United Kingdom · Guide
The short answer: yes, from any country. The UK imposes no nationality or residency requirement on directors or shareholders. One director aged 16 or over, no minimum capital, no visit to the UK, everything filed online for £100. What you do need: a UK registered office address, a registered email address, and, since 18 November 2025, a completed identity verification. The actual filter is no longer Companies House. It is the bank, and we route you to that answer below.
"Yes, foreigners welcome" is the easy part. What actually decides whether you can complete the process from abroad is the identity verification requirement that came into force in November 2025. This guide covers eligibility, that new step in full, and what your passport does and does not change.
This is general information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Companies House rules are official as of August 2026. Sanctions and platform policies change quickly; if your situation touches either, verify against primary sources and get qualified advice before acting.
What you actually need (and what you don't)
UK company law asks surprisingly little of a founder. Here is the division of labor for a non-resident using a formation agent, and the third column is the headline:
- A company name (checked against the register)
- One director's details, aged 16 or over
- Shareholder and PSC details (people with significant control)
- A registered email address
- Your identity verification, done via GOV.UK One Login or through the agent
- A UK registered office at an "appropriate address"
- A director's service address, to keep your home address off the register
- Filing of the incorporation for the £100 Companies House fee
- Mail scanning and forwarding
- Reminders for the confirmation statement and accounts
- UK citizenship or residency
- A UK visit, before or after formation
- A local director, secretary or "partner"
- Minimum capital (one £0.01 share is fine)
- A UK bank account, to incorporate
- A visa or any immigration status
Two details worth naming because they changed recently. Since ECCTA took effect in March 2024, a PO Box no longer works as a registered office: the law requires an address where documents can be delivered and an acknowledgment obtained, which is why every non-resident rents one from an agent. And every company now needs a registered email address, used by Companies House for official communication.
The filing mechanics, field by field, are in how to register a company in the UK. If you are still choosing a structure, the answer for 95% of non-resident founders is a private company limited by shares; the alternatives are compared in UK company types.
The new step to plan for: identity verification
Since 18 November 2025, every new company director must verify their identity with Companies House at the point of appointment, and people with significant control (PSCs) must verify too. Directors and PSCs appointed before that date get a transition period of 12 months, tied to the company's confirmation statement date, per gov.uk guidance; the exact boundary of that window is worth re-checking against the current guidance before you rely on it, since the deadline wave lands around November 2026.
This is the step the non-resident pages skip, and it is precisely the step that behaves differently when you live abroad. There are two families of routes, and only some of them work from outside the UK:
| Route | Works from abroad? | Cost | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOV.UK One Login app | Yes | Free | A smartphone and a biometric passport (most modern passports qualify) |
| One Login web route with security questions | Generally no | Free | A UK financial footprint (credit history), which non-residents lack |
| Post Office in-person route | No | Free | Being physically in the UK |
| Authorised agent (ACSP) | Yes, "from any country" per gov.uk | Paid; market prices seen around £20 to £50, unconfirmed | An authorised formation agent or accountant who verifies documents for you |
The practical rule for a founder abroad, as of August 2026: the One Login app with a biometric passport is the only free remote route. The web route's security questions assume UK credit history, and the Post Office route assumes you can walk into one. If your passport is not biometric, or the app cannot read the chip, the fallback is an ACSP, which is exactly the service formation agents have added to their non-resident packages.
Once verified, you receive a personal code that attaches to your record and follows you across companies; you verify once, not per company.
One misconception to kill early: this verification is for Companies House, not for your bank. The bank will run its own KYC from scratch, with its own rules, which is a large part of why banking is the true filter (more below).
- Mar 2024PO Box ban: appropriate address and registered email required
- May 2024Incorporation fee £12 to £50
- 18 Nov 2025Identity verification goes live
- 1 Feb 2026Fees doubled to £100, confirmation statement £50
Your registered office and service address, done right
Every UK company needs a registered office in the UK jurisdiction it was incorporated in, and since 2024 it must be an appropriate address: somewhere a document delivered by hand or post reaches a person acting for the company, with an acknowledgment possible. Agent-provided addresses meet this test; a PO Box does not, and a random residential address you have no rights to is a compliance problem waiting to be found by a register that now checks.
As a non-resident you will rent two things, usually bundled: the registered office (market rate roughly £20 to £60 per year) and a director's service address (around £26 per year) so your home address stays off the public register. Your name, month and year of birth, nationality and service address are public; your residential address is not, if you use a service address. What the whole setup costs, line by line, is in the cost guide.
What your passport actually changes
This is the question founders from Russia, Belarus, Central Asia and other "gray zone" countries actually have, and the accurate answer has two layers that the internet keeps merging into one.
- Layer 1: the law. UK company law imposes no nationality condition. A citizen of any country can incorporate and direct a UK ltd, unless they are personally designated under UK sanctions or the company would breach a specific prohibition. Sanctions screening runs against lists of named persons and entities, not against passport covers. As of August 2026 there is no blanket legal bar on, say, a Russian or Belarusian citizen owning a UK company.
Layer 2: platform policy, which is stricter than the law. Formation agents, banks and payment platforms each apply their own restricted lists, typically keyed on residence first and citizenship second, and often aligned with both UK and EU sanctions regimes because the groups operate across both. The December 2025 wave made this concrete: under the EU's 19th sanctions package, Wise and Revolut blocked cards for Russian and Belarusian citizens who could not show an EEA or Swiss residence permit, with Wise keeping transfers open and restoring cards on proof of a permit. The UK is not bound by EU packages, but group-level platforms apply the strictest rule they face across their footprint.
