Verifying your identity with Companies House from abroad: a country-by-country guide (2026)

TL;DR. Around 18% of UK-registered companies have at least one non-UK-resident director, and many of them can't use the free GOV.UK One Login route because it depends on a UK credit file and a narrow list of supported passports. This guide explains what actually works for residents of China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, the UAE, the US, the EU, and most other major jurisdictions, with the document-by-document details we've worked through with real overseas clients.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 didn't make a special carve-out for overseas directors. The verification requirement applies the same way to a director sitting in Shanghai as it does to one in Sheffield. What differs is which route is workable — and for a substantial chunk of overseas directors, the only route is an ACSP that handles document-based verification with international ID.

We've run verifications for directors from more than 30 countries since the regime began. Below is what we've learned country by country, plus the cross-cutting issues (address proof, notarisation, name transliteration) that trip people up regardless of jurisdiction.

Why the free GOV.UK route fails for most overseas directors

GOV.UK One Login has two flows for verification. Both have hidden constraints that exclude most non-UK residents.

The biometric flow excludes most non-Western passports

The GOV.UK ID Check app reads the chip on biometric passports. As of May 2026, the supported passport list includes:

All EU/EEA member states (chip-enabled ePassports)
United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR
Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia (partial — depends on issuance year)
Some Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina)

What's notably not supported in 2026:

Mainland China (Chinese ePassports include a chip but use non-ICAO data structures that the GOV.UK app cannot read)
India (Indian passports issued before 2023 don't have chips; chipped passports from 2024 onwards are supported but slowly being rolled out)
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt (chips present but not on the supported list)
Russia, Belarus (excluded for sanctions reasons)
Most African nations (chips not consistently available)

If you hold a passport from any of the unsupported countries, the biometric flow is closed to you.

The document-based flow requires a UK credit file

The fallback inside One Login asks 4–6 knowledge-based authentication questions drawn from your UK credit file: previous addresses, lenders, account opening dates. If you've never lived in the UK, your file is empty. If you lived in the UK briefly more than 6 years ago, the file is too thin. Either way, you'll fail the KBA questions and get locked out.

There is no manual override. One Login does not have a "I'm non-UK resident, please verify me a different way" route.

What this leaves you with

For most overseas directors, the practical answer is an ACSP with international document review experience. The fee is typically £35–£100 depending on complexity. The process is:

You upload your passport and one address proof through a secure portal
A human reviewer authenticates the documents
A live video call or selfie verifies you're the person on the ID
Sanctions screening runs
The ACSP submits to Companies House and you get your Personal Code within 1–3 working days

The rest of this guide covers the country-specific details.

China (Mainland)

Population of Chinese-resident UK company directors: estimated 12,000+ as of 2025, concentrated in tech, e-commerce, and trading companies.

Documents that work

Chinese passport — accepted by ACSPs under document review, not by One Login's biometric flow
Hukou (户口本) — not accepted as primary ID by Companies House, but some ACSPs accept it as a secondary corroborating document
Resident Identity Card (居民身份证) — useful as a corroborating document, not as primary ID
Driver's licence (机动车驾驶证) — not accepted as primary ID

Address proof challenges

The biggest issue for Mainland Chinese directors is address proof. Companies House (and most ACSPs) require:

A document in your name
At a residential address you actually live at
Dated within the last 3 months
From a recognised institution (utility, bank, government)

In Mainland China:

Utility bills are usually in the property owner's name, not the tenant's. If you rent, the bill is in your landlord's name, which doesn't count.
Bank statements from major banks (ICBC, BoC, CCB, Agricultural Bank, China Merchants Bank) are accepted by most ACSPs if they show your full Mandarin name and a Chinese address in Pinyin or include an English translation page.
HMRC-equivalent tax letters from the State Administration of Taxation (税务局) work, but most individual taxpayers don't receive periodic letters.

The most common practical answer: a bank statement from one of the major banks, downloaded from internet banking with an English-translation page (most major Chinese banks offer this).

If you can't produce a single document that satisfies the requirements, some ACSPs accept a notarised statement of residence issued by a Chinese notary (公证处) and accompanied by an apostille (since China joined the Apostille Convention in November 2023, this is now straightforward).

Name transliteration

Your passport shows your name in Pinyin (e.g., "WANG XIAOMING") and Chinese characters. The Companies House register will hold whatever was entered at incorporation — usually the Pinyin form, sometimes in a non-standard order.

