Companies House identity verification: the 18 November 2026 deadline and what to do if you miss it

Last updated: 30 October 2026. Checked against GOV.UK guidance on 30 October 2026.

Short answer. Companies House identity verification is compulsory for every director and every person with significant control (PSC) of a UK company, including people who live abroad. Existing directors give their personal code in the company's next confirmation statement, and the 12-month transition ends on 18 November 2026. If you do not have a chipped passport that works in the GOV.UK One Login app, use an authorised corporate service provider (ACSP).

Companies House expected 6 to 7 million people to verify by mid-November 2026. If you live in the UK and hold a UK passport or photo driving licence, the free GOV.UK route usually works. The people most likely to be stuck are directors and owners who live in Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore or elsewhere, and who assumed the rule was for UK residents. It is not. This guide explains who has to act, the two ways to verify from abroad, what happens if you miss your date, what to do if you already have, and a step-by-step route for a director living in the UAE or India.

Who has to verify, and by when

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. It applies to:

• Directors of UK companies, including directors who live outside the UK.
• People with significant control (PSCs), the individuals who own or control more than 25% of the company or otherwise control it.
• Directors of overseas companies that have a UK establishment registered at Companies House.

Corporate directors, corporate LLP members and the officers of corporate PSCs (relevant legal entities) are not yet in scope. Companies House says their verification will start at a later date. If you are forming a new UK company from abroad, our guide to registering a UK company as a non-resident covers formation, tax and banking alongside this step.

Your deadline depends on your role.

The 12-month transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 18 November 2026. In practice, your real deadline is usually earlier, because it is tied to your company's confirmation statement date or your birth month. You can see the exact due date for each of your roles by looking yourself up on the Companies House register (the "Find and update company information" service). Filing a confirmation statement early does not move a PSC's 14-day window.

If you are both a director and a PSC, you verify once but give your code twice: once in the confirmation statement as a director, and once through the separate PSC service as a PSC.

How directors and PSCs who live outside the UK can verify

There are two routes. Both lead to the same result: an 11-character Companies House personal code that belongs to you, not to any company.

Route 1: verify yourself with GOV.UK One Login (free). You create a GOV.UK One Login account and prove your identity with photo ID. Companies House accepts a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence, or a UK biometric residence permit, residence card or Frontier Worker permit. You will also be asked for your current address and the year you moved in.

For someone living abroad, the realistic way through this route is the GOV.UK One Login app, which reads the chip in your passport with your phone and checks your face against the photo. Two points catch people out:

• The passport must have a chip and must be in date. An expired passport cannot be used in the app. A chipped (biometric) passport carries a small chip symbol on the cover: a circle inside a rectangle. Many passports in circulation, including older Indian passports issued before India moved to chipped e-passports, do not have a chip.
• The other One Login routes are for UK residents. Proving your identity with UK bank details (which needs a National Insurance number) or at a Post Office is only offered to people who live in the UK.

Route 2: verify through an authorised corporate service provider (ACSP). An ACSP is a firm, such as an accountant, solicitor or company secretarial provider, that is registered with Companies House and supervised by a UK anti-money laundering body. The ACSP checks your identity documents and confirms the result to Companies House. Companies House says you can do this from any country. The ACSP may charge a fee, and Companies House emails your personal code to the address the ACSP gives it.

Which route should you use? If you have an in-date chipped passport and a recent smartphone, try One Login first. It is free. If you do not have a chipped passport, your passport has expired or is about to, or the app keeps failing, use an ACSP. Do not post or email identity documents to Companies House. It does not accept them.

If you own several UK companies, or own through a holding company. You verify once, not once per company. In most cases you verify a single time and then use the same personal code for every appointment, and Companies House says you should not verify again unless it asks you to. But each company has its own dates. A director of four UK companies gives the code in four confirmation statements, each on that company's own date. A PSC of several companies who is not a director has one birth-month window, but must give a statement for each company.

Holding companies change who verifies. If your UK company's registered PSC is a corporate entity (for example, a UAE holding company recorded as a relevant legal entity), that holding company does not verify yet, and nor do its officers. The individuals who are directors of the UK company still must. Check that the register shows your ownership chain correctly. This is a common gap in groups owned from abroad, and in businesses whose owners have moved to the UAE but kept the UK company (our guide to relocating a UK business to the UAE covers the wider points). For the governance side of directing a UK company from abroad, see our guide to running board meetings that hold up in a tax audit.

What happens if you miss your deadline

This is now enforced. On 16 September 2026, three directors were fined at City of London Magistrates' Court in the first prosecutions for identity verification offences. Two had continued to act as directors without verifying, and one had failed to take reasonable steps to stop an unverified co-director from acting. The fines were modest (between £80 and £307 each, plus costs), but each person now has a criminal conviction. All three were also convicted because their companies filed confirmation statements late.

Under section 167M of the Companies Act 2006:

• A director who acts without being verified commits an offence.
• The company, and every officer in default, also commits an offence if it lets an unverified director act.
• The penalty on conviction is a fine. Companies House can also issue financial penalties to the company or to individual officers, and unverified PSCs may be committing an offence too.

The practical effects arrive before any court case:

• Your company cannot file its confirmation statement until every director is verified. Failing to file a confirmation statement on time is a separate offence and can lead to the company being struck off.
• A note can be published against your name on the public register.
• You cannot be appointed as a new director of an existing company, or register a new company.
• Companies House sends a default letter once your due date passes, and says enforcement may then follow "without further notice". Its options include prosecution, referral to the Insolvency Service and director disqualification.

