Overseas Company Director? How to Verify Your Identity for Companies House From Anywhere in the World

A large share of UK company directors don't live in the UK at all. If that's you, the mandatory Companies House identity verification requirement still applies in full — there is no overseas exemption. The good news is that the process was designed from the outset to work for people anywhere in the world, provided you have the right documents to hand. Here's exactly how it works if you're based outside the UK.

Yes, this applies to you too

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, every director of a UK company must verify their identity with Companies House, regardless of where they're resident. GOV.UK's guidance makes no distinction based on nationality or country of residence — the same six-step verification standard (identity information, evidence of identity, checking the evidence is genuine, checking it belongs to you, record-keeping, and a decision to proceed) applies whether you're in London or Lagos, Dubai or Delaware.

What actually changes if you live abroad

Three things are different for overseas directors in practice, even though the legal standard is identical:

• Document routing. If you don't hold a document that supports the fast digital route, and you use the two-document manual/in-person route, at least one of your two documents must be government-issued if you're not resident in the UK.
• Time zones and appointments. If you need the in-person route, a scheduled video call rather than an office visit is usually the practical option — book one that fits your local time zone.
• ACSP fee tiers. Firms acting as your ACSP often charge a different (typically slightly higher) fee for overseas applicants, reflecting the extra correspondence, time-zone coordination and address verification often involved. At TAH, this is a flat £175, all-inclusive, compared with £125 for UK-based directors — set clearly upfront, with nothing added later.

The fastest route for most overseas directors

If you hold a biometric or machine-readable passport from any country — this is the single most useful fact for overseas directors — you can almost certainly use the fully remote, ~10-minute digital (IDVT) check. This also covers Irish passport cards, EU/Norway/Iceland/Liechtenstein biometric national ID cards, UK/CI/IoM/EU photocard driving licences, UK biometric residence permits or residence cards, and the UK Frontier Worker permit. There is no requirement to be a UK or EU national to use this route — a biometric passport from anywhere in the world is accepted.

If you don't hold a biometric passport

Some passports, particularly older ones, aren't machine-readable or biometric. In that case, the two-document route applies: either two photo identity documents, or one photo ID plus a supporting document such as a bank statement, utility bill, or similar, each dated within the last three months. As an overseas applicant, remember the extra rule: at least one of your two documents must be government-issued — a utility bill and a foreign driving licence, for example, would satisfy this, but two purely private-sector documents would not.

Proving your address from overseas

You'll still need to provide your current home address and any address you've lived at in the past 12 months, exactly as a UK-resident director would, per GOV.UK's guidance. There's no requirement for this to be a UK address — your foreign home address is entirely acceptable, and it will not be published on the public register once verification is complete.

A worked example

A UK company director living in Singapore holds a biometric Singaporean passport. She receives a secure verification link by email, photographs her passport's data page and takes a live selfie on her phone — the whole process takes under 10 minutes, at a time that suits her local schedule. Her ACSP reviews the result, submits to Companies House, and Companies House emails her personal verification code directly, with no need for a UK address, UK phone number, or in-person appointment at any point.

Choosing between GOV.UK One Login and an ACSP when overseas

You can complete this yourself for free through GOV.UK One Login from anywhere with internet access — there's no requirement to use a paid firm. Many overseas directors, however, prefer an ACSP specifically because of the time-zone gap and unfamiliarity with UK-specific document rules; a firm can flag document issues before submission rather than after a rejection. We compare the two options directly in GOV.UK One Login vs an ACSP: which should you choose?

Key takeaways

• There is no overseas exemption — every director must verify, wherever they live.
• A biometric passport from any country unlocks the ~10-minute digital route.
• Without one, two documents are needed, at least one government-issued if you're non-UK resident.
• Your foreign home address is accepted and never published on the public register.
• TAH's fixed fee for overseas directors is £175, all-inclusive.