Department for international trade offices worldwide

The Department for International trade helps UK businesses to explore and sell to overseas market. On the same note, they also encourage and help overseas businesses to trade and grow in the UK. Below is the department for international trade offices worldwide contact information to help you get started.

Overseas company in the UK

An overseas company wants to set up a place of business in the UK must register with Companies House. You must register your overseas company within one month of opening for business in the UK.

If you do not have a base in the UK then you do not need to register.

Our accountants can help you to register your overseas company.

Get information about a British company

You may get information about a British Company from the Companies House in the UK. The information you can get include the following:

• Signed and approved Company accounts
• confirmation statement
• The company date of incorporation
• Company names including company name change history, if applicable.
• Current and past company registered office addresses
• company registration numbers issued by Companies House.
• Current and past company directors and secretary’s details
• The company’s current trading status – active or dissolved
• insolvency information, if applicable.

Certificate of good standing for a British company

The certificate of good standing certifies that your company has been in continuous, unbroken existence since its incorporation and that no action is currently being taken to strike it off the Companies House register.

When a certificate of good standing is needed?

If you would like to register a branch overseas such as in Hong Kong or Malaysia or Singapore, the Registrar of Companies in the home country would require the certification that your UK company is in compliance and still active. Banks, lenders, a business corporation based overseas that collaborate with your UK company would require you to provide them with a certificate of good standing to prove the existence of your company at the time of entering into a business transaction with you.