British Virgin Island Limited Company Application Form Guide
British Virgin Island Limited Companies (BVI Ltd Co.)
The British Virgin Island is one of well recogizned offshore jurisdiction for company incorporation. Out of the key advantage is that the companies operating outside the BVI are not subject to taxation.
Guidelines to complete the BVI Company Application Form (CAF)
In order to incorporate a BVI company limited by shares, we need following information from your end:
Company Name: A BVI limited company must select a unique name that does not match the name of any exiting companies in BVI. BVI Limited Companies are typically required to use one of the following suffixes to denote their limited liability status: Limited," "Ltd,". Certain words are restricted and require permission from regulatory authorities before they can be used in a company name. For example, Bank," "Trust," "Insurance," "Fund Management," or other words that suggest the company is involved in financial services or regulated activities.
Jurisdiction: A BVI Limited Company is governed by the legal framework and jurisdiction of British Virgin Islands.
Purpose, Countries and Source of Wealth :
Purpose- When incorporating a BVI entity, you must select the most appropriate purpose based on your company activities and provide a brief discerption about the same. For example, if a company is used for holding of assets, we need to know what specific kind of asset the company is holding. (e.g., real estate, intellectual property, shares in other companies) . If it is a token issuance entity, please provide details as to nature of tokens, what rights are given to the token holders.
Countries- Indicate the countries from where the company will be operating, or where the major investment will be coming from.
Source of Wealth: Indicate the origin of the funds used to establish and manage the company, such as personal savings, salary, business profits, or investment income. For each source, provide relevant details (e.g., for salary: your employer, position, and employment duration). Similarly, specify details for other sources.
Authorized Capital: It is total amount of shares a company can be issued. The standard authorized capital for a BVI Limited Company is set at 50,000. Increasing the authorized capital beyond this will result in higher government charges. You are free to chose the par value (which is the minimum price at which a company can issue a share) and number of shares to be issued. It is advisable not issue all shares at the time of incorporation.
Shareholder: A BVI ltd company requires at least one shareholder all the time. There is no residency requirements for the shareholders. It can be corporate or an individual. The identity of shareholders are not publicly disclosed, providing level of confidentiality and privacy. If an added layer of protection is required, we recommend using our nominee shareholder services.
Directors: A BVI ltd Company requires at least one director all the time. There is no residency requirement for the director. It can be corporate entity or an individual. The details of the directors are filed with the BVI registry and hence it is a public record. So we recommend using our corporate director services.
Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO): A BVI ltd company is require to disclose its beneficial owners to the registered agent. The registered agent then stored this information on Beneficial Ownership Secure Search System. BOSS is a secure, non-public database accessible only by designated authorities, such as law enforcement agencies under special circumstance . Entities’ information is stored on a secure encrypted system and subject to robust procedural safeguards under the BOSS Act.
Kindly note that even if the entity has corporate director and nominee shareholder, it still has to declare the Ultimate Beneficial owner for the entity. The corporate director and nominee shareholder cannot be considered as UBO. The UBO has to be an individual. So we kindly ask that you provide all the requested information related to the UBO in as much detail as possible for the application.
Company Application Submission and Processing Timeline
Once the company application form is completed with all the required information mentioned above, we will send the final form for your digital signature via a signing tool. After obtaining the signed form and required KYC documents for all participants, it will be submitted to our compliance team in BVI for further review and processing. Once the KYC (Know Your Customer) is cleared from their end, the entity will be filed within the next 24 to 48 business hours. However, it typically takes around 3 to 5 business days to receive the formation documents back from the BVI Registry.
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