The incorporation is effective from the date of filing the Memorandum and Articles of Association with the Registrar of Corporate Affairs. It generally then takes the Registrar of Corporate Affairs between three to five days to allocate a company number to the company, issue a Certificate of Incorporation and return stamped Memorandum and Articles of Association via its electronic filing system, VIRRGIN.

The British Virgin Islands are among the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean, with the main source of revenue being tourism and the financial sector. With a politically stable government, a UK based system of law and English as the official language, the BVI is an attractive jurisdiction to register a company.

The British Virgin Islands have been regulated by the independent Financial Services Commission since 2001. The BVI Financial Services Commission is the regulatory authority for all financial services operating in, or from within, the British Virgin Island. The FSC is dedicated to safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of legitimate businesses whilst prohibiting any illegal or unauthorised business.

Since the adoption of the BVI International Business Companies Ordinance in 1984 there have been over 450,000 companies incorporated, demonstrating the dominance of the British Virgin Islands as a major offshore jurisdiction.The British Virgin Islands are a stable, established, tax efficient jurisdiction in which to incorporate.

Having to work with different laws and taxes around the world has demonstrated that international probate at times becomes very complicated.  Administering an international estate requires having knowledge and hands on experience of estate and tax laws in different countries.

Our team at BVI Law Office has the necessary experience and network required to navigate the probate process, from receiving the Grant of Probate to transferring the gifts to all beneficiaries.

We are often retained to obtain BVI grants or to reseal an existing foreign grant for persons who has died domiciled outside of the BVI but had assets registered in BVI.

The process of legalization of documents in the British Virgin Islands includes verification by an authorized official (or, previously, by a notary) of the authenticity of the document. After passing through this procedure, a special stamp is placed on the document - an apostille.The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:

    Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
    Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
    Trade register excerpts
    Judicial decisions
    Notarially certified copies of documents
    Notarially certified translations
    Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
    Commercial documents legalized by a state organ of registration (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)

Requirements for the documents:

An apostille can be issued exclusively on an original document. Therefor, the latter must be in an apparent good condition, all stamps and signatures have to be clear and readable. Furthermore, it must not contain alien marking and labels.
Additional services

In addition to the legalization of your documents, we can provide you with high quality translations.

If you want to bring company information before the court, it needs to be legalised as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register from the British Virgin Islands including apostille and translation.
Your benefits:

    No registration or subscription
    Fast and reliable processing
    Payment by invoice

BVI Law Office guarantees the highest quality and reliability. We render all of our services in strict compliance with the applicable data protection laws. Our specialists are well-equipped and thoroughly acquainted with their tasks.

Working with us is easy and convenient!

Courier services are charged and invoiced separately according to the courier service’s rates.

You can pay for our services by PayPal, bank transfer or a card.

Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions:

• Governor
• Deputy Governor
• Registrar of the Supreme Court
• Representative of the Trade Register
• Director of the Tax Office

It should be noted that Trade Register excerpts require prior legalization by a notary.

Unlike some other overseas territories of Great Britain, each authority apostills documents on its behalf.

Our firm regularly assist clients in cross-border transactions involving the BVI, Latin America, Europe, Asia and other jurisdictions. We often assist our clients with international powers of attorney, vacation property transfers, signature notarization, certified true copies, foreign probate and estate filings.

At BVI Law Office we can help you get an Apostille Certificate for a variety of documents.

These may be personal such as:

•    powers of attorneys;
•    passports,
•     degrees and diplomas,
•     birth, marriage and death certificates,
•    police record checks,
•     documents from the courts.

We can also facilitate the Apostille of corporate documents such as:

•    the company constitutional documents,
•    certificates of good standing,
•    registers of officers' agreements,
•    financial statements.

Frequently asked question about Legalization and Apostille

1. What is legalization of documents and what is it needed for?

Legalization of a document is a process, which allows to legitimate the document issued in one country for its usage in another.

It means, if you want to submit a document, issued in one country, to authorities in a target country, the document must primarily prove its authenticity. Legalization confirms the authority of the issuing official as well as an authenticity of his signature and seal.

Legalization is needed for official non-commercial documents.


2. How can the document be legalized for another country?

There are following procedures of legalization of documents:

    Consular legalization
    Apostille (a simplified procedure of legalization)
    Legalization of documents by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Consular legalization applies to countries, that have not signed the Hague Convention of 1961, which implemented a law about the procedure of apostille (a lot of European countries are member states of this convention).

Legalization of documents through the Chamber of Commerce is carried out in relation to commercial documents (contracts, invoices etc).


3. Is the legalization of the document always required?

No, not always. In some cases, countries can make bi- or multilateral agreements that completely revoke legalization of documents for their recognition in the member countries.

For example, a CIEC convention from 1976 or bilateral treaties between Germany and Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Austria and Switzerland.