Quick Answer
In the UK, no: a company can be owned and directed entirely by people who have never set foot in Britain. In Singapore, yes: the Companies Act requires at least 1 director ordinarily resident in Singapore, which remote founders satisfy through a local nominee director service at S$1,450 to S$3,000 a year. The UK's model is a genuine structural advantage for founders who want zero local dependency.
Singapore's requirement comes with something the UK's model lacks: a built-in path for the founder to relocate, take an Employment Pass or EntrePass, and replace the nominee as resident director themselves. Savvy Platform provides the nominee through SavvyStart and manages the handover when founders move.
What Each Jurisdiction Actually Requires
|
Requirement |
Singapore |
United Kingdom |
|
Local resident director |
Required: at least 1, under Section 145 of the Companies Act |
Never required |
|
Foreign ownership |
100% allowed |
100% allowed |
|
Foreign directors |
Allowed, alongside the resident director |
Allowed, exclusively |
|
Annual cost of the requirement |
S$1,450 to S$3,000 for a nominee, plus a refundable security deposit |
Zero |
|
Third party in your structure |
Yes, until you relocate |
No |
The UK wins this point, cleanly. A founder in Lagos, Karachi, or Bogotá can incorporate a UK Ltd this afternoon with no local officers and no annual nominee fee. Any comparison that pretends otherwise loses the reader in the first paragraph.
A meaningful group of founders still ends up preferring the model that costs them S$2,000 a year, and the reasons are concrete.
What a Nominee Director Actually Is
The nominee director exists to satisfy the residency rule, and Singapore has spent the last 2 years professionalising the arrangement:
- Who can serve. A Singapore citizen, Permanent Resident, or EP/EntrePass holder with a local residential address. Since the CSP Act came into force on 9 June 2025, nominee directors provided as a service can only be appointed through ACRA-registered Corporate Service Providers, and each nominee must pass the CSP's fit-and-proper assessment
- Public transparency. Since 16 June 2025, a director's nominee status is visible on the company's public ACRA profile. The identity of the nominator stays confidential, filed with ACRA and accessible to regulators and law enforcement, so the arrangement is disclosed without exposing the founder's file to competitors
- The scope. A service agreement limits the nominee to statutory compliance duties. The nominee attends to the legal requirements; the founder runs the business
- The cost. S$1,450 to S$3,000 per year in the market, plus a refundable security deposit that protects the nominee against the statutory liabilities every Singapore director carries
What the Nominee Is Not
The word "nominee" makes some founders picture surrendered control. The structure points the other way:
- The founder keeps 100% of the shares. Directorship and ownership are separate; the nominee holds no equity and acquires none
- The founder remains a director too. A foreign founder can sit on the board as an executive director from abroad, with full legal authority over the company
- Bank control stays with the founder. Account signatories are set by board resolution, and standard practice keeps the nominee off the mandate
- The nominee carries liability, which disciplines the market. Because a nominee is exposed to the same statutory duties as any director, registered CSPs vet clients before accepting appointments. The deposit and the KYC are the price of a counterparty with real skin in the game
A founder who wants a hidden local frontman will find Singapore's model hostile to the idea. A founder who wants a compliant placeholder while retaining total ownership and operational control will find it built for exactly that.
The Reframe: A Placeholder You Are Designed to Replace
Singapore's residency requirement doubles as a bridge, because the founder can become the resident director:
Route 1: Employment Pass through your own company. The Singapore company employs the founder at a salary of at least S$5,600/month (S$6,000 from January 2027) under the COMPASS points framework. Once the EP is approved and the founder has a local residential address, they register as the resident director, and the nominee resigns. The transition typically saves S$2,000 to S$5,000 a year in service fees and deposits.
Route 2: EntrePass for innovative businesses. For venture-backed and technology founders, the EntrePass attaches the work pass to the founder's own company rather than a salary:
|
EntrePass condition |
Requirement |
|
Company |
Private limited, ACRA-registered, no more than 6 months old at application (or incorporated within 30 days of approval-in-principle) |
|
Ownership |
Founder holds at least 30% of shares, maintained throughout the pass |
|
Qualifying profile |
One of: at least S$100,000 raised from a recognised VC, angel or family office; participation in a recognised incubator or accelerator; IP that cannot be easily replicated; research collaboration with a Singapore institution |
|
Salary requirement |
None |
|
Validity |
1 year, first renewal 1 year, then 2-year renewals |
|
Renewal conditions |
Real business activity, rising annual business spend from S$100,000, and local hiring from the second renewal |
Lifestyle businesses, cafes, agencies and shops are explicitly outside EntrePass scope; those founders use the EP route instead.
Both routes end in the same place: the founder living in Singapore, serving as their own resident director, holding a pass that covers their family through Dependant Passes and opens the Permanent Residency path. The nominee was scaffolding, and the scaffolding comes down.
The UK has no structural equivalent. Its zero-dependency model asks nothing of the founder and offers nothing back: there is no mechanism by which owning a UK Ltd builds toward living in the UK.
