Who can certify
A notary public, lawyer, chartered or certified accountant, serving police officer, embassy or consular official, or a regulated bank officer. The certifier must be independent of you.
Three documents, for every person connected to the company. We ask for them by email once your application is paid for, but this is the part of a formation that takes the longest, so it is worth gathering them first. What is required differs depending on whether a party is a person or a company; where a corporate shareholder sits in the structure, you will need both.
3
Documents per person
Passport, proof of address, CV. One set each.
3 months
How recent they must be
Anything certified or dated earlier has to be redone.
1 day
To review your file
If something is missing you get the whole list at once.
A scan of the photograph page, notarised as a true copy of the original and as a true likeness of the holder.
What we accept
What we cannot accept
A notarised copy of a document in the individual’s own name showing their physical residential address.
What we accept
What we cannot accept
Living with a partner or family and holding nothing in your own name? Tell us before you gather anything, and we will agree an alternative rather than have you commission a notarisation we cannot use.
A current CV or professional résumé, signed and dated. It supports the source-of-funds and activity declarations rather than repeating them.
What it must cover
And
We may also ask for a bank or professional reference, or documentary evidence of the source of funds, such as a sale agreement, a dividend statement, an inheritance or probate document, where the declared activity, the amounts involved or the jurisdictions concerned make it appropriate. If so, we will ask once, with everything listed together.
Certificate of Incorporation
Certified copy. Include any Certificate of Change of Name, and the Certificate of Registration by Continuation if the entity moved jurisdiction.
Memorandum & Articles, or Constitution
Certified copy as currently in force, including every amendment. The equivalent instrument is fine where the entity is not BVI: bylaws, charter, statuts, partnership deed.
Register of Directors
Certified and current, showing every serving director and the date each was appointed.
Register of Members, Shareholders or UBOs
Certified and current, showing each holder, the number and class of shares held, and the date of entry. Where a separate beneficial ownership register is kept, send that too.
Certificate of Incumbency
Issued by the entity’s registered agent and dated within the last three months. It confirms the directors, members and standing as at the date of issue, and supersedes the registers where the two disagree.
Certificate of Good Standing
Issued by the registry of the entity’s jurisdiction within the last three months, confirming it exists, has filed what it must and owes no fees.
Ownership structure chart
Signed and dated by a director, showing every layer between the corporate shareholder and the natural persons at the top, with percentages at each level. Trusts, foundations and nominee arrangements must be shown, not omitted.
Individual documents on the people behind it
The three individual documents for each director of the entity, each authorised signatory, and each natural person holding 10% or more through the chain. Where the chain runs through several companies, this applies at the top, not at each layer.
Legalisation. Corporate documents from outside the BVI may need to be apostilled or consularised as well as certified, depending on the jurisdiction. Documents not in English need a certified translation attached to the original. Both add days, so ask us which applies before you commission anything.
Who this covers, whichever route applies. Every director, every shareholder or member, and every ultimate beneficial owner. If one person or entity holds several of those roles, one set of documents covers them.
A notary or approved certifier confirms in writing that they have seen the original and that the copy is a true likeness of it. We cannot accept a plain scan, however clear.
A notary public, lawyer, chartered or certified accountant, serving police officer, embassy or consular official, or a regulated bank officer. The certifier must be independent of you.
That the copy is a true copy of the original, and, on the passport, that the photograph is a true likeness of the person. Plus the certifier's name, position, firm, address, contact details, signature and date.
Documents in a language other than English need a certified translation. We can arrange one; tell us early, because it adds days rather than hours.
You complete the application and pay
Nine schedules covering the company, its capital and its people, then any additional services, then checkout. No documents are needed at this stage.
We email you
Within one working day of payment we write to the address on your application, listing exactly which documents we need for each person named on it.
You reply with the documents
Attach them to your reply. Everything from here runs through that one email thread. There is no portal to register for and no password to keep.
We review
Usually one working day. If anything is missing or will not be accepted, we come back once, in a single list, rather than in a drip of separate emails.
We file
Only once the file is clean. This is the point at which the Government fee is paid to the Registry.
If we cannot proceed with your order because our compliance checks cannot be satisfied, we refund every fee you have paid us. In full.
We can promise this because of the order of operations: we complete due diligence before we file, so the Government fee has not yet been paid to the Registry and there is nothing sunk to deduct.
What this covers. Any case where we decline to act, or cannot complete verification, after you have paid: a document we cannot accept, a check we cannot clear, a jurisdiction or activity we are not able to service.
What it does not cover. A change of mind after the company has been incorporated, or fees already paid to the Registry on a completed filing. Once the certificate exists, the Government fee is spent.
Refunds are made to the original payment method, normally within five working days of us telling you we cannot proceed.