ARTICLE · 05 MARCH 2013

Guide To Establishing A British Virgin Islands (BVI) Company

Simcocks

Explore more from Simcocks

Companies in the BVI are incorporated under the BVI Business Companies Act 2004.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

Author LinkedIn connections

Companies in the BVI are incorporated under the BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (the "Act"). These companies are incorporated to carry on business with non-residents of the BVI and are commonly referred to as "business companies".

Under the Act, it is possible to incorporate five different types of companies:

a company limited by shares
a company limited by guarantee that is not authorised to issue shares
a company limited by guarantee that is authorised to issue shares
an unlimited company that is not authorised to issue shares
an unlimited company that is authorised to issue shares

Companies limited by shares are by far the most common.

Companies that were incorporated before the Act came into force were automatically re-registered under the Act to streamline the application of company law, although some additional provisions of the former legislation continue to apply to these re-registered companies.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

Related Articles

BVI Corporate Review – Q2 2026

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

Strong First Quarter Results For The BVI Financial Services Sector

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

BVI Private Wealth Solutions For Latin American High-net-worth Families

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

Managing The Property And Affairs Of Incapacitated Persons In The British Virgin Islands

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

British Virgin Islands: Special Purpose Vehicles For Luxury Assets

European UnionWealth Management

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Wealth Management
- Offshore Company Formation

See more popular content from

Wealth Management

Guiding You Through Sham Trusts

At a time when trusts are coming increasingly under attack, it is quite common for the validity of a trust to be questioned on the basis that the instrument creating it is a sham document or fails to fulfil the requirements for the creation of a valid trust.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

Comparison Of Trusts In The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands And Jersey

The decision as to where to establish an offshore trust can only be made based on the specific requirements of the client.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

A Guide To Trust Law In The British Virgin Islands

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

BVI Corporate Review – Q2 2026

The British Virgin Islands has reported its strongest first quarter for new company incorporations since 2022, with 7,671 new entities formed in Q1 2026. This represents a 10% increase year-over-year and brings the total number of active companies to 362,165, while the investment funds sector maintains 2,242 registered funds.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

BVI: New Registry fees For BVI Business Companies

The Government of the British Virgin Islands gazetted the BVI Business Companies Act (Amendment of Schedule 1)(No. 3) Order, 2016 on 20 December 2016 concerning new Registry fees to be charged to BVI Business Companies.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

The BVI Courts Appoint A Receiver To Take Control Of A PRC Judgment Debtor's Assets

A recent decision in the British Virgin Islands ("BVI"), BVIHC (Com) 0032 of 2018, is notable as being the first case of which we are aware where the BVI Court

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

BVI Private Wealth Solutions For Latin American High-net-worth Families

The British Virgin Islands has emerged as a premier offshore jurisdiction for Latin American high-net-worth families seeking sophisticated wealth preservation and succession planning solutions.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

British Virgin Islands: Special Purpose Vehicles For Luxury Assets

For family offices, high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) considering the purchase of luxury assets (in particular yachts...

European UnionWealth Management

'Chabra' Relief In The BVI – Freezing The Assets Of A Person Who Is Not A Substantive Defendant

A Chabra injunction is a powerful weapon which can substantially enhance the scope of assets which a claimant can ring-fence. Here, Carey Olsen's Jeremy Lightfoot, Richard Brown and Catie Wang...

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management

The BVI's New Non-Profit Organisation Registration Regime

The Non-Profit Organisation Act, 2012 (the "Act") came into force on 1 January 2013 and introduces a registration and compliance regime for non-profit organisations operating in the British Virgin Islands.

British Virgin IslandsWealth Management