Overseas Directors: How You Can Take This Service From Anywhere in the World

If you're a director of a UK company but you don't live in the UK, you've probably already discovered that Companies House identity verification wasn't designed with your specific situation front of mind. That doesn't mean it's optional for you — it isn't — but it does mean the "just do it yourself online" route that works for a UK resident can quietly fall apart the moment you try it from Lagos, Dubai, Singapore or anywhere else outside the UK. This article walks you through exactly what to expect, why the free government route so often stalls for overseas directors, and how to get verified properly without the frustration.

First, the part that doesn't change: you must still verify

There is no overseas exemption. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, every director of a UK company must verify their identity with Companies House, regardless of nationality or country of residence. GOV.UK's guidance on the identity verification standard applies the same six-step check — identity information, evidence, checking it's genuine, checking it belongs to you, record-keeping, and a decision to proceed — no matter where in the world you're sitting when you complete it.

Why GOV.UK One Login is often a dead end for overseas directors

GOV.UK One Login is free, and for many UK residents it works well. But look closely at what it actually asks for, and the problems for overseas directors become obvious quickly. According to GOV.UK's own "Verify your identity for Companies House" guidance, self-verification through One Login accepts only five document types: a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence, a UK biometric residence permit, a UK biometric residence card, or a UK Frontier Worker permit. If you don't hold a biometric passport — some older passports simply aren't machine-readable — your only listed photo ID options are all explicitly UK documents. There is no equivalent slot for a foreign driving licence or a foreign national ID card in the self-service route.

Then there's the fallback problem. GOV.UK's guidance is explicit that if you can't use the standard photo ID route, the service will check whether you can instead verify "with bank or building society details" (which requires a UK National Insurance number) or "in person at a participating Post Office" — and both of these fallback options are, in Companies House's own words, offered specifically "if you live in the UK." If you're not UK-resident and you don't hold a biometric passport, you can run out of road on One Login very quickly, through no fault of your own.

Beyond the document rules, there are the practical frictions that GOV.UK's guidance doesn't spell out but that overseas directors hit in real life: no UK mobile number to receive verification prompts, no UK bank or credit history to draw on, no UK address for the parts of the process that implicitly assume one, and a live chat or helpline that keeps UK office hours while you're seven, nine or twelve time zones away. None of this makes One Login impossible for every overseas director — if you hold a biometric passport, it can still work — but for a meaningful number of directors abroad, it's a frustrating dead end rather than the free 15-minute job it's designed to be.

Why an ACSP solves this properly

This is precisely the gap an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) exists to close. GOV.UK confirms directly that "you can ask an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), such as an accountant or solicitor, to verify your identity on your behalf" and that, per GOV.UK's companion guidance on verifying your identity, this "can be done from any country." As your ACSP, Director Personal Code (operated by Tax & Accounting Hub Ltd) manages the whole thing on your behalf: reviewing which of your documents actually qualifies before you submit anything, running the check through our identity service provider, applying our own compliance review, and submitting your Identity Verification Statement to Companies House as your authorised agent. You're not troubleshooting a government portal alone from a different time zone — you have a named firm to email.

Crucially, the document rules for the ACSP route are wider than the pure self-service list. Per GOV.UK's identity verification standard, the digital (IDVT) route accepts a biometric or machine-readable passport from any country, plus a defined list of UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, EU, Norwegian, Icelandic and Liechtenstein documents. If you don't hold any of those, the two-document route opens up a much broader list — including foreign driving licences, firearms licences, work permits, visas, and address documents such as bank statements and utility bills. The one extra rule that specifically affects you as a non-UK resident: at least one of your two documents must be government-issued. A utility bill plus a foreign driving licence satisfies this; two private-sector documents do not.

What this actually looks like for you, step by step

1. You apply online. Complete our short application form with your personal details, company details, and confirmation of which documents you'll use — from wherever you are.
2. You sign our engagement letter and pay the fixed fee. For overseas directors this is a flat £175, all-inclusive — no VAT, no add-ons, no surprises later.
3. You complete the identity check. If you hold a biometric passport from any country, this is a roughly 10-minute digital check: photograph your passport's data page, take a live selfie, done. If you don't, we arrange a scheduled video appointment at a time that suits your local time zone, where a trained reviewer examines your two original documents on camera.
4. We review and submit. Our compliance review checks everything against the required standard before we submit your Identity Verification Statement to Companies House as your authorised agent.
5. Companies House emails you your personal code directly. We never see or handle this code — it goes straight to you, wherever you are.

What documents actually work if you're overseas

The single most useful fact for an overseas director: a biometric or machine-readable passport from any country unlocks the fast digital route. If your passport isn't biometric, the two-document route accepts a wide range of alternatives, provided at least one is government-issued: a foreign driving licence, a national ID card, a firearms licence, or a visa or work permit, paired with a supporting document like a bank statement or utility bill dated within the last three months.

Your address doesn't need to be a UK address either. You'll be asked for your current home address and any address you've lived at over the past 12 months, exactly as a UK-resident director would — but your genuine overseas address is entirely acceptable, and it is never published on the public register once verification is complete.

Timescales you can actually plan around

With a biometric passport, the digital check itself takes about 10 minutes once you receive your secure link, and you can complete it at whatever hour suits you locally since there's no live appointment involved. Our compliance review and submission typically follow within a working day or two. For the two-document video-call route, the main variable is simply finding a slot that overlaps sensibly with both time zones, which is usually straightforward.

A worked example

A UK company director based in Dubai holds a biometric UAE passport. She applies online, pays the £175 overseas fee, and receives a secure verification link by email that evening. She photographs her passport and completes a live selfie from her phone in under 10 minutes, at a time that suits her. Director Personal Code reviews the result against our compliance checklist and submits her Identity Verification Statement to Companies House the next working day. Companies House emails her 11-character personal code directly — no UK address, no UK phone number, and no in-person appointment required at any point.

Why not just keep trying One Login?

If you hold a biometric passport and are comfortable navigating a government digital service unassisted, there's nothing wrong with trying GOV.UK One Login first — it's free, and it may simply work. Where it tends to break down for overseas directors is the fallback scenario: an older, non-biometric passport, no UK document to substitute, and no UK bank or Post Office fallback available because those routes are built for UK residents. Rather than getting stuck mid-process and starting again, most overseas directors find it faster overall to come to an ACSP directly. We compare both routes fully in Our GOV.UK One Login vs ACSP FAQ.

Key takeaways

• There is no overseas exemption — every director must verify, wherever they live.
• GOV.UK One Login's photo ID list for self-verification is limited, and its fallback options are explicitly for UK residents.
• An ACSP can verify you from any country, using a wider range of documents.
• A biometric passport from any country unlocks the ~10-minute digital route with an ACSP.
• Your foreign home address is accepted and never published on the public register.
• Director Personal Code's fixed fee for overseas directors is £175, all-inclusive, no VAT.