One point that matters for deals and banking: section 167M(6) says the director's acts remain valid. A contract you sign while unverified is not void. The risk is to you personally and to the company's standing, which buyers, lenders and banks will see on the register.

I missed my date: what now?

Act straight away. Until you verify, you are breaking the law each time you act as a director, and your company cannot bring its filings up to date. The steps are the same before and after 18 November 2026.

1. Verify now. Use GOV.UK One Login if you have an in-date chipped passport, or an ACSP if you do not. Either way, you get your personal code.
2. If you are a director, give your code and file the overdue confirmation statement. The company can file once every director has verified. The filing fee is £50 online (since 1 February 2026). A late confirmation statement is an offence in its own right, so file it as soon as the last code is in.
3. If you are a PSC, give your code through the PSC service. If your PSC date is close and you cannot make it, you can ask Companies House to extend it by up to 14 days. This is at the registrar's discretion, and once it is granted you stay compliant until the new date.
4. If you have had a default letter, read the timeframe in it. Where there were exceptional circumstances linked to your due date, you can send a written representation within that timeframe. Companies House does not consider representations sent late. If it accepts one, it usually pauses enforcement for up to 2 months, which gives you time to comply.

The rules do not stop on 18 November 2026. After that date, the transition is over, but new directors still verify before they are appointed and new PSCs still verify within 14 days of being added. Anyone who joins a UK company board or cap table from then on follows the same routes described above.

Step by step: verifying from Dubai or India

A worked example. Priya lives in Dubai. She is a director and 60% shareholder of Acme Trading Ltd, a UK company (both names are fictional). Her company's confirmation statement date is 30 October.

1. Check your due dates. Search your name on the Companies House register. Each of your roles shows an "identity verification due" date. Priya sees one date for her director role (tied to the confirmation statement) and a 14-day window for her PSC role.
2. Look at your passport. Is it in date, and does it have the chip symbol on the cover? Priya holds an Indian passport issued in 2019 with no chip, so the One Login app is not an option for her.
3. Choose your route. With a chipped passport and a compatible phone, start GOV.UK One Login and use the app. Without one, go to an ACSP. Priya uses an ACSP.
4. Complete the check. With an ACSP, you send the documents it asks for and complete its identity check remotely. With One Login, you scan your passport chip with your phone and then scan your face, so the app can match you to the photo.
5. Save your personal code. You get an 11-character code. Keep it safe. You use the same code for every UK company where you are a director or PSC, and you can share it with whoever files for the company.
6. Give your code as a director. It goes into the company's next confirmation statement. Acme's statement cannot be filed until Priya and any co-directors have supplied their codes.
7. Give your code as a PSC. Separately, within your 14-day PSC window, through the Companies House service for PSC verification statements. Priya does this in the 14 days after 30 October.

Do not leave this to the final week. If the app fails or a document is rejected, you need time to switch to an ACSP before your date.

How Cosmos helps

Cosmos runs the back office for businesses that own companies in more than one country. Our AI-native platform keeps one compliance calendar for every entity you own, and named specialists check the work before anything is filed.

For a UK company owned or directed from abroad, we can:

• Arrange your identity check through our UK authorised partner, from wherever you live.
• Check every director's and PSC's due date across all your UK companies, so nobody misses a window.
• Prepare and file the confirmation statement once every director has verified.
• Keep the rest of the UK calendar running: annual accounts, the corporation tax return, VAT for non-resident businesses and payroll where needed, alongside your entities in other countries.

See our UK jurisdiction page and UK pricing, or book a call.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to verify my identity with Companies House if I live outside the UK? Yes. The requirement applies to every director and PSC of a UK company, wherever they live. There is no exemption for non-residents.

What is the deadline for existing directors? You give your personal code in your company's next confirmation statement after 18 November 2025. The 12-month transition ends on 18 November 2026. Check the register for your exact due date, because it is usually earlier.

Can I use GOV.UK One Login with a non-UK passport? Yes, if it is a biometric passport with a chip and it is in date. Companies House accepts a biometric passport from any country. If your passport has no chip or has expired, use an ACSP.

What is a Companies House personal code? An 11-character code issued once you have verified. It belongs to you, not to any company. You use the same code for every director and PSC role you hold, and you can share it with whoever files for your company.

How do PSCs verify their identity? PSCs verify in the same way, through One Login or an ACSP, and then give their personal code through a separate Companies House service. Existing PSCs who are not directors use the first 14 days of their birth month. PSCs who are also directors use the 14 days after the company's confirmation statement date.

What happens if I do not verify my identity with Companies House? Acting as a director while unverified is a criminal offence, and the company commits an offence too. Your company cannot file its confirmation statement, a note can be added to the register, and Companies House can issue financial penalties or prosecute. The first directors were fined in September 2026.

I missed my date: what now? Verify at once, through One Login or an ACSP, and give your code. If you are a director, your company should then file its overdue confirmation statement straight away (£50 online). If you have had a default letter and there were exceptional circumstances, reply within the timeframe it gives.

Do I need to verify separately for each company? No. You verify once and use the same personal code for every role. Each company still needs your code by its own due date.

Does verifying cost anything? GOV.UK One Login is free. An ACSP may charge a fee for carrying out the check.

Sources: GOV.UK, Verify your identity for Companies House; GOV.UK, When you need to verify your identity for Companies House; GOV.UK, Companies House personal codes; GOV.UK, Companies House approach to non-compliance; GOV.UK news, first prosecutions (17 September 2026); Companies Act 2006, section 167M.