Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis offshore corporate registry; shell-company jurisdiction in OFAC Iran sanctions evasion rounds.
Last refreshed: 19 May 2026
How does a tiny Caribbean island's corporate registry keep appearing in Iran oil sanctions cases?
Timeline for Nevis
Mentioned in: OFAC SDN round skips mainland refineries again
Iran Conflict 2026- Why does Nevis keep appearing in Iran sanctions cases?
- Nevis maintains a separate corporate registry under the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance offering bearer shares and low disclosure requirements. Iranian operators use Nevis-incorporated shells as holding layers to obscure beneficial ownership above sanctioned operating entities.Source: OFAC
- What kind of companies does Nevis register for sanctions evaders?
- Nevis's offshore registry allows bearer shares, nominee directors and minimal public disclosure. It is used primarily for corporate holding structures rather than ship registrations, often as an intermediate ownership layer in multi-hop Iran oil evasion networks.Source: OFAC
- What is the difference between Nevis and Saint Kitts for company registration?
- Nevis has its own distinct registry under the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, separate from the federal Saint Kitts Companies Act. The Nevis registry is more permissive on disclosure and has been the preferred jurisdiction for offshore Shell formation in sanctions evasion cases.Source: OFAC enforcement records
Background
Nevis is the smaller island of the two-island Caribbean state of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and is distinct from the federal Saint Kitts jurisdiction in one important respect: it maintains its own separate corporate registry under the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, which offers bearer shares, nominee directors and low disclosure requirements. This makes Nevis-incorporated entities a recurring tool in sanctions evasion structures where operators need a corporate holding layer that does not require beneficial ownership disclosure.
In OFAC's 19 May 2026 SDN round, Nevis-registered entities appeared among over two dozen designations spanning Panama, Liberia, the UAE, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong and the UK. The round targeted corporate and vessel structures linked to Iranian crude exports, with Nevis-incorporated shells typically appearing as holding companies or intermediate ownership layers above the sanctioned operating entities.
Nevis has been a recurring jurisdiction in US sanctions enforcement actions across Iran, Venezuela and North Korea cases. Unlike flag-of-convenience ship registries such as Panama and Liberia, the Nevis role is primarily as a corporate formation jurisdiction rather than a vessel registration one, though the two are frequently combined in the same evasion structure.
