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Register a company online is asked by two different people. One wants to know whether the registry accepts an electronic filing instead of paper. The other wants to know whether he can form the company without leaving his own country. They are not the same question. The first is a fact about the registry; the second is a fact about how you sign, and the signature is where almost every remote formation stalls.
They come apart in both directions. Poland runs S24, an end to end online track where the articles follow a statutory template and the court register entry follows in 2 to 5 working days, but signing it needs a qualified electronic signature or a Profil Zaufany, which is open to residents of Poland rather than to a founder abroad. Germany is the opposite: it requires a notarial deed for every corporate act, yet a founder in Dubai forms a GmbH without boarding a plane, because the deed can be taken over video.
An eIDAS qualified electronic signature is accepted for formation documents across the EU jurisdictions we cover. Estonia goes furthest: an e-Resident signs with the Digi-ID certificate and the business register processes the filing same day to two working days, against up to five working days on the other routes. e-Residency is a digital administrative identity rather than a residence permit, and it gives the company no address, which is why a management board sitting outside Estonia must appoint an Estonian contact person whose address serves as the company’s address for service.
The catch is ordinary. A founder in the United States or the Gulf usually holds no EU qualified certificate and cannot obtain one quickly, which is why our Baltic pages send American founders to the other routes.
The oldest route and still the most used. The founder signs a power of attorney before a notary at home, has it apostilled under the Hague Convention, and a local lawyer executes the documents in country: a pilnvara in Latvia, an įgaliojimas in Lithuania, a pełnomocnictwo notarialne in Poland, a pooblastilo in Slovenia, a poder notarial in Spain, a procura in Italy, a procuration in Belgium and Luxembourg, a Vollmacht in Switzerland. Consulates are a variant of the same idea: most of these countries take the signature at any of their consulates worldwide.
What goes wrong is form rather than principle. A power of attorney that fails the receiving country’s notarial requirements is rejected and the file waits for a replacement, which is where self filers most often lose two to three weeks in Poland. Documents issued abroad usually need an apostille and a sworn translation, so start those first.
Where a deed is unavoidable, some countries let the notary take it over video. Germany is the clearest case. The Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Digitalisierungsrichtlinie came into force on 1 August 2022 and authorises German notaries to conduct the online formation of a GmbH or a UG through a video authentication platform run by the Bundesnotarkammer, the Federal Chamber of Notaries. The founder needs a passport or an EU or EEA identity card whose chip the notary’s system can read, a webcam, and a phone running the authentication app. Contributions in kind and certain stock corporation formations still require physical attendance.
Poland has allowed remote notarisation of certain share transfer acts through the Centralna Baza Aktów Notarialnych since 1 January 2023, but a full formation still requires the original deed, which is why the delegated route matters there.
These are the jurisdictions we cover where the incorporation is filed electronically. The third column is the part the marketing leaves out.
| Jurisdiction | How the filing is made | What still has to come from you |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Form IN01 filed electronically at Companies House, standard online formation completing in 24 hours | Nothing is notarised, but the company needs a British registered office and a registered email address, and directors and people with significant control verify their identity with Companies House |
| Ireland | Form A1 filed through CORE, the Companies Online Registration Environment, in 5 to 7 working days | No notarisation and no attendance, but at least one director resident in an EEA state, or a Section 137 bond in place of one |
| Estonia | Filed through the e-äriregister portal, same day to two working days for an e-Resident signing with a Digi-ID | A qualified certificate, a consulate signature or a volikiri if you hold no e-Residency, and an Estonian contact person where the board sits abroad |
| Poland | The S24 portal, entirely online, with the KRS entry in 2 to 5 working days | Template articles only, signed with a qualified electronic signature or a Profil Zaufany. Anything bespoke moves you to the notarial track |
| Latvia | Submitted electronically to the Uzņēmumu reģistrs through its portal | Founder signatures have to be notarised or attorney certified: a Latvian consulate, a qualified certificate, or an apostilled pilnvara |
| Lithuania | Submitted through the Registrų centras self service portal, which processes electronic filings in 1 to 3 working days | The same certified signature requirement as Latvia |
| Singapore | ACRA BizFile, name approval same day to one working day, incorporation within 1 to 2 working days of filing | A Singapore resident director, a qualified resident company secretary and a registered office. Some banks still want a director on video |
| Hong Kong | Form NNC1 through the Companies Registry e-Registry portal | A company secretary resident in Hong Kong or incorporated there, a local registered office, and a minority of banks that still meet a director in person |
Only three are online in the strong sense, meaning the founder finishes from a laptop: the United Kingdom, Ireland and, for anyone holding an e-Residency or an eIDAS certificate, Estonia. The rest are online at the registry and manual at the signature, which is a different promise.
