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Can you sit on a board there?
Pick a market. You get the residency test, the nationality test, the work-authorisation position, the appointment steps in order, and the frictions that actually delay appointments — each cited to the instrument that creates it.
Choose a market
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Open to foreign directorsGB
Neither the Companies Act 2006 nor the Code imposes any residency or nationality test on a director. A foreign national can be appointed to a UK board without a permit, a filing exemption or a local counterpart.
- Residency test
- None.
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A non-executive director attending board meetings does not require a work visa; permitted business activities cover it. An executive or interim operating role requires a Skilled Worker visa or equivalent.
- Board language
- Board process is in English.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No hard cap. Provision 10 treats service of more than nine years from first appointment as a circumstance that may impair independence, and Provision 19 limits the chair's total tenure to nine years with limited flexibility.
- Time commitment
- Typically 6–9 board meetings a year plus committee cycles and a strategy day; audit-committee chairs should expect materially more.
- What a seat pays
- £70,000 – £110,000 a year for a NED of a FTSE 250 company, and £90,000 – £150,000 in the FTSE 100, before committee fees.
- Tax on your fees
- A UK directorship is an office, so fees are taxed through PAYE regardless of the director's residence, with treaty relief applied afterwards rather than at source.
The appointment steps, in order
- 1Consent to act, filed with Companies House on Form AP01 within 14 days of appointment
- 2Identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act regime, which now applies to directors of UK companies
- 3For a regulated firm, approval by the FCA or PRA under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime before taking the role
- 4Confirm you are not disqualified under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986
What actually gets in the way
- Identity verification under the ECCTA regime is a genuine step for an overseas appointee and should be started before the appointment date
- Senior Managers Regime approval for a financial-services board is a months-long process, not a formality
- Directors' names, month and year of birth, nationality and service address appear on the public Companies House register
The instruments behind these answers
- Companies Act 2006 s.172 — A director must act in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, having regard to a defined list of stakeholder factors — and large companies must report on how they have done so. (Parliament)
- Companies Act 2006 s.155 — Every company must have at least one director who is a natural person. There is no residency or nationality requirement for any director of a UK company. (Companies House)
- UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 Provision 11 — At least half the board, excluding the chair, should be non-executive directors whom the board considers to be independent. Smaller companies outside the FTSE 350 should have at least two. (Financial Reporting Council)
- UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 Provision 29 — The board must make a declaration on the effectiveness of material controls — financial, operational, reporting and compliance — applying to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026. (Financial Reporting Council)
- UK Listing Rules (UKLR) — The 2024 listing regime replaced the premium and standard segments with a single commercial-companies category, changing the governance obligations that attach to a listing. (Financial Conduct Authority)
Reviewed against primary sources in August 2026. This is governance decision-support, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and transitional provisions frequently apply — verify against the primary instrument before you rely on it.
Eligibility is only the first question
Being allowed to sit on a board there is not the same as being read for one.
The mobility index answers the second question: whether your record is legible to a board in that market, whether you hold what it is currently short of, and whether you can do the job in the language its board works in.