Common issues:

Surname/given name order reversed (e.g., register shows "Xiaoming Wang" instead of "Wang Xiaoming")
Diacritics dropped or added inconsistently
Different romanisation systems (Wade-Giles vs Pinyin vs Hong Kong romanisation for Cantonese names)

Fix the register first with CH01 or PSC04 so it matches your passport exactly. ACSPs cannot verify if the names don't reconcile.

Two practical points

Don't use a VPN during verification. If the ACSP's verification system geolocates you to a country sanctioned by the UK (Russia, Belarus, Iran, North Korea), the verification will fail at sanctions screening. Use a clean connection.
Time zones matter for express delivery. London is GMT (or BST). If you submit at 23:00 Beijing time, that's only 16:00 London — usually fine for same-business-day pickup, but check the ACSP's local cutoff time.

Hong Kong SAR

Hong Kong is one of the most favourable jurisdictions for overseas verification because:

HKSAR passport is on the GOV.UK biometric flow supported list (so One Login can work)
Bank statements from HSBC HK, Standard Chartered HK, Hang Seng, Citi HK are routinely accepted as address proof
Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID) is accepted as secondary ID by most ACSPs

The catch: if you've never had a UK credit file, the One Login document-based fallback won't work. So if your passport chip reading fails (the GOV.UK ID Check app sometimes glitches on HK passports), you can't fall back to the document route — you'll need an ACSP.

Practical notes

Address on HKID is not normally on bank statements. Most HK bank statements show the bank's address, not yours. Ask your bank for a "proof of address letter" (HSBC and Standard Chartered both offer this on request).
Companies House does not require Chinese-character names. Your passport's Latin-alphabet name is sufficient.

Singapore

Similar to Hong Kong — Singaporean passports are supported by the GOV.UK biometric flow, so a UK biometric passport-holder who lives in Singapore can usually use One Login.

The address-proof situation is easier in Singapore because:

Utility bills (SP Services) are issued in the resident's name
Bank statements from DBS, OCBC, UOB include the full residential address
IRAS tax assessment notices work as address proof

If One Login fails (usually due to no UK credit footprint for the document fallback), an ACSP route works smoothly. Singapore is the country with the highest first-pass verification success rate in our internal data, after the UK itself.

India

India is one of the trickier jurisdictions.

Passport situation

Pre-2023 Indian passports don't have chips — biometric flow is closed
Post-2024 e-passports are being rolled out gradually, but most directors still hold older non-chip passports
ACSPs accept Indian passports under document review

Address proof options that work

Aadhaar card — yes, accepted by most ACSPs as primary ID and address proof in one document (uniquely useful)
Utility bills — accepted if in your name; problematic if billed to the household head
Bank statements from HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Axis routinely accepted
PAN card alone is not address proof (no address printed)

Aadhaar caveat

Some ACSPs decline to accept Aadhaar because of the UIDAI's biometric data linkage and ongoing legal challenges. If yours does, fall back to bank statement + passport.

Name format

Indian passports often show only the surname and given names without a separate field for caste/family name. The Companies House register sometimes holds the name with the family name as middle name, which causes mismatches. As always: fix the register first.

United Arab Emirates

UAE is a high-volume jurisdiction for UK company directors (free-zone trading entities, holding structures).

Documents that work

UAE passport — supported by GOV.UK biometric flow for residents who hold UAE citizenship
Emirates ID (EID) — accepted as secondary ID by most ACSPs; useful for address corroboration because it carries the residential address
Most expatriate directors in the UAE hold non-UAE passports (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Filipino) — they verify with their home-country passport, not the UAE one

Address proof

This is where the UAE gets unusual. Most expatriates live in DEWA, ADDC, or SEWA utility-billed apartments where the bill is in the landlord's name. Workarounds:

DEWA "ejari" tenancy contract — accepted by some ACSPs as supporting evidence
Emirates NBD, ADCB, FAB bank statements — accepted if showing the residential address
Salary certificate from your employer — accepted by some ACSPs alongside a bank statement

The pragmatic answer for most UAE-resident directors: a bank statement from a major UAE bank, with your home address on it, dated within 3 months.

United States

US-resident directors generally have it easy:

US passport — supported by GOV.UK biometric flow
State driver's licence — accepted by ACSPs as supporting ID
Utility bills, bank statements, IRS letters — all standard

The only common issue: the US doesn't have a centralised credit identity equivalent to a UK credit file, so the One Login document-based fallback (if biometric fails) doesn't have data to work with for someone who's never been a UK resident.

