The process of registering and operating a business in the UK is governed by the government agency named the Companies House. The formation process (for both UK & non-UK resident) will require you to send your application to the Companies House for approval either by post or through a web portal or through an authorized agent.

The registration process does not differentiate between a UK resident (or citizen) from a Non-UK resident. You can be citizen or resident of any country in the world and still register your UK Ltd company. However, there is a very important point to note in this process. Every company formed in the UK requires a registered office address and this cannot be provided by the non-UK resident. That’s why most non-UK residents use a company formation agency to register their UK limited company. 

Let us look into the standard registration process for non-UK resident:

The Companies House requires a company to nominate three crucial positions

  1. Director
  2. Shareholder
  3. Person of significant control

A single person can hold all three positions and he/she can be a citizen/resident of any country and be more than 16 years old. There are no upper limits to the number of directors or shareholders you can nominate, but there should at least be one person.

Next, you are required to choose a name for your company. Offensive, explicit and names that are too close to existing businesses are not allowed.

Companies House requires a registered office address that is physically located in the UK. This will be your company’s official address and communications from HMRC and Companies House. All our international packages (for non-uk resident formation) include our prestigious London office address.

You will also have to provide a service address. Unlike the registered office address, the service address can be anywhere in the world. Again, you can opt to use our prestigious London address service if you wish to. To be listed and begin trading, you can choose to register with the HMRC for corporation tax. Optionally, you can also choose to register for VAT.

If you are looking to register your overseas business (Branch) in the UK, skip ahead and proceed to our simple 3 step formation to register your UK company online, with a prestigious London Registered office address, free UK Business phone number and tons more.

Want to register your UK limited company today?


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