In seven of the jurisdictions we cover the founding document has to be executed as a deed before a local notary. No portal replaces it, and a service that implies otherwise is describing a filing step and calling it the whole process. What the deed does not mean is travel: in every one a founder abroad satisfies it through a consulate, a qualified electronic signature or a delegated power of attorney.
| Jurisdiction | The deed | What follows it |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Notarielle Beurkundung of the Gesellschaftsvertrag before a German Notar, and of every later corporate act including a transfer of shares | The Notar submits the registration electronically to the Handelsregister at the district court |
| Switzerland | Öffentliche Beurkundung before a Swiss Notar, signed at a Swiss consulate, by qualified electronic signature, or under a Vollmacht | The Notar files with the cantonal Handelsregister, which processes registrations in 5 to 15 working days depending on canton |
| Luxembourg | Acte notarié before a Luxembourg notaire, reached by eIDAS qualified electronic signature, at a consulate, or by procuration | The notaire files with the Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés for publication in the RESA |
| Spain | Escritura pública de constitución before a notario, and no deed can be signed until every foreign principal holds a NIE | The notario files the escritura with the Registro Mercantil for the province, typically 10 to 15 working days |
| Italy | Atto costitutivo before a notaio, in person, at a consulate, by qualified electronic signature or under a procura speciale | Registro delle Imprese entry, with the partita IVA issued on that entry |
| Belgium | Acte constitutif before a Belgian notary, with the financial plan the Code des sociétés et associations requires prepared first | The notary files with the Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises, which registers in 1 to 5 working days |
| Slovenia | Notarski zapis of the founding act, and of a later share transfer as well | The notar files through e-VEM, which registers the company at AJPES and with the tax authority, social security and the statistical office in one submission |
Slovenia is the useful illustration, a notarial process wrapped in an electronic one. The deed is compulsory, and the filing that follows it is more automated than anything in the table above, because one submission completes four registrations. Online and notarial are not opposites.
The real cost of the notarial route is sequencing rather than travel. The deed cannot be executed before the capital is in the account and the bank has confirmed it, and foreign documents need an apostille and often a sworn translation, each with its own queue. Miss the order and the file goes back. Where the choice of country turns on other grounds, our comparison of what company formation costs by country takes that separately.
If registration is the obstacle, the other answer is not to register at all. A ready made company already sits on the register, so the transaction is a share transfer signed by the same remote means described above. It is the one route equally remote in the notarial countries and the online ones, with one caveat: in Germany and Slovenia the share transfer is itself a notarial act, so the notary reappears even though the company already exists.
In most of the jurisdictions on this page, yes, but by two different mechanisms. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and Estonia the filing is electronic and nothing is notarised, so a laptop is enough. Elsewhere the documents are signed at a consulate, with a qualified electronic signature, or under a power of attorney given to a local lawyer. The travel is avoided rather than the formality.
Only if you intend to sign the documents yourself from abroad. An eIDAS qualified certificate is accepted throughout the EU jurisdictions we cover, and Poland’s S24 track will not run without one or a Profil Zaufany. Founders outside the EU rarely hold such a certificate, so the usual substitute is a notarised and apostilled power of attorney authorising a local lawyer to sign.
The United Kingdom and Ireland come closest, because neither process is notarised and the incorporation is filed at Companies House and through CORE electronically. Estonia matches them for anyone holding an e-Residency or an eIDAS certificate, and Poland’s S24 track is entirely online on template articles. Latvia, Lithuania, Singapore and Hong Kong file electronically but still need a certified signature.
Yes, since 1 August 2022. German notaries may take the formation deed of a GmbH or a UG over the video authentication platform run by the Bundesnotarkammer, so the founder appears remotely rather than in person. You need a passport or an EU or EEA identity card whose chip the system can read, a webcam, and the authentication app. Contributions in kind still require attending.
Usually, and this is where a remote formation is likelier to break down than at the registry. In Singapore some banks want a director on video before activating an account, and a minority of Hong Kong banks still ask a director to attend. In Europe accounts are normally opened on documents and a video identification, though Latvian banks apply enhanced due diligence where the beneficial owner sits outside the EU.