The practical consequences, stated carefully and without workarounds: a gray-zone passport with legal residence in a supported country is usually assessed case by case, with extra document checks; the same passport resident in the home country often hits automated declines regardless of merits; and misrepresenting residence to a platform converts a "no" into frozen funds. The provider-by-provider picture, dated, lives in the business bank account guide, and we keep dedicated pages per starting point: UK company from Russia, from Belarus, from India and from Nigeria.
Owning a UK company does not give you a visa
Worth its own section because the confusion has immigration consequences.
- What is legal with no immigration status at all: owning and directing a UK ltd from abroad. You can sign contracts, invoice clients, hire UK contractors and take dividends without ever entering the country.
- What is not: coming to the UK and working in the business on a visitor visa. Physically working in the UK requires a route that permits it, and incorporation grants none.
The Innovator Founder visa and other routes are separate applications with their own endorsement and investment requirements, assessed by the Home Office with no regard for the fact that your company already exists. If relocation is the actual goal, start from immigration advice, not from a formation package.
Taxes: the five lines that matter
The detail lives in two dedicated guides, but the five lines every non-resident should hear before incorporating, as of August 2026:
- A UK-incorporated company is UK tax resident by default and pays UK corporation tax on its worldwide profits: 19% on small profits up to £50,000, 25% above £250,000, marginal relief between.
- "I live in Dubai, so my UK ltd pays 0%" is a false shortcut. Where you live changes your personal taxes, not the company's default UK residence.
- Double tax treaties can shift a company's residence where central management and control sit elsewhere; that is a real doctrine with real conditions, not a checkbox.
- Your home country will usually want to tax you on what the company pays you, and possibly on the company itself under its own rules.
- VAT is a separate system with a £90,000 UK turnover threshold; below it, most non-resident service businesses simply are not registered.
The company's side is in UK corporation tax; your side, including the straight answer on dividends for non-residents, is in taxes for non-resident owners.
Costs for a non-resident, in two lines
Companies House charges £100 to incorporate and £50 per year for the confirmation statement, both doubled on 1 February 2026. A realistic non-resident all-in is roughly £250 to £700 in year one and £400 to £1,600 per year after, once addresses, verification and an accountant are included; the full line-item breakdown, including the anatomy of "£12.99" packages, is in the UK company cost guide.
Banking: what actually decides it
Everything above is genuinely open to you. The step that is not automatic is the business bank account, and the UK market has a fact the comparison pages avoid printing: Starling is closed to non-residents outright, and Monzo is reported closed too, while the providers that do accept non-resident founders each draw different lines on residence and passport. Prepare before applying, because with fintech onboarding a rejection tends to stick. The provider-by-provider rules, dated, plus the anti-rejection checklist, are in the UK business bank account guide.
The UK remains one of the most genuinely open jurisdictions for a non-resident founder: £100, one day, no visit, no local director. The two steps that reward preparation are identity verification and banking, and both go better decided before incorporation than after. If you want the whole sequence handled in order, formation, addresses, verification and a banking eligibility read for your passport and residence, that is what the UK formation package covers.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner open a company in the UK?
Yes. There is no nationality or residency requirement for directors or shareholders of a UK limited company. You need a UK registered office address, a registered email, one director aged 16 or over, and since November 2025 a completed identity verification.
Do I need to visit the UK to set up a limited company?
No. Incorporation is fully online, and identity verification can be done from abroad, either free via the GOV.UK One Login app with a biometric passport or through an authorised agent for a fee.
Can a non-resident be the sole director and shareholder?
Yes. One person, resident anywhere, can be the sole director and 100% shareholder. No local director, secretary or minimum capital is required.
How do non-residents verify their identity for Companies House?
Two remote routes as of August 2026: the GOV.UK One Login app with a biometric passport, which is free, or a paid verification through an authorised agent (ACSP). The web route relies on UK credit history and the Post Office route requires being in the UK, so most non-residents use the app.
Do I need a UK address?
The company needs one: a registered office at an appropriate address, which non-residents rent from an agent for roughly £20 to £60 per year. You personally do not need any UK address.
Does owning a UK company give me a visa?
No. Ownership and remote management require no immigration status, and confer none. Working in the UK for your company requires a visa route such as Innovator Founder, which is a separate application.
Do non-residents pay UK tax on a UK company?
The company pays UK corporation tax on its worldwide profits by default, at 19% to 25%. What you personally owe depends on your country of residence and any treaty; see the tax guides for the honest breakdown.
Can Russian citizens register a UK company?
As of August 2026, UK law does not bar non-sanctioned Russian or Belarusian citizens from incorporating. In practice, agents, banks and payment platforms apply stricter private policies, usually keyed on residence, and the December 2025 EU sanctions package tightened card access at Wise and Revolut for those without an EEA or Swiss permit. See the dedicated page for the full dated picture.
How long does it take?
Most digital incorporations complete within 24 hours of submission, once identity verification is done. The slow steps for a non-resident are verification, if the app route fails, and banking.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Companies House identity verification, who needs it and how to verify
- GOV.UK: set up a private limited company (directors, addresses, requirements)
- Companies House: fees for incorporation and confirmation statements
Companies House requirements, fees and the identity verification rules are official as of August 2026 (gov.uk). The 12-month transition window for pre-existing directors and PSCs is described per gov.uk guidance but its exact boundary is pending re-verification. Banking and payment-platform policies are private commercial rules that change without notice; they are dated where cited and covered in depth in the banking guide.