Verify global businesses fast, and get official ‘as filed’ registry documents when you need proof.
FirstLink offers a simple, cost-effective way to help SMEs meet compliance and due diligence requirements. Verify cross-border businesses and check their status through a range of verification reports across more than 240 countries. And when you need proof, request trusted “as-filed” registry PDF documents from over 140 countries.
Create a free account and only pay when you request a report or order registry documents.
Free sign-up. No long-term contracts. Built for small teams.
Small teams. Global risk. No time for registry hunting.
If you work with overseas customers, suppliers, investors, agents, or partners, and need to verify the business, you’ve likely come across at least one of these situations:
- You need proof a business is real before you pay or sign
- The business name doesn’t match exactly across invoices, emails, and registry records
- You don’t know which document to request in that country
- The registry output is unreadable or in a format you cannot file
- You need something from a legally verifiable source, you can show a bank, auditor, insurer, or board
FirstLink takes you from search to confidence fast.
What you get with a free FirstLink account
Simple, pay-as-you-go, cross-border verification
- Run an online instant business verification check when you need it.
- Find the global Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) with the Financial Crime Report.
- Request a Resilience Risk Report to assess the credit worthiness of a business in jurisdictions where financial statements are not readily available.
- Save a report you can file.
- And much more
Official registry documents, sourced direct
- Order original “as-filed” documents from official registries, not screenshots or scraped summaries.
One place to search across many countries
- No more jumping between websites and guessing what’s available.
Find what you need, when you need it – globally
FirstLink makes compliance and due diligence simple. You can instantly request and download Business Verification, Financial Crime, Resilience Risk and other reports, and see exactly which official registry documents are available in each country, so you get the right documents first time.
Get consistent formats, ready to use
Some registries now issue official outputs in XML or JSON instead of PDF. FirstLink converts these into a readable PDF and applies a transformation stamp so you can file, share, and cite the document as coming from the official registry source, with confidence.
Plug in the way your team works
Use the online portal to order business reports in minutes. If you have higher volumes, connect via the FirstLink API. Get results fast when the information is readily available. When it’s not, request an Insight Report search from our on-the-ground team and it will be delivered within 24 hours.
Who is FirstLink for
Typical SME users
- Owners and General Managers handling overseas partners
- Finance Managers and CFOs approving payments or credit terms
- Operations and Procurement teams onboarding international suppliers
- Small law firms and advisory practices doing cross-border matters including: Heads of Knowledge Management, Law Librarians, Paralegals, Research Analysts and Case Managers.
- B2B platforms onboarding overseas business customers
- Residential and commercial real estate agencies
Common industries
- Trade and manufacturing importers, exporters, wholesalers
- Professional services (legal, accountancy, consultancy)
- E-commerce and marketplaces
- Logistics and freight
- Fintech, banking, corporate advisory and payments providers
- Property, investment, and corporate services
What you can do inside FirstLink
Verify a business before you pay, sign, or extend credit
Confirm legal existence and registry status, and capture a record that supports internal and regulatory approvals.
Request reports to meet your compliance requirements
FirstLink provides a range of entity reports with a variety of depth and details to suit your requirements:
- Entity Confirmation – shows the business exists on the registry
- Entity Verification – shows the business exists and includes directors and shareholders
- AML Compliance Check – PEPs, Sanctions and Adverse Media on the company and associated individuals
- Entity Insight – a deeper dive for further customer due diligence (CDD)
- Financial Crime – find the Ultimate Beneficial Owner globally
- Resilience Risk – light touch credit risk report in countries where financials may not always be filed. Includes Credit Risk score and Credit Limit.
- Resilience Review – No resilience risk score/credit limit shown – ideal where only resilience data points/indicators are required.
Order official “as-filed” registry documents
Depending on the country and legal form, you can request documents such as:
- Registry Extracts
- Certificates of Incorporation / Registration
- Certificates of Good Standing (where available)
- Directors lists (where available)
- Shareholder lists (where available)
- Articles/Statutes
- Annual returns (jurisdiction dependent)
- Annually Filed Accounts
Why SMEs choose registry documents
When you need hard proof to make a decision, official legal registry documents do the heavy lifting. Use them when you are:
- Onboarding a new overseas customer, supplier, or partner
- Finalising a cross-border contract or deal
- Applying for finance or trade facilities
- Building an audit-ready supplier file
- Responding to a bank, auditor, insurer, or legal requirement
Tip: If you’re not sure what’s available in a country, FirstLink will show you what’s available before you request.
How FirstLink works
1. Create your free account
No setup calls. No contracts.
3. Choose what you need
Run a verification check, request a report, order documents, or all of the above.
2. Search the company and country
Pick the right entity, even when names look similar.
4. Download and file
Keep a clean record you can share internally or provide to third parties for audit.
Coverage and availability
- Verification Reports covering over 240 countries. Available online instantly and supported by FirstLink’s Freshly Investigated reports service.
- “As filed” legal documents coverage across more than 140 countries, including full state and province coverage in the USA and Canada respectively.
- Registry extracts have 96% availability across the supported countries
- Availability varies by jurisdiction and legal form, based on local filing rules all pre-determined for you by FirstLink, saving you time and effort.
- Where registries provide structured outputs, FirstLink converts them into usable PDFs with provenance.
Costs that match your workload
FirstLink is designed for SMEs from all business sectors and professional services organisations with smaller teams:
- Pay as you go: only pay when you run checks or order documents
- No unused seats: avoid monthly subscriptions when volume varies
- Scale later: use the portal now, add API access if your volumes grow
FAQs
Do I need this if I already do ID checks on individuals?
Individual ID checks confirm a person. FirstLink helps you verify the company behind them, using registry-sourced evidence and official documents.
What if the registry doesn’t issue “Good Standing” certificates?
Many countries don’t. In those cases, a current registry extract plus an “active” status indicator is often the practical substitute.
What if a business verification report isn’t available instantly?
Where a business cannot be found instantly, when required, you can request an Entity Insight report search from our team and receive the best available official sourced output within 24 hours for any country in the world.
Can I use this for occasional checks only?
Yes. That’s the point. FirstLink is built for irregular volumes and small teams.
Sign up for free. Verify an overseas business today.
Create a free FirstLink account and get simple cross-border business verification and official registry documents. No expensive subscriptions or complex user set-up processes.
Free sign-up. No long contracts. Built for small teams.