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• Before BVI company incorporation, the directors’ and shareholders’ original passports and residential proofs must be provided. If not, the certified true copies or notarized copies of the documents must be provided.
• Note that not all companies or organizations are willing to do business with BVI companies. Before forming a BVI company, you may want to ask your suppliers or clients whether they are willing to do business with a BVI company.
• A BVI company can hold properties in Hong Kong without being registered as a non-Hong Kong company.
• A BVI company by itself cannot conduct business or lease property in Hong Kong. By itself, it cannot subscribe to any services in Hong Kong (such as subscribing mobile phone service or courier service.) However, it can be registered in Hong Kong as a non-Hong Kong company. Once it has been registered, it can be operated as if it were a Hong Kong company, and a Hong Kong business registration will be issued to the BVI company. However, the company will need to file Annual Return and yearly audited financial report to the Hong Kong government, and pay tax in Hong Kong if there is any profit generated here.
• A BVI company can open a bank account in Hong Kong. The following documents are required for the account opening:
  • the directors’ and shareholders’ original passports and residential proofs. If not, the certified true copies or notarized copies of the documents;
  • Certificate of Incumbency;
  • Certificate of Incorporation;
  • Memorandum and Articles of Association.
• To obtain a commercial credit card for the BVI company, the commercial credit card will be required to link to a personal bank account in the same bank of the director or shareholder.
• The BVI company will come with a registered office address in BVI, however, the address cannot be used for mailing purpose. There is no need to use our address as the Corresponding Address of the company unless you want us to receive mails for it. You may use a non-Hong Kong / non-BVI address as the Corresponding Address of the company.
• The cost of legalizing the documents of a BVI company will be much higher than that of a Hong Kong company.
• Directors or shareholders of a BVI company who are U.S. citizens or residents will be required to sign a form declaring that all incomes of the company is legal and that they will fulfill their tax filing obligation.
• BVI companies can open investment bank accounts in Hong Kong to trade stocks. However, as profit may arise in Hong Kong, the BVI companies may be required to be registered as a non-Hong Kong company. Therefore, it is recommended to use a personal bank account to trade stocks in Hong Kong. The banks in Hong Kong are unlikely to open investment accounts to the companies in which U.S. or Canadian citizens or residents are shareholders or directors of the companies.
• Our BVI Incorporation Pricing

How to obtain apostilles for Hong Kong company incorporation documents?

You need to know precisely which documents you need to obtain the apostilles for because they are quite expensive (HKD $125 each page charged by the court. Also we need to obtain certified copies from the government). It will be cheaper if you just want the apostilles for the Certificate of Incorporation, and Business Registration.

The total cost for obtaining the apostille is HKD $1,000 (service fee) + court fee + governmental fee

For example, to obtain the apostilles for a complete set of Hong Kong incorporation documents (for a brand new company, not a shelf company), the cost will be (in HKD):

Form NC1 = $170 (certified copy) + 6*$125 (apostille fee, assuming there are 6 pages) = $920
Memorandum and Articles of Association = $170 + 8*$125 (apostille fee, assuming there are 8 pages) = $1,170
Certificate of Incorporation = $170 + $125 = $295
Business Registration = $50 + $125 = $175
Government and Court fees subtotal = $2,560

Our service fee = $1,000

Total: HKD $3,560 or USD $462

How do I know whether a Hong Kong shelf / pre-formed company is “safe” or not?

A shelf / pre-formed company is a company that has already been incorporated but has not conducted any business. Sometime people want to buy shelf companies because:

1. it takes about 3 working days to transfer a shelf company, while it takes up to six working days to form a brand new company;
2. transferring a shelf company does not require a witness, while forming a new company does;
3. there is no incorporation failure (such as name collision) because the company has already been formed;
4. there is no need to come up with a name.

Since a shelf company has already been formed before purchase, it is important to ensure the company does not have any liability. To ensure the company is “safe”:

• For shelf companies incorporated before July 16, 2008:
  1. There should be no director registered with the Companies Registry. Since there is no director, the companies are not operational;
  2. A letters issued by the subscriber indicating the company has not incurred any liability.
• For shelf companies incorporated on or after July 16, 2008:
  1. Beginning on July 11, 2008, the Companies Registry requires the appointments of first directors at the time of incorporation, therefore, all shelf companies registered on or after July 16, 2008 have directors and are operational right after incorporation. Because of that, the letters, issued by the founders indicating that the companies have not incurred any liability, are the only proof and protection for the purchasers.
  2. Since the “safety” of the shelf companies is not evidenced in the Companies Registry, one should purchase shelf companies from reliable sources, or simply form brand new companies.

Please note the following before choosing our registered office service:

• All banks in Hong Kong can send mails directly to overseas addresses. There is no need to send bank mails to us. Your corresponding address for the bank can be different from the registered address of the company.
• The Registered Office address belongs to the company and is not intended for personal use.
• If a mail is over 30g or too large for scanning, we will scan the front of the envelope or the way bill of the mail. Clients will need to arrange pick up of the over-sized mail
• We do not scan advertisements.

The Registered Office Service description should read as follow:

For HKD $800, we will scan only governmental mails.

For HKD $1,200, we will scan the mails under 30g addressed to the company.

Our Registered Office service is mostly for business startups. If you want more sophisticated virtual office service, you may want to check out http://www.regus.hk, as some of our clients use their services.

Requirements of setting up a representative office in China are as follow:

1. A reference letter from the bank in Hong Kong confirming that the balance in the account meets the minimum balance requirement;
2. For Hong Kong company, certification of the incorporation documents by a Chinese government recognized lawyer;
3. a lease of an office space for the representative office in the city where you want to set up the office
4. your resume.

• Shenzhen: minimum balance: HKD $100,000, process time: 1-1.5 months
• GuangZhou: minimum balance: HKD $10,000, process time: 3 months
• JiangMen: minimum balance: HKD $100,000, process time: 30-35 working days
• Beijing : minimum balance: HKD $100,000, process time: 35-40 working days

Latest pre-formed / shelf company list. If you are interested to purchase a shelf company, please contact us to make a reservation.

Buying a Hong Kong shelf company:

1. Find a company you like from the latest pre-formed / shelf company list. Note that the companies followed by an “R” have already been reserved.
2. Contact us to reserve the company. We will reserve the company for you for 3 days.
3. Make the payment using one of our accepted payment methods.
4. Email us the information about each entity (director / shareholder):
   1. The names, residential addresses, and passport scans of the directors and shareholders;
   2. % of ownership of each shareholder;
   3. Registered office address
5. After we have received the payment, we will prepare documents for you
6. The directors and shareholders must sign the documents.
7. Return the signed documents back to us. Or you can visit our office to sign the documents.
8. After we have received the documents, it usually takes about 3 days to complete the transfer process.

Fees

• Each shelf company, including one-year secretary service: HKD $4,500.00 for those formed between 2009/8/1 to 2011/7/31.
• Registered office service, only forward under 30g governmental mail once a month: HKD $800. Forward all mails under 30g: HKD $1,200.
• Postage fee (to mainland China): HKD $100.00
• Postage fee (to an international address): HKD $780.00