The Innovator Founder visa runs on an endorsing body's judgment of the business's innovation, disconnected from the company you may already run. Singapore's requirement and Singapore's residency offer are 2 sides of the same design.
The Honest Cost-Benefit
|
Founder profile |
Better model |
|
Never intends to live where the company is registered |
UK: zero dependency, zero cost, the requirement simply does not exist |
|
Wants the option to relocate within a few years |
Singapore: the nominee bridges to an EP or EntrePass takeover |
|
Wants no third party anywhere in the structure |
UK, accepting the banking and compliance consequences covered elsewhere in this series |
|
Venture-backed or IP-driven, considering an Asian base |
Singapore: EntrePass converts the company itself into the immigration case |
|
Minimising year-1 cost above all |
UK: the S$2,000 to S$5,000 nominee stack is the largest single line the UK model deletes |
The UK's zero-dependency advantage is also narrower than it first appears, because the structures that depend on nobody locally are also the ones UK high-street banks decline and Companies House now flags through identity verification. Singapore's dependency is priced and visible; the UK's independence carries hidden costs that arrive later, in banking and compliance.
How Savvy Platform Runs the Nominee and the Handover
Savvy Platform operates the full lifecycle of the residency requirement:
- Nominee director provided through SavvyStart, appointed under the CSP Act framework with the fit-and-proper checks done
- Service agreement limiting the nominee to compliance duties, with the founder holding all shares and executive control
- Company secretary, registered address and filings under the same roof, so the nominee sits inside a managed structure rather than as a loose contractor
- Employment Pass application support when the founder relocates, including Dependant Passes for family
- The handover itself: registering the founder as resident director, filing the nominee's resignation and closing the deposit
Founders who never relocate keep the nominee indefinitely. Founders who move stop paying for it. Both outcomes are the structure working as intended.
Conclusion
The UK genuinely does not require a local director, and for founders who will never live where their company is registered, that is a clean structural win worth taking. Singapore's requirement costs S$1,450 to S$3,000 a year, runs through regulated providers with public disclosure, leaves the founder with 100% ownership and control, and converts into a residency bridge the moment the founder wants one, through an EP salary or an EntrePass innovation case.
The question that decides it is where you might want to be in 5 years. Savvy Platform provides the nominee, the structure around it, and the handover when the answer turns out to be Singapore.
FAQ
Does a UK company need any UK-resident director or officer?
No. A UK Ltd can be owned and directed entirely by non-residents. Every director must complete Companies House identity verification, and banking access without a UK-resident director is limited, but the law imposes no residency requirement.
Why does Singapore require a local director?
Section 145 of the Companies Act requires at least 1 director ordinarily resident in Singapore, so that every company has an accountable person within the jurisdiction. Foreign founders can meet this requirement through a nominee director or by relocating and serving as a resident director themselves.
Does a nominee director own part of my company?
No. The nominee holds no shares and acquires no equity. Ownership and directorship are separate; the founder keeps 100% of the shares and can serve as an executive director from abroad with full authority.
Is a nominee director arrangement legal and visible?
Yes. Since June 2025, nominees provided as a service must be appointed through ACRA-registered Corporate Service Providers and pass fit-and-proper checks, and the nominee status appears on the company's public ACRA profile. The nominator's identity stays confidential except to regulators.
How much does a nominee director cost?
S$1,450 to S$3,000 per year, plus a refundable security deposit. Founders who later relocate and take over as resident director typically save S$2,000 to S$5,000 a year by ending the arrangement.
How do I replace the nominee with myself?
Relocate on an Employment Pass (minimum S$5,600/month salary from your own company, S$6,000 from January 2027) or an EntrePass, register your local residential address, appoint yourself as resident director and file the nominee's resignation.
What does the EntrePass require?
At least 30% ownership of a Singapore company no more than 6 months old, plus 1 qualifying credential: S$100,000+ from a recognised investor, a recognised incubator or accelerator, defensible IP, or a research collaboration. There is no salary requirement, and renewals depend on business spending and local hiring.
Does Savvy Platform provide the nominee director?
Yes. The nominee is included through SavvyStart under the CSP Act framework, with the company secretary, registered address and filings managed together, and Savvy Platform handles the EP application and the handover when the founder relocates.
Main sources
- Statrys, nominee directors in Singapore 2026 (CSP Act, public nominee status, eligibility): https://statrys.com/sg/guides/company-formation/nominee-director
- CorporateServices.com, Singapore Entrepreneur Pass guide (eligibility criteria, validity, process): https://www.corporateservices.com/singapore/entrepreneur-pass-entrepass/
- Singapore Secretary Services, EntrePass 2026 eligibility and renewal requirements: https://www.singaporesecretaryservices.com/singapore-entrepass-2026-eligibility-application-guide-requirements/
- Counto, Employment Pass and EntrePass founder's guide 2026 (own-company EP, nominee transition savings): https://counto.sg/guides/singapore-ep-entrepass-founders-guide/
- Terra Advisory Services, Singapore EntrePass requirements (recognised funding sources, qualifying profiles): https://terraadvisoryservices.com/singapore-entrepass-requirements-2025-updated-guide-for-entrepreneurs/