In practice, the biometric flow works for most US directors first time.

European Union and EEA

Most EU/EEA passports are supported by the GOV.UK biometric flow. The fallback document route depends on a UK credit footprint, so EU residents who've never lived in the UK can't use it.

In practice:

Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium — biometric flow works smoothly
Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria — passport chips are supported, but some older passports were issued without chips; check yours before assuming
Greece, Portugal, Hungary — generally fine

EU national identity cards (chip-enabled) are also supported by the biometric flow. If your passport is in a drawer somewhere and you can't be bothered to find it, your national ID card works.

Other notable jurisdictions

Australia, New Zealand, Canada

Supported by biometric flow, smooth process. If you have a UK credit footprint (common for expatriates who lived in the UK), document-based fallback also works.

Japan, South Korea

Japanese and South Korean passports are supported by the biometric flow. Address proof from major banks works. Names in Latin script on the passport are accepted; you don't need to provide kanji/hangul versions.

Brazil, Mexico, Argentina

Chip-enabled passports from these countries are supported as of late 2025. Address proof from utility bills (CEMIG, Light, CFE) is accepted by most ACSPs. Notarisation through the Apostille Convention works smoothly since Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are all signatories.

Israel

Israeli passport supported by biometric flow. Bank statements from Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim, and Discount Bank accepted as address proof.

South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt

Generally not supported by the biometric flow. ACSP route with apostilled documents is the workable path. Notarised address declarations sometimes needed in lieu of utility bills.

Russia, Belarus, Iran, Syria, North Korea

Verification is technically possible but practically very difficult. UK sanctions and AML regulations require enhanced due diligence on directors with strong residential ties to these jurisdictions. Some ACSPs decline to take on these cases entirely. If you're in this situation, you'll need to find an ACSP with explicit policies for high-risk jurisdictions and expect substantially longer processing times.

The cross-cutting issues that hit every overseas director

Apostille and legalisation

Since the Hague Apostille Convention covers most major jurisdictions (with China joining in November 2023), apostilled documents are now the norm. An apostilled document is one that's been authenticated by a designated authority in your country — the document then has cross-border legal validity without further legalisation.

When you need it:

If you're using a notarised statement of residence instead of a utility bill
If you're using a notarised passport copy because the original is being renewed
If your ACSP explicitly requests apostilled documents (some do for high-risk jurisdictions)

How long it takes: usually 1–3 weeks. In China, the public notary (公证处) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (or designated authority) handle this. Budget the time before your filing deadline.

Translations

If your documents are not in English:

Most ACSPs accept documents in English or a major European language without translation
Documents in non-Latin alphabets (Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean) often need an official translation
A "certified translation" is one performed by a recognised translator and stamped — your ACSP should tell you which translators they accept

Time zones and processing

Most UK ACSPs operate London business hours (09:00–17:30 GMT/BST). If you submit at 02:00 your local time, you might think the ACSP has gone silent, but it's just sleeping. Plan your submission for around the ACSP's morning so you maximise the chance of same-day pickup.

Address mismatch when you have multiple homes

A common situation: you're a director resident in Hong Kong but you spend most of your time in London. The Companies House service address on file is your London flat. Your bank statement shows the Hong Kong address. Which is "right"?

The answer: your service address on Companies House is the address where official correspondence is sent — it doesn't have to be your residential address. But your address proof for verification should match where you actually live. The ACSP cross-checks that your verified address matches your stated residence — not your service address.

If the two are different, just tell the ACSP up front. They'll verify against your residential address (the one in the proof document) without needing the service address to match.

The realistic timeline

For an overseas director using an ACSP, expect:

Day 1: Submit documents through ACSP portal
Day 1–2: ACSP reviewer authenticates documents, requests anything missing
Day 2–3: Live video call or selfie check (if not already done at submission)
Day 2–4: Sanctions screening and Companies House cross-check
Day 3–4: Personal Code issued and emailed

Express tiers compress this to 1 working day, but only if you've submitted clean documents and respond to ACSP queries within an hour.

Sources and references

Overseas verification, done properly

VerifyDirector handles ACSP verification for directors in more than 30 countries. We've run the document review for clients in Shenzhen, Lagos, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Tokyo — most of them in 3 working days, some in 24 hours when needed.

If your situation is straightforward and you hold a passport on the GOV.UK supported list, use One Login. It's free and it works.

If it isn't — see our pricing for overseas verification. £35 standard, £45 express. We'll tell you up front if your case is more complex than the standard fee covers, before you pay.