Establish your role and international circumstances

International identity-verification cases should begin with the person's actual Companies House position rather than their country of residence. Establish whether you are an existing or proposed director, a person with significant control (PSC), both a director and PSC, or a director of an overseas company registered in the UK.

Nationality, residence, the country that issued an identity document and the legal role connected with the UK company are separate facts. A cross-border case becomes specialist where those facts create a genuine identity, evidence, record or route-determination issue.

Decide whether the case is routine or genuinely cross-border

Check personal information and evidence for consistency

Compare the information you intend to provide with the identity evidence and relevant Companies House information. Pay particular attention to your full name, former names, date of birth, home address and recent address history where applicable.

International cases can require additional consideration where names are presented differently between documents, scripts or jurisdictions. A transliteration difference, former name, address variation or conflicting record should be identified as an actual issue rather than assumed to be problematic simply because the document is foreign.

Companies House's current ACSP standard requires the applicable information and evidence to be checked to the required standard. Where technology is used, the ACSP remains responsible for deciding whether it is satisfied that the required standard has been met.

Consider the legitimate free Companies House route

The free GOV.UK One Login route remains a legitimate starting point where it is available and suitable. Current official guidance confirms that the Companies House verification service can be used by eligible applicants and that an eligible biometric passport from any country may be usable through the applicable online route.

Check the current GOV.UK identity-verification guidance before choosing an alternative route.

Support being available does not mean support is required. An ACSP is an optional alternative where selected, suitable and professionally relevant.

Consider an optional Coddan-supported ACSP route only where suitable

An ACSP route is an authorised alternative for a person who chooses professional assistance and where the provider can undertake the verification in accordance with the applicable Companies House requirements. A person living outside the UK may use an ACSP where the agent is registered with Companies House and suitable evidence can be provided for the applicable route.

Using an ACSP does not lower the Companies House standard, replace the free route or make professional support necessary merely because the case is international.

Understand what happens during Coddan-supported verification

Coddan cannot direct or override the technology provider's result, require evidence to pass, lower the Companies House standard or determine Companies House's decision or timing.

Separate verification from the Personal Code

Identity verification and the Companies House Personal Code are separate stages. Companies House issues the Personal Code after successful identity verification; it is an 11-character code personal to the individual, not to a company.

An ACSP does not create or independently issue the Companies House Personal Code. If you have already verified your identity, do not repeat verification merely because you have not yet identified the code or used it for the applicable corporate role. Use the dedicated Companies House Personal Code guide where understanding or locating the code is the remaining job.

Separate director linkage from PSC linkage

A person who is both a director and a PSC holds two separate corporate roles. Identity verification is not ordinarily repeated merely because the same individual holds both roles, but the applicable Personal Code and role-linkage requirements must still be completed for each relevant capacity.

The same distinction applies where a person has several directorships. The Personal Code belongs to the individual, while its use connects the verified identity to the applicable Companies House records.

Identify the LLP, partnership, restoration or corporate-event interface

Not every international corporate structure should be treated as a director identity-verification case. An individual LLP member may have a management role comparable in practical importance to a director, but an LLP member must not be described as a director. The requirements applicable to an individual LLP member must be considered as an equivalent role, while a corporate LLP member is a distinct category.

A general partner in a limited partnership may manage the partnership's affairs, but director requirements should not be mechanically transferred to a general partner. Current Companies House guidance states that identity verification for limited partnerships and corporate LLP members will be introduced at a later date. It should not be suggested that every general partnership is registered at Companies House or presently subject to Companies House identity verification.

Company restoration and LLP restoration are separate legal processes. Identity verification, use of a Personal Code or outstanding filing work may interface with a restoration case, but completing identity verification does not itself restore a company or LLP. Where restoration is the remaining professional job, use the appropriate company restoration guidance or LLP restoration destination rather than treating verification as the restoration process.

Separate identity verification from connected corporate events

Identity verification does not itself complete incorporation, a director appointment, a Confirmation Statement, correction of company records, restoration or another Companies House filing.

Distinguish the international evidence issue from the ordinary overseas route

International evidence can become specialist where materially different records need to be reconciled, identity information spans jurisdictions, substantial name or transliteration differences exist, or an unusual document format creates uncertainty about which verification route applies.

An overseas passport is not automatically a specialist document, and overseas residence does not automatically require an ACSP. The evidence must be considered against the requirements of the applicable route.

Where the case is simply an existing UK-company director living abroad with suitable evidence and consistent records, use the ordinary overseas-director identity-verification destination rather than this specialist page.

Keep the distinction between individual and corporate roles

Companies House identity verification concerns the individual where the applicable requirement applies to that person's role. It should not be treated as verification of a foreign parent company, corporate shareholder or other corporate entity.

Current official guidance states that identity verification for corporate directors and corporate LLP members will be introduced at a later date. Those later-phase requirements must not be presented as current obligations without a fresh official confirmation.

