BVI Company Register Search: A 2025 Guide for Compliance Teams
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) remains one of the world's most opaque corporate jurisdictions.
With nearly 12 businesses for every individual, many of which are shell companies, the BVI has earned a reputation as a haven for tax evaders and criminals. As recently as June 2025, it was grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for its lack of beneficial ownership transparency.
It poses several significant challenges for financial crime teams. For one, it doesn’t have a searchable online database, and critical information, such as shareholder disclosures, is held by Registered Agents that do not need to provide it to financial crime teams.
How do you ‘build a picture’ of a BVI company with such a lack of company information? BVI companies are often multi-jurisdictional, which means that access to 300+ official company registers, in real time, in one place, is imperative.
This article is for financial crime professionals navigating the BVI’s Registry of Corporate Affairs. It will show the available information, how to access it, and upcoming reforms.
Is the BVI Company Register Public?
No, and here’s why:
The Registry of Corporate Affairs (also the Commercial Registry) doesn’t provide a searchable online database. You must send written requests via a PDF document directly to the Registrar.
The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission claims this will change, with an online public search function “available soon”. But it isn’t clear when it will be rolled out.
How to Search the BVI Registry
Start by submitting a Search Request Form (R820) for $50 to the Registry at internationalsearches@bvifsc.vg.
Processing: After being submitted, investigators will receive the search report within 24 hours.
What Information Is Actually Available?
A BVI Search Report will provide the following information:
Company name (and previous name), number, and type.
Date of incorporation.
Status description and date.
Registered agent and address.
Registered office address.
Share/capital information.
Remember: Each ‘Search Report’ also lists the number of documents and changes filed with the Registry.
Documents
After receiving your search report, you can request company documents in the same ‘International Searches Form’. This includes:
Copy of Certificate of Incorporation, Restoration, Merger, Consolidation, Arrangement, Continuation, Discontinuance or Dissolution: Certified ($75). Uncertified ($50).
Certificate of Good Standing: $100.
Certified or uncertified copy of a memorandum: $100.
Special Worded Certificate: $75.
Request for List of Directors: $75 (A Register of Directors is not publicly available unless the company decides to make it so).
Remember: BVI-registered companies are not legally obliged to file annual accounts, annual returns, a register of charges, financial statements or tax returns. Moreover, information on shareholders is not filed with the database, but with Registered Agents.
The Registered Agent Problem
Every BVI company must have a licensed Registered Agent in the BVI at all times. If it doesn’t, it’s in breach of the Act and can be struck off the register.
Duties of Registration Agents
Company formation: Incorporate the company and file statutory documents with the BVI Financial Services Commission (FSC).
Registered office: Maintain the company’s registered office in the BVI and act as its official local representative.
Record-keeping: Keep copies of core corporate records (e.g. registers of members, directors, beneficial owners) at its BVI office.
Beneficial ownership compliance: Collect, verify, and file up-to-date beneficial ownership data in the BOSS/VIRRGIN system.
AML/KYC duties: Conduct customer due diligence, monitor clients, and report suspicious activity under BVI AML laws.
Regulatory liaison: Receive and forward official correspondence or notices from BVI authorities to the company.
Filing and fees: Pay annual government fees and file required updates (e.g. BO filings, name changes, economic substance information).
Cooperation with authorities: Respond promptly to lawful requests from the FIA, FSC, ITA, or other competent authorities.
Takeaway: Think of a Registered Agent as the conduit between the company and everyone else, from the authorities to foreign banks.
What Documents Must They Maintain?
Under the BVI Business Companies Act (ss. 96, 118–121) and BOSS Act (s.8), a Registered Agent must keep at its BVI office:
The memorandum and articles of association.
The register of members (shareholders).
The register of directors.
The register of charges (if applicable).
The beneficial ownership register (and related verification data).
Copies of resolutions, consents, and minutes of directors and members (or access to them).
Accounting records sufficient to show the company’s financial position (kept by or accessible through the RA).
Takeaway: Most of the critical company information is held by the Registered Agent.
The Registered Agent Loophole: How to Actually Get Shareholder Data
To verify BVI UBOs, financial crime teams must access shareholder information through the company’s Registered Agent. The reality:
RAs must obtain company consent before disclosing to banks or compliance teams.
RAs must disclose without consent only to: BVI competent authorities, UK government (Exchange of Notes), or via Mutual Legal Assistance requests.
Most compliance teams hit a dead end at this stage.
Takeaway: Registered Agents must provide certified copies of shareholder or beneficial ownership records only to competent authorities under statutory request, or to a bank/KYB team if the company authorises release.
Beneficial Ownership: The 2026 Timeline
Theoretically, the British Virgin Islands has a UBO register. In practice, it’s a different story.
Proposed Implementation: The British Virgin Islands made beneficial ownership reporting mandatory as of January 1, 2025, with a deadline in July 2025.
Implementation Pushback: This was extended in May 2025 to January 1, 2026.
Full Rollout: The British Virgin Islands expects to enable “obliged entities” such as banks to start making requests by April 2026.
The Effect: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey-listed the British Virgin Islands in June 2025, citing its lack of transparency surrounding beneficial ownership.
The Controversial Act
The British Virgin Islands’ proposed beneficial ownership Act has several weaknesses:
Notification of Beneficial Owners: Once a request by a ‘Legitimate Interest’ party (e.g., a journalist) is made, the UBO of a BVI-registered entity will be notified. Transparency International said it will place “journalists and civil society actors at serious risk of retaliation and legal intimidation”.
Objections and Appeals Process: The Act allows beneficial owners, once notified that a request has been made, to object or appeal the disclosure of their information.
