UK Company Formation from Pakistan

No. Neither residency nor a UK passport is required to be a director or shareholder of a UK private limited company, and the whole incorporation runs remotely. What Companies House does require is a registered office in the UK and a registered email address it can actually use to contact the company.

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, every director and person with significant control has to verify their identity with Companies House, either directly or through an authorised agent. It became mandatory for new directors and new incorporations from 18 November 2025, which also started a 12-month transition for everyone already in post. An existing director verifies by the company's next confirmation statement, which cannot be filed until every director has; a PSC who is not a director has 14 days from the start of their birth month. Acting as a director without verifying is an offence, though it does not invalidate what the director signed.

That the information Companies House holds on your company, its registered office, its directors, its PSCs and its shareholdings, is still correct as at a set date each year. It has to be filed within 14 days of that date even where nothing has changed, and the online filing fee is £50. A late confirmation statement is a criminal offence on the part of every director, not just an administrative default.

A private limited company’s first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation, and every year after that, nine months after the accounting reference date. Penalties are automatic and rise with how late you are: £150 up to one month, £375 up to three months, £750 up to six months and £1,500 beyond that, doubled if you were late the year before as well.

No. The registered office must be a physical address in the UK, in the same UK country the company is registered in, so a company registered in Scotland needs a Scottish address. It must also be an appropriate address, meaning someone acting for the company is made aware of post delivered there, and a PO Box no longer qualifies. A company without a compliant address can be struck off, which is why most overseas founders use an accountant’s or an agent’s address with their permission.

The government fee is £100 to register online, paid by card, or £124 by post on form IN01. That is Companies House’s own fee for the incorporation itself. Registering online usually sets the company up for Corporation Tax at the same time, unless it is dormant.

Some of them. Directors’ names and a service address are published on the Companies House register, and so is the registered office address, which is why a home address is best kept off it. A director who gives a home address as the service address can ask Companies House to remove it. The registered email address is not published.

Every private limited company needs at least one director, who must be 16 or over and does not have to live in the UK. Registering the company needs the personal code each director receives after verifying their identity with Companies House. Someone disqualified from being a director, or an undischarged bankrupt, needs the court’s permission to act.