Washington Foreign Registration / The statement

The Washington Foreign Registration Statement, item by item

A foreign LLC registers in Washington with a single filing, the Foreign Registration Statement. The fee is $180, the home paper is a certificate of existence, or a document of similar import, issued no more than sixty days before the date of submission and duly authenticated by the Secretary of State or other official having custody of the entity's records in its jurisdiction of formation, and the statute lists 9 statements. We prepare it for $199.

The filing at a glance

Title: Foreign Registration Statement
Fee: $180
Attached: A certificate of existence, or a document of similar import, issued no more than sixty days before the date of submission and duly authenticated by the Secretary of State or other official having custody of the entity's records in its jurisdiction of formation
Filed with: Washington Secretary of State, Corporations & Charities Division
Where: Online, by mail or in person
Executed by: The entity
Public record: Yes

What the statute makes the statement say

The name of the foreign entity (or an alternate name); the type of entity; its jurisdiction of formation; the street and mailing addresses of its principal office and of any office its home law requires; the registered agent information; the names and addresses of its governors (and, for a corporation, its officers); the date of its formation and its period of duration; the nature of its business or purposes in Washington; and the date on which it first did, or intends to do, business in Washington.

Item one: the name

Give the LLC's name. If it does not meet Washington's naming rule, the statement gives an alternate name that does: a foreign entity whose name does not comply with the naming section registers under an alternate name that does, and does business here under that alternate name, its own name with its jurisdiction of formation clearly identified, or an assumed name it is authorized to use.

Item two: the type of entity

The entry for an LLC simply says LLC. The same statement serves corporations, limited partnerships (which also say whether they are limited liability limited partnerships) and limited liability partnerships.

Item three: the home jurisdiction

Give the jurisdiction under whose law the entity was formed. It can be another state, a territory, tribal land or another country.

Item four: the offices

Give the principal office's street and mailing addresses, plus those of any office home law requires the entity to keep there. In Washington terms, a street address in Washington and, if different, a mailing address in Washington.

Item five: the registered agent

Give the registered agent information: the registered agent filing names a commercial registered agent or, if there is none, a noncommercial registered agent with its address, or the title of an office or position whose holder receives service together with the address for it.

Item six: the governors

Give the names and addresses of the LLC's governors, meaning its managers or, in a member-managed LLC, its members. A corporation gives its officers too.

Item seven: formation date and duration

Give the date the entity was formed and its period of duration.

Item eight: the nature of the business

Describe the business or purposes to be conducted or promoted in Washington.

Item nine: the start date

Give the date on which the entity first did, or intends to do, business in this state. When you have the date, send it to us and we enter it.

The paper sent with the statement

The statement goes in with a certificate of existence, or a document of similar import, issued no more than sixty days before the date of submission and duly authenticated by the Secretary of State or other official having custody of the entity's records in its jurisdiction of formation. The Secretary of State calls it a Certificate of Existence/Good Standing. Without it the statement is returned for correction.

Other entity types

Corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships use the same statement and pay $180. A foreign nonprofit pays $30. The Secretary of State publishes a fillable PDF for profit entity types.

Fee, routes and speed

The fee is $180. The statement is taken online, by mail or in person. Mail is processed within 15 business days.

Our part

You send the company details, the registered agent you want and the start date. We write the statement, order the certificate and file. Our fee is $199; the state's is $180.

Filing the statement through us

Answer our questions
We ask for the name, home state, offices, governors, agent and start date.
Read the draft
Check the nine items against your records.
We order the certificate
Issued within 60 days.
We file
The statement and the $180 fee.

Registered agent: first year included, then $149 a year

$199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

Statement questions

How many items does the statement have?

Who signs?

The entity executes it.

Does it ask when the entity began business?

Yes. It gives the date on which the entity first did, or intends to do, business in this state.

Is it public?

Yes. All documents are public record.

What you pay

Register in Washington

$199

+ $180 Washington fee

$180 is Washington's fee for an LLC and for any profit entity. A nonprofit pays $30. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.

The Foreign Registration Statement, written from your answers
A home certificate of existence ordered so it is under sixty days old at filing
A Washington registered agent, ours or one you name
The filed registration, passed on to you
Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year

Sources

Operating in Washington?

Order now and the registration goes in before more unregistered years pile up.