Delayed Rollout: A clause in the Act prevents enforcement if government information systems aren’t adequate; the BVI government has delayed reporting obligations until January 1, 2026, one year later than anticipated.
Which UBO Information Will Be Available?
For Individuals: Full legal name, month and year of birth, nationality and the nature of their interest in, or control over, the company.
For Companies: Name (and alternative names), incorporation number, registered or main office address, country of incorporation or registration, and legal form.
Legitimate Interest Access
People and institutions with a “legitimate interest” can access beneficial ownership (UBO) information in the BVI under the regime effective from 1 April 2026. Here’s how it will work:
Step 1: Check that you qualify
You can apply only if you have a legitimate interest, meaning one of the following applies:
You’re investigating, preventing, or detecting money laundering, terrorist financing, or proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF).
The entity you’re enquiring about is connected to a person under investigation or convicted for ML/TF/PF.
You’re an “obliged entity” (e.g. a bank, law firm, or corporate service provider) carrying out customer due diligence (CDD) under AML laws.
Step 2: Submit your request
Send a written application to the Registrar of Corporate Affairs in the approved form and pay the prescribed fee of USD 75. Include:
The reason you’re seeking the information.
A declaration confirming the BO information will be used only for the stated purpose.
Step 3: Registrar review
The Registrar may ask for more details if needed to verify your legitimate interest or refuse your request if:
You haven’t met the requirements.
Granting access is not in the public interest.
Step 4: Entity notification (for most cases)
If your request is accepted, and you’re not an obliged entity, the Registrar will:
Notify the company you’re enquiring about.
Tell them the purpose of your request and, if applicable, the name of your organisation.
Give the company five days to file an objection notice.
Note: This doesn’t apply to “obliged entities”.
Step 5: Objection process
If the company objects, it has five further days to submit a formal application opposing disclosure. That application must:
Identify the relevant beneficial owner.
Explain why disclosure shouldn’t be granted.
Provide evidence supporting any of these reasons: the request is false or improper, it would endanger the beneficial owner or their family, the BO is a child, or it wouldn’t be in the public interest.
Step 6: Registrar decision
The Registrar reviews the objection and any evidence.
If satisfied that an exemption applies or the public interest would be harmed, the Registrar can refuse disclosure (either fully or temporarily).
Otherwise, the Registrar grants access, allowing you to inspect or obtain a copy of the relevant entry in the Beneficial Ownership Register.
Takeaway: Financial crime teams cannot verify the UBOs of BVI-registered companies without access to shareholder information.
Red Flags To Watch For
Struck-Off Status: What It Really Means
When you see “Struck Off” on a BVI company, treat it as a serious red flag.
Meaning: The company’s been abandoned, or someone’s trying to disappear it to dodge scrutiny or liability.
Formal Notice: Before the strike-off happens, the Registrar formally gives the company up to 90 days to fix the issue or show cause why it shouldn’t be struck off. If nothing happens, the strike-off goes ahead, and the notice is published in the BVI Gazette.
Once Struck Off: The company can’t trade, sue, be sued, or deal with its assets. That legal paralysis is exactly what bad actors exploit: they use struck-off entities to park or hide assets, counting on the fact that the company itself can’t legally act.
Takeaway: Don’t just see strike-off as admin neglect; it’s often part of a deliberate concealment strategy.
Restoration: What to Watch For
Bringing a struck-off company back to life isn’t easy. The owners need to fix all compliance issues, pay fees, and usually get a High Court order. Once that order’s granted, they’ve got 60 days to file it with the Registrar to complete the restoration.
From an investigative point of view, this stage is gold. A company that’s been dormant suddenly trying to get restored almost always means someone wants access to its assets: to legitimise them, move them, or clean them up.
Restoration forces the company to update its records and settle its debts, which can reveal previously hidden transactions or ownership trails.
Remember: This is why monitoring restoration filings should be part of any asset tracing or recovery playbook. It’s one of the few moments when the paper trail has to come back to life.
Why Cross-Border Verification Matters
A BVI entity rarely operates alone: its shareholders are typically Cayman companies, its directors hold UK appointments, and its subsidiaries span Singapore, Hong Kong, and Delaware.
Verifying a single BVI company means tracing an entire corporate web across five, ten, or twenty registries, each with different portals, fees, and response times. This structural complexity is precisely why financial criminals favour BVI incorporation: the deliberate fragmentation exhausts compliance resources.
Kyckr's consolidation of 300+ global company registers transforms this multi-week, multi-system ordeal into a unified workflow. While the BVI entity itself may require manual handling, its entire ownership chain, directorship network, and subsidiary structure can be mapped through one platform using live shareholder data, eliminating the need to submit PDF forms to twenty different registries while waiting for a BVI Registered Agent to respond.
See how Kyckr handles cross-border corporate structures here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is the BVI company register public?
No. The BVI Registry of Corporate Affairs does not provide a searchable online database. You must submit written requests via PDF for $50 per search.
How much does a BVI company search cost?
A basic search report costs $50. Additional documents range from $50-$100 each (certificates, memorandums, director lists).
Can I see who owns a BVI company?
Not directly. Shareholder information is held by Registered Agents who are not obligated to disclose it without the company's consent. Beneficial ownership data will be accessible to "obliged entities" from April 2026.
What does "struck off" mean for a BVI company?
It means the company has been removed from the register for non-compliance. The company cannot legally trade or deal with assets while struck off, a tactic often used to hide or park assets.
How long does a BVI company search take?
The Registrar typically provides search reports within 24 hours of submitting Form R820.