Separate current requirements from later implementation phases

Current Companies House guidance identifies directors or equivalent roles, directors of overseas companies registered in the UK and PSCs among the roles subject to the current identity-verification framework. Other categories, including limited partnerships, corporate directors and corporate LLP members, are identified for later implementation.

For an overseas company registered in the UK, current guidance says the company must confirm that all its directors have verified their identities by the anniversary of the UK establishment's registration. That specific rule must not be converted into a universal deadline for every international director.

Do not transfer a future requirement for people who file, a future presenter credential or another later implementation phase into a current obligation. Where a later phase may affect the person's structure, identify it as a future consideration and route the actual current task separately.

Understand what an unsuccessful route does and does not mean

An incomplete or unsuccessful verification outcome should be treated as a route-specific issue to be understood, not as evidence that every international applicant requires an ACSP or that the free GOV.UK route is unsuitable for overseas participants.

The cause may relate to the information provided, the evidence, the selected verification process or the circumstances presented. Coddan cannot overturn a GOV.UK, Post Office or technology outcome or require an evidence set to pass.

Where the remaining professional job is specifically failed-verification reconciliation, use the identity-verification issues destination rather than converting this international page into a failed-attempt guide.

Route the remaining international identity issue to the right professional job

A specialist international case may concern evidence, record reconciliation, an overseas-company director position, or another cross-border issue. The correct destination depends on the unresolved task rather than the person's nationality or location.

Do not use this page to absorb Personal Code work, failed-verification reconciliation, ordinary overseas preparation, appointment work, formation, restoration or other corporate filing responsibilities.

Identity verification is only one part of the Companies House journey

After identity verification, the participant may still need to use the Personal Code, connect the verified identity to a director or PSC role, or complete a separate company event.

A completed identity-verification result should therefore not be presented as completion of every Companies House obligation. Conversely, an outstanding corporate filing should not automatically be treated as a failed identity-verification issue.

Assess international identity documents against the applicable route

There is no single universal list of foreign documents that can be described as accepted for every verification route. Current Companies House ACSP guidance provides more than one evidence-checking option generally, with different evidence requirements applying to different options.

Within the Coddan-supported route described on this page, technology performs the applicable identity and document checks. This does not deny that official guidance allows other evidence-checking options for ACSPs generally, and it does not create a separate manual or human-performed Coddan verification proposition.

The appropriate route should therefore be determined from the current official requirements rather than from a generic country catalogue.

Prepare the information required for international verification

Preparation should focus on the actual evidence and information required by the selected route. Current Companies House ACSP guidance identifies full name and former names, date of birth, home address, address history and email address among the information that may be required for the identity-verification process.

Where international records contain different names, addresses or other personal information, identify the discrepancy before treating the case as routine. Do not manufacture a UK address, simplify a legal name or alter genuine information merely to make records appear identical.

Understand international name differences without assuming failure

Different scripts, transliterations, former names, compound names and ordering conventions can create genuine identity questions. They do not automatically mean that verification cannot be completed.

The relevant question is whether the identity information and evidence can be reconciled sufficiently to meet the applicable Companies House standard. Where a material discrepancy requires specialist consideration, route it as an international evidence issue rather than promising that an ACSP can simply correct or override the discrepancy.

Understand the role of an Authorised Corporate Service Provider

An ACSP is a Companies House authorised agent that can verify identity on a person's behalf. Current official guidance confirms that an ACSP must be registered with Companies House and must meet the applicable AML-supervision requirement. The ACSP's Companies House registration and its separate AML supervision should not be conflated.

An ACSP may charge for its services, but payment does not lower the identity-verification standard or create privileged access to Companies House.

Within the Coddan-supported route described here, technology performs the applicable checks while Coddan reviews the resulting information and determines whether it is satisfied that the required standard has been met.

Choose the right international identity-verification route for your circumstances

The correct route is determined by the unresolved professional job. Use the following sequence rather than treating every international case as a specialist or paid-support matter.

Keep identity verification separate from AML, KYC and CDD

Companies House identity verification is a defined statutory process. It should not be presented as interchangeable with wider anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer or customer-due-diligence work.

An ACSP may have separate obligations arising from its own regulated activities, but those obligations do not change the Companies House identity-verification standard or turn AML, KYC and CDD into the identity-verification result.

Nothing Further Required may be the correct outcome

If the applicable identity verification is complete, the Personal Code has been issued, the relevant director or PSC role step has been completed and there is no connected corporate event remaining, there may be Nothing Further Required for the identity-verification task.

This does not mean that every company obligation has disappeared. A separate filing, appointment, correction, restoration or other corporate event remains the responsibility of its own process and destination.

Use current official guidance for timing and implementation

There is no universal November 2026 deadline applying to every international director. Companies House states that identity-verification timing depends on the person's role and the applicable process, while some categories remain scheduled for later implementation.

Use the current Companies House guidance for the person's role rather than relying on a generic international deadline or assuming that every cross-border case follows the same timetable.

Official guidance reviewed: 13 September 2026.