Director ID verification is mandatory: how your due date works and what happens if you miss it

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. New directors verify before appointment. Existing directors provide their personal code with the company's next confirmation statement during the transition, while PSC dates depend on their role. Check the register rather than relying on a generic calendar date.

From 18 November 2025, identity verification became mandatory for anyone forming a new company or being appointed as a new director. Existing directors entered a 12-month transition in which their company provides each personal code with its next confirmation statement. Enforcement depends on the role-specific due date.

What changes the moment the deadline passes? Three things, and each one matters. First, Companies House will add a public note to the register against any director or PSC who has not verified. This annotation is visible to anyone who looks up your company, banks, payment processors, investors, suppliers, and potential partners. For an Arab director who relies on the credibility of a clean UK company record, a public 'identity not verified' flag is a reputational problem, not just an administrative one.

Second, an unverified individual cannot be appointed as a new director, cannot register a new company, and cannot register as an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). If you were planning to incorporate a second company, restructure, or add a co-director, an unverified status blocks all of it.

Third, and this is the practical sting, verification is increasingly tied to your ability to file. As enforcement tightens, unverified directors face growing friction in submitting confirmation statements and accounts, and your accountant may be unable to file on your behalf for an unverified director. The filing freeze that was once a future risk is becoming a present one.

Arab directors do not need to travel to the UK. A current biometric passport from any country can be used through GOV.UK One Login. An authorised ACSP such as Fileminder can provide a guided remote route and confirm whether other evidence meets the current Companies House standard.

Our advice is simple: don't wait for November. The closer the deadline gets, the heavier the load on every verification provider, and the higher the chance of last-minute problems with a document or a video check. Five months of runway is comfortable. Five days is not. If you haven't verified yet, message us and we'll complete it this week.