An offshore company in the BVI means stability, a lot of benefits, as well as confidence in the future. Given the ease of registering a business in the BVI, incorporating an offshore company in this territory can contribute to a much more dynamic development of your business.

The British Virgin Islands, or BVI, is a British dependency with a total area of 151 km², consisting of a system of 36 islands. The capital of the country is Rhode Town, which is located on the island of Tortola, the largest of the system.

The population is 37,381 people. The US dollar is the main currency, and English is the official language.

The British Virgin Territory was granted self-government in 1967. Thus, the main Government body of the BVI is the Executive Council, headed by the Governor. The main legislative body of the BVI is the Assembly.

Requirements

The procedure for registering a company in the BVI is quite simple, but amendments are constantly being made to the legislation, which must be monitored and taken into account in time. Thus, the last change led to a tightening of investor identification rules.

Now beneficiaries when registering BVI companies need to provide bank statements of those banks where they have been clients for at least six months. In addition, confirmation of the registration addresses of the founders and a full package of their personal data is required.

Registration procedure

Registration (incorporation) of an offshore company in the BVI is extremely simple. The whole procedure is clearly regulated by the legislation of the BVI and, as a rule, takes not more than two weeks.

Personal participation of the head of the company in the incorporation process is not required – all incorporation events can be performed by an agent.

For incorporation of an offshore company in British Virgin Islands a package of documents needs to be prepared, including incorporation documents, certified as true and translated into English (articles of incorporation, articles of association and others), which confirm creation of a legal entity. All documents must be notarized. For their preparation the registration agent needs:

• scanned copies of the passports of the shareholders of the company;
• scanned copies of passports of directors of the company;
• A completed application form for registration, including details of the company and its name (the latter will be checked by the agent to ensure it is unique in the BVI).

After payment of the capital contribution and registration fees, the prepared articles of incorporation will be submitted to the BVI Registry of Companies. To simplify the process, you can also use BVI incorporation services provided by a large number of multinational agencies.

Advantages of opening a company in the British Virgin Islands

Companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands are by most measures the most popular offshore holding structure in the world. Although offshore vehicles are used for a variety of purposes around the world, there are a number of common factors that contribute to the success of the product in the British Virgin Islands. While companies are the most popular vehicles in the BVI, trusts and partnerships in the BVI are also becoming increasingly popular.

Many of the advantages of the British Virgin Islands are common to many other jurisdictions (English language, no currency controls, US dollar as currency, stable democracy, common law legal system with final recourse to the Privy Council in London), a number of other advantages.