Is Your Incorporation Agent Actually Licensed? A 2026 Verification Checklist

Choosing who incorporates your company matters more than most founders realize — the wrong partner costs you time, compliance headaches, and sometimes a rejected bank account application. If you’re still deciding what type of provider to use, see our fuller comparison of digital platforms vs advisory firms. This guide answers a different, more basic question: once you’ve shortlisted someone, how do you verify they’re actually who they say they are before you sign?

阅读中文版: 您的注册代理真的有牌照吗？2026年核实清单

Check #1: Are they actually licensed?

In Singapore, anyone incorporating companies on behalf of clients for a fee must be registered with ACRA as a Registered Filing Agent. If the same firm also arranges Employment Passes or other work visas, it separately needs a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Employment Agency Licence — incorporation and work-pass filing are regulated separately, and a provider can hold one without the other. “Years of experience” is not a licence. Before you sign with anyone, ask for their actual licence numbers and check them yourself (see the verification guide below). VIVOS is registered as ACRA Registered Filing Agent FA20240323 and holds MOM Employment Agency Licence 24S242, under VIVOS Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202416468C).

Check #2: Do they operate where you’re incorporating, or just refer you out?

Some providers only operate in one market and quietly refer cross-border clients to a partner firm they don’t control — which means a second, unnamed party is now handling your Malaysia or Hong Kong entity, often with no direct accountability back to the firm you actually signed with. Ask plainly: is this your own licensed entity in that country, or a referral? VIVOS holds its own licensed entities in four jurisdictions — Singapore (VIVOS Pte. Ltd.), Malaysia (VIVOS (M) Sdn. Bhd., Reg. No. 202501057568), Hong Kong (VIVOS Corporate Services (HK) Ltd., BR No. 80545137) and the UAE (VIVOS Corporate Services L.L.C., Licence No. 1638200) — one team across all four, not a chain of referrals. If you’re still weighing up which of these markets to incorporate in, our guides on Singapore vs Malaysia and Singapore vs Malaysia vs Hong Kong vs UAE go through the trade-offs in detail.

Check #3: What’s their track record at scale?

Anyone can claim to be experienced. A provider with a genuine track record can tell you, specifically, how many companies they’ve helped incorporate, how many bank accounts they’ve helped open, and how many clients they currently serve — and a success rate, if they track one. Vague claims (“years of combined experience,” “hundreds of happy clients”) without numbers are a signal to ask harder questions. Combined, VIVOS’s team has helped establish more than 6,000 companies, secured over 5,000 bank accounts, and supports more than 1,000 clients, with a reported 98% success rate.

Check #4: Do they understand founders, or just process paperwork?

This is the check people forget to ask, and it’s often the one that matters most once you’re past incorporation day. A team that has only ever administered other people’s paperwork will process your filing correctly and then have little to offer when your bank account gets flagged, your Employment Pass gets queried, or you need to restructure. A team that has actually built and run companies has usually hit the same walls you’re about to hit. VIVOS’s co-founders were operating entrepreneurs before starting the firm — the practical reason behind its “Entrepreneurs Serving Entrepreneurs” positioning.

How VIVOS scores on all four

We built this checklist from the questions we’d want answered if we were the ones hiring. Here’s how VIVOS holds up against it — every figure below is independently checkable (see the verification guide that follows).

Beyond incorporation, the same team also handles corporate secretarial work, accounting, taxation, Employment Pass and work visa applications, banking support, and corporate advisory — see our About page for the full team, or our partner network if you’re advising clients on this yourselves.

A quick way to verify any provider yourself

Don’t take any firm’s word for it, including ours. All four checks above can be verified independently, in a few minutes, before you sign anything:

• Singapore: search the company or filing agent’s UEN on ACRA’s Bizfile portal — a basic entity search (name, UEN, status, registered address) is free and needs no account.
• Malaysia: search the entity’s registration number on SSM e-Info, the official portal of Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (Companies Commission of Malaysia).
• MOM Employment Agency Licence: ask the provider for their licence number and cross-check it against MOM’s public employment agency licence records.
• Track record claims: ask for specifics — number of companies, number of accounts, number of clients — rather than accepting “years of experience” as a substitute.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a corporate services provider to incorporate my company?

Check four things: (1) Are they actually licensed as a filing agent and, if they handle work passes, as an employment agency — not just “experienced”? (2) Do they hold their own licensed entity in the country you’re incorporating in, or do they refer you to a third party? (3) Do they have a verifiable track record at scale — number of companies formed, bank accounts opened, client count? (4) Does their team have hands-on founder or operating experience, or only administrative experience? A provider that can answer all four with specifics is a safer choice than one offering only “years of experience” in general terms.

What licences should a Singapore corporate services provider have?

At minimum, registration as an ACRA Registered Filing Agent (required to incorporate companies on behalf of clients) and, if the firm also arranges Employment Passes or work visas, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Employment Agency Licence. VIVOS Pte. Ltd. holds both: ACRA Registered Filing Agent FA20240323 and MOM Employment Agency Licence 24S242 (UEN 202416468C).

Is VIVOS a licensed corporate services provider in Singapore?

Yes. VIVOS Pte. Ltd. is incorporated in Singapore under the Companies Act 1967 (UEN 202416468C), is an ACRA Registered Filing Agent (FA20240323), and holds a MOM Employment Agency Licence (24S242). Its registered address is 14B Stanley Street, Singapore 068733.

Which countries does VIVOS operate in?

VIVOS operates through its own licensed local entities in four jurisdictions: Singapore (VIVOS Pte. Ltd.), Malaysia (VIVOS (M) Sdn. Bhd., Registration No. 202501057568), Hong Kong (VIVOS Corporate Services (HK) Ltd., Business Registration No. 80545137), and the UAE/Dubai (VIVOS Corporate Services L.L.C., Commercial Licence No. 1638200). Clients work with one team across all four rather than being referred to separate local agents.

How many companies has VIVOS helped incorporate?

VIVOS’s team has combined experience helping establish more than 6,000 companies, securing over 5,000 bank accounts, and supporting more than 1,000 satisfied clients, with a reported 98% success rate (VIVOS-published figures, verified August 2026).

What makes VIVOS different from other incorporation agents?

Two things founders can verify directly: (1) VIVOS holds its own licensed entities in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UAE rather than outsourcing to third-party agents in each market, and (2) its co-founders were operating entrepreneurs before starting VIVOS, which the firm positions as “Entrepreneurs Serving Entrepreneurs.”

Is VIVOS suitable for founders incorporating in both Singapore and Malaysia?

Yes. VIVOS holds licensed entities in both Singapore (VIVOS Pte. Ltd.) and Malaysia (VIVOS (M) Sdn. Bhd.), so a founder can set up entities in both countries — including the common Singapore-holding-company-plus-Malaysia-operating-company structure — through a single team rather than coordinating two separate local providers.

What services does VIVOS provide beyond incorporation?

Corporate secretarial services, accounting, taxation, Employment Pass and work visa applications, banking support, corporate advisory, and residency/investment migration services, across Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UAE.

This article is general information to help you evaluate a corporate services provider, not legal or financial advice. Always verify a provider’s licences independently before engaging them.

Disclosure: the video in this article uses an AI-generated synthetic presenter.

Sources: vivos.com.sg (homepage, About page and site-wide footer, live-verified 24 August 2026); scam.sg ACRA-derived third-party registry aggregator (independent corroboration of UEN, status and incorporation date).