UK and European markets, where the 3-year settlement path adds long-term value
And the own-company Employment Pass fits founders who:
- Run businesses outside any innovation definition, and simply want to live where their Singapore company is
How Savvy Platform Supports the Singapore Routes
The EntrePass and the own-company Employment Pass both sit on top of a correctly built Singapore company, and timing matters: the company must be under 6 months old for an EntrePass application, or incorporated within 30 days of an approval-in-principle.
Savvy Platform provides:
- Incorporation through SavvyStart, sequenced around the pass application timeline
- Nominee director covering the resident director requirement until the founder's pass is approved
- Employment Pass application support for founders taking the salary route, and Dependant Pass assistance for family
- Company secretary, registered address, accounting and filings, keeping the company compliant through MOM's renewal reviews
- The handover to the founder as resident director once the pass is granted
Conclusion
The published data answers half the question: about 1 in 3 UK applicants clears endorsement, and nearly everyone endorsed gets the visa. Singapore publishes nothing, and offers something arguably more useful instead: criteria a founder can check against their own file before spending a dollar.
Validated founders find Singapore the more predictable gate, unvalidated founders with a persuasive case find the UK the more open one, and Singapore keeps a salary-based fallback that the UK simply lacks. Savvy Platform builds the company either Singapore route runs on, through SavvyStart.
FAQ
What is the Innovator Founder visa approval rate?
Around 36% to 37% at the endorsement stage, based on analyses of endorsing body outcomes, and 84% to 97% at the subsequent Home Office stage depending on the period measured. End to end, roughly 1 in 3 applicants who start the process obtain the visa.
What is the EntrePass approval rate?
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower does not publish one. Practitioners report high rejection rates for applicants without accredited funding, recognised incubator participation or defensible IP, and the criteria are documentary, so eligibility is largely checkable before applying.
What counts as qualifying funding for the EntrePass?
At least S$100,000 raised from an investor on Enterprise Singapore's accredited list: recognised VCs, angels, corporate VCs or family offices. Funding from non-accredited sources, including friends and family, is the most common reason applications fail.
How much does each route cost?
Singapore: roughly S$105 to apply and S$225 on issuance, with no health surcharge or English test. UK: £1,357 visa fee from 8 April 2026, a £1,000 endorsement fee, 2 mandatory £500 contact-point meetings, and an immigration health surcharge of £1,035 per person per year.
Can my family join me on each pass?
UK: dependants can apply from day 1, with fees and surcharge per person. Singapore: EntrePass Dependant Passes become available only once the business employs at least 3 full-time locals and spends S$100,000 a year, assessed at renewal, so families may wait beyond year 1.
What happens at renewal?
Singapore renews the EntrePass against business substance: rising annual spend from S$100,000, local hiring, and evidence of genuine activity, with 1-year then 2-year terms. The UK visa runs 3 years with 2 endorsing-body check-ins, and Indefinite Leave to Remain is possible at the 3-year mark if milestones are met.
Is there an alternative if I fail the EntrePass criteria?
Yes: the Employment Pass through your own Singapore company, at a minimum salary of S$5,600/month (S$6,000 from January 2027), with no innovation requirement. The UK offers no comparable salary-based route into a founder's own new startup after a failed endorsement.
How does Savvy Platform help with founder relocation?
Savvy Platform incorporates the company through SavvyStart on the timeline the pass requires, provides the nominee director until approval, supports the EP or Dependant Pass applications, and runs the compliance and accounting that MOM's renewal reviews examine.
Main sources
- Tier 1 Plan Writers, Innovator Founder visa success rates by stage (endorsement and Home Office data): https://tier1planwriters.co.uk/key-facts-about-innovator-founder-visa-success-rate/
- UK Visa Blog, Innovator Founder visa 2026 (April 2026 fees, endorsing bodies, route changes): https://ukvisa.blog/uk-innovator-founder-visa/
- Torly, the 4 UK endorsing bodies in 2026 (endorsement rates and submission strategy): https://torly.ai/insights/top-4-uk-endorsing-bodies-2026/
- Raffles Corporate Services, Singapore EntrePass 2026 guide (criteria, accredited funding, exclusions, rejection reasons): https://rafflescorporateservices.com/singapore-entrepass-2026-eligibility-compass-application-guide/
- Singapore Employment Agency, EntrePass 2026 founder walkthrough (renewal thresholds, Dependant Pass conditions): https://singaporeemploymentagency.com/entrepass-2026-a-founders-complete-walkthrough/
