How does international KYB differ from US Business Search?
Last updated: July 31, 2026
Baselayer's International Business Search verifies businesses outside the US. It's built to mirror Baselayer's US product (same request pattern, same response shape) with a few important differences.
Same response format
International results come back in the same normalized format as US results. If you've integrated the US Business Search, an international search returns the same structure.
The key fields (name, registration/file number, status, legal form, address) sit in the same place, and international searches return the same KYB and Risk ratings and the same match indicators (business_name_match, business_address_match) as the US.
Every country's registry is mapped into Baselayer's standard schema so the response looks the same across countries. Importantly, Baselayer returns all the data available in a registry.
Where a registry simply doesn't provide a field, it's absent from the response. Where a registry provides more than the US does (e.g. ownership), that detail is usually surfaced through the Enhanced profile rather than discarded.
Live to the registry (the big difference)
US Business Search is served from Baselayer's continuously-maintained data. International search goes live to the official corporate registry at the moment you make the request - so the data is as current as the registry itself.
The trade-off is speed: a live registry lookup takes longer than a US search. For that reason, international searches are mainly asynchronous: you submit the request, and results are delivered by webhook (or polling) when the registry responds.
What's the same, what's different
US Business Search | International Business Search | |
|---|---|---|
Response format | Standard schema | Same standard schema |
Ratings & match signals | KYB + Risk ratings, match indicators | Same |
Data freshness | Continuously maintained | Live from the registry at request time |
Speed | Fast (average under 3 seconds) | Slower (live lookup) |
API route |
|
|
Credentials | Your API key | Same API key, no separate credentials |
Search inputs | Name + address | Name + address, or registration/filing number |
Tax ID verification | IRS TIN matching | Not available (US-only) - see the VAT/Tax ID article |
Your existing Baselayer credentials work for international out of the box — there's nothing new to provision.
Related
Lite vs. Enhanced profiles
Coverage by country (which countries and fields are available)
International pricing & credits