Can I use the Post Office to verify my identity for Companies House from abroad?

No. The Post Office route for Companies House identity verification is an in-person check at a participating Post Office branch, and Post Office branches are in the UK. You enter your photo ID details in the GOV.UK One Login service first, download a customer letter, then take the letter and your original photo ID into a branch by the date shown, usually around 15 days later. GOV.UK describes the Post Office and the security-questions fall-back as options the service offers "if you live in the UK". If you are outside the UK and the One Login app cannot verify you, the route Companies House provides is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), which GOV.UK says you can use "from any country".

What the Post Office route is

Companies House published a step-by-step guide to the Post Office route on 28 November 2025 and updated it on 22 September 2026. The steps are:

1. Enter the details from your photo ID in the Verify your identity for Companies House service and choose the Post Office you want to visit.
2. Download your Post Office customer letter from the confirmation email. You can ask for a posted copy, but it can take up to six working days to arrive and the clock does not stop while you wait.
3. Take the letter, on your phone or printed, and your original photo ID to a Post Office that offers in-branch verification. It does not have to be the branch you chose online. A photocopy or a digital image of the document is not accepted.
4. Staff scan the QR code on your letter. The check is free.
5. Staff take your photo and scan your ID.
6. GOV.UK One Login emails the result, usually within one day. You sign in, return to the Companies House service and see your 11-character personal code. Since 8 July 2026 the code is also emailed to you.

Two time limits apply: visit by the date on the letter, usually around 15 days from the confirmation email, and complete the whole process within 21 days of booking. Miss either and you start again.

The Post Office accepts a UK passport, a non-UK passport, a UK photocard driving licence, an EU photocard driving licence, or a national identity photocard from an EU country, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. Expired documents cannot be used.

Who it suits

The Post Office route exists for people in the UK whom the app cannot handle. That includes someone with a passport issued before 2006, which has no chip; someone whose phone has no NFC reader or is too old for the app (it needs an iPhone 8 or later on iOS 16.7, or Android 10 or later); someone whose face match keeps failing; and anyone who would rather hand a document to a person.

It can also work for someone abroad who is coming to the UK anyway. Start the online part a few days before you travel, visit any participating branch during the trip, and the result usually arrives the next day. That only helps if the trip falls before your deadline: the confirmation statement date for an existing director, or the first 14 days of the birth month for an existing PSC who is not a director, in the transition year that ends on 18 November 2026.

The other free fall-back: security questions

If the app route is not available to you, GOV.UK One Login may offer to verify you with bank or building society details. You provide your National Insurance number and answer security questions about things such as a mobile phone contract, bank account, credit card, loan or mortgage. GOV.UK lists this, like the Post Office, under what the service will offer "if you live in the UK".

The questions are drawn from a UK financial footprint. Someone who left the UK years ago and closed their accounts usually has nothing current to match, so this route rarely rescues a director overseas.

Why One Login cannot always be used from abroad

The app route itself is not restricted by country. GOV.UK accepts a biometric passport from any country, and the app reads the chip with an NFC-capable phone and then runs a face match. You also need your current address and the year you moved in, an email address that has not been used to verify anyone else, and a way to receive security codes; Companies House has said new users can use the authenticator app option. Plenty of people abroad get through in a few minutes.

The app stops when the passport has no chip or has expired, when the phone cannot read the chip, when the face match fails, or when the name on the passport no longer matches the register. At that point One Login offers its fall-backs, and both are built for people in the UK. There is no manual route at Companies House and nobody there can override the check. GOV.UK is explicit: "Do not post or email your identity documents to us."

The ACSP route from outside the UK

An ACSP is an agent registered with Companies House and supervised for anti-money laundering. GOV.UK says: "You can do this from any country, but your agent must register with Companies House to become authorised."

The process is set by Companies House. You give the ACSP your full name and any former names, date of birth, home address, 12 months of address history and an email address, plus evidence of identity. The ACSP checks the documents to the Companies House identity verification standard, keeps the records for seven years, and tells Companies House. Companies House then emails your personal code to the address the ACSP gave, usually within a few hours. You do not need a One Login account for this.

Vaulex Group is an ACSP, number AP021384, and verifies British passport holders anywhere in the world. You order online, upload your passport and proof of address, run the chip-and-likeness check on your own phone, and an AML-qualified person reviews the case. We take the cases the app turns away: older or non-chip passports, a changed name, an address history that spans countries. Standard verification is £149.99 per person and takes three working days from when everything is in. Fast track is £349 per person: the personal code within 24 hours counted on working days, once you have completed the biometric checks and we have everything we need.

What to have ready

Whichever route you use, gather these first:

• your current passport, ideally the chipped one issued after 2006
• proof of your home address abroad, such as a bank statement, utility bill or tenancy agreement
• a document showing any change of name since the passport was issued, such as a marriage certificate
• your addresses for the last 12 months
• an email address you control and check

The personal code is the first half of the job. The second half is providing it for each role: with the confirmation statement for a directorship, and through the "Provide identity verification details for a PSC" service for a PSC role, at each company.

This is information, not legal advice; we are not solicitors or accountants.

Start when you are ready

Try the One Login app first if you have a chipped passport and an NFC phone. If it stops, or you already know it will, order verification at https://my.vaulex.co.uk/verify and we will take it from there. If you are not sure whether you are affected, type the company name into our free checker at https://guides.vaulex.co.uk/am-i-affected and it shows every director and PSC, whether each has verified, and the date Companies House wants it by.