United Kingdom Company Formation FAQs

Nominee directors or shareholders are allowed in the UK.

The UK has two categories of Tier 1 visas. The Tier 1 Innovator/Entrepreneur visa is for an investment in a British startup or business of at least £50,000. The Tier 1 Investor visa is for investments of at least £2,000,000 by investing in share capital in British companies or purchasing British bonds. You must live in the UK for at least nine months of the year and then after five years, you can receive Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), the British equivalent of permanent residency status. You can then become a British citizen after six years of ILR status. 

You can form a private limited company in the UK even if you are not a resident of the UK. 

The most attractive tax benefit is to earn a smaller salary and receive more of your earnings through shareholder dividends. That will reduce your tax burden because dividends are not subject to the National Insurance Contribution.

Many of the UK building societies and banks have offshore arms where you can access to open an account. The recommendation is to have most of the directors and shareholders be UK residents to facilitate the process of opening a bank account for your company.