Verify your identity for Companies House from Dubai or the UAE
Most people who write to us from Dubai are not Emirati — they are British, Indian, Pakistani, Iranian or European residents running a UK company from the Gulf. Your residency does not matter and neither does your nationality. What matters is which document you use, and it is not your Emirates ID.
What this means
- Use your passport, whatever country issued it. The £39 digital check accepts a biometric or machine-readable passport from any country, so a British, Indian, Pakistani, Emirati or other passport all work the same way.
- Your Emirates ID is not accepted on the automated check — Companies House limits identity cards on that route to the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Do not start the check with it; it will fail and you will have to begin again with your passport.
- No proof of address is needed for the digital check, so your Ejari, DEWA bill or tenancy contract is not required. If you take the video call instead, a bank statement is accepted whatever address it shows, and a utility bill is accepted at your current address.
- One rule applies because you live outside the UK: at least one of your documents must be government-issued. A passport satisfies it on its own.
- The UAE is three or four hours ahead of the UK. The digital check needs no appointment, so that is irrelevant; if you need a video call we book UK-morning slots that fall in your early afternoon.
How to put it right
- 1
Check your documents
Tell the free checker which passport you hold. For nearly everyone in the UAE the answer is the digital check.
- 2
Verify on your phone
About five minutes from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in the Emirates: photograph your passport, then a short live photo. No appointment, no UK travel.
- 3
Get your code
Companies House issues your personal code once we confirm your identity — usually within minutes, occasionally up to two working days.
Regulated Companies House agent (ACSP AP006589)
We deal with strike-offs, overdue filings and identity verification every day. If we can’t help, we’ll tell you who can.
Check your documents free →Frequently asked questions
I am a British citizen living in Dubai. Can I still do this from here?
Yes, and it is the most common case we see from the UAE. Where you live makes no difference to the check. Use your British passport on the digital check, give your Dubai address as your usual residential address — Companies House never publishes it — and your code is issued as normal.
Will my Emirates ID be accepted?
Not on the automated digital check, which accepts identity cards only from the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Use your passport instead. On a video call a qualified accountant can consider any photographic identity document catalogued on PRADO, but the passport is simpler and cheaper, so there is rarely a reason to.
I hold an Indian, Pakistani or Iranian passport. Does the country matter?
No. There is no list of approved passport countries, and we will never tell you a passport is unsupported because of where it was issued. If it is biometric or machine-readable and in date, it is accepted on the digital check.
My UK company has no UK-resident director. Is that allowed?
Yes. There is no requirement for a director or PSC to live in the UK. The company needs a UK registered office address, which we can provide; the people behind it can live anywhere.
Can I pay from a UAE card?
Yes. We take payment by card in pounds sterling and your bank converts at its own rate. We add no VAT, so the £39 or £49 quoted is the total.
Do you offer this to corporate service providers in the UAE acting for clients?
Yes, as a volume arrangement, with one firm condition: every individual completes the live digital check or a live video call themselves. We do not accept certified copies, photographs of someone holding their passport, or verification done by a third party — Companies House requires the ACSP to verify the person directly, and we do.
We’re TaxStats ID, an authorised Companies House agent (ACSP AP006589) from TaxStats Ltd — independent, and not Companies House or GOV.UK. We’ll do what we can and, for anything outside what we handle, we’ll tell you honestly and point you to the right person. Prefer to talk? Call 0161 317 8556.