Background

The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the “Virgin Islands” is a British Overseas Territory located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico having a total of land area of approximate 150 sq. km.  Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the BVI.  The BVI gained autonomy and became self-governing in 1967 and is a member of the British Commonwealth.

Seychelles, officially the “Republic of Seychelles” is an independent republic within the British Commonwealth since 1976 and comprises approximately 115 islands in the Indian Ocean with a total of land area of approximate 459 sq. km.  Victoria, lies south-east of mainland East Africa, is the capital of Seychelles.

​The Cayman Islands (CI), is a British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean Sea having a total of land area of approximate 264 sq. km.  CI comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.  CI are a major world offshore financial haven offering a well-developed banking infrastructure and having the strong overall compliance culture.

​Features comparision for offshore companies in BVI, Seychelles and CI: 
 

Corporate features
Jurisdiction	BVI	Seychelles	Cayman Islands
General
Type of company	BC	Seychelles IBC	Exempted
Political stability	Good	Good	Good
Type of Law	Common law	Civil law and Common law	Common law
Principal corporate legislation	The BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 (former Act: The International Business Companies Act, 1984)	The International Business Companies Act, 1994	Companies Law Cap.22, and its modification and amendments from time to time
Corporate tax on offshore profits	Nil	Nil	Nil
Change in domicile permitted	Yes	Yes	Yes
Language of Name	Latin Alphabet (i.e. English), Chinese name could be registered as additional	Latin Alphabet (i.e. English) or French or any other language with translation of English or French	Latin Alphabet (i.e. English), Arabic or Chinese name could be registered
Corporate requirements
Standard authorized share capital	50,000 shares	100,000 shares	50,000 shares
Minimum issued and paid up capital	USD1	USD1	USD1
Permitted currency	Any	Any	Any
Minimum number of shareholder	One	One	One
Minimum number of director	One	One	One
Corporate director permitted	Yes	Yes	Yes
Corporate shareholder permitted	Yes	Yes	Yes
Company Secretary required	Optional	Optional	Optional
Beneficial owner information	Yes, must to Registered Agent, but not to public	No, just to your services provider firm only, and surely not to public	Yes, must to Registered Agent, but not to public
Publicly accessible directors and shareholders information	No	No	No
Local requirements
Registered Agent and Office	Yes	Yes	Yes
Local director	No	No	No
Local shareholder	No	No	No
Local directors / shareholders meetings	No	No	No
Register of Shareholders	Yes, being kept in Registered Office	Yes, being kept in registered office	Yes, being kept in Registered Office
Register of Directors	Yes, have to be filed with the BVI Registry	Yes, being kept in registered office	Yes, being kept in Registered Office and have to be filed with the CI Registry
Annual requirements
Annual Return	No	No	Yes, at filing fee of USD250
Annual Meeting	No	No	No
Filing Annual Audited Accounts	No	No	No

 
 

British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands

Seychelles

Seychelles