Pennsylvania Foreign LLC
If you own an LLC that’s headquartered in another state and want to expand to Pennsylvania, you’ll have to register in Pennsylvania first. Registering means filing a Foreign Registration Statement and possibly a Docketing Statement with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Once you pay a filing fee and submit the right forms, you’ll get a Certificate of Authority from the state authorizing you to do business. If you’d rather not file yourself, you can hire us to register your PA foreign LLC on your behalf.
How to Register a Foreign LLC in Pennsylvania
Here are the steps to registering your foreign LLC in the Keystone State.
1. Check Business Name Availability
First, check to see if the business name you’re using in your home state is available for your foreign LLC in Pennsylvania. You can accomplish this by running a business entity search. If your business name is taken, you’ll need to register a fictitious name.
2. Get a Registered Office
In some cases, getting a fictitious name comes with a newspaper publication requirement, meaning you have to place notice that you have already filed or intend to file an application for registration of the fictitious name. This requirement applies if you list an individual’s name (as opposed to an entity) in Box 4 of the Registration of Fictitious Name form.
In addition, the registered office has to be open during regular business hours to accept legal mail on your LLC’s behalf, including service of process notices. If you don’t want to deal with that hassle, you can hire us to act as your registered agent.
In Pennsylvania, you need to have either a registered office or a Commercial Registered Office Provider (CROP). You may also hear either of those referred to as a Pennsylvania registered agent. Your registered office must be a physical office within Pennsylvania state boundaries. That means no P.O. Boxes.
That means we will accept your legal mail and upload it to your account ASAP so you can view it. We also offer a stable rate for registered agent services, one that doesn’t go up every year just because we feel like raising our prices. When you use our registered agent services, you’ll pay $49 a year, period.
3. Complete Foreign Registration Statement & Docketing Statement
Next up, it’s time to complete the Foreign Registration Statement. The fee for filing this form is $250. You’ll need to include information like the type of business (in this case, that’s LLC), the full business name, the jurisdiction where it was formed, and a mailing address.
You’ll also need to note if your LLC is a restricted professional LLC. That simply means that your business offers professional services like dentistry, optometry, veterinary medicine, law, or some other service that requires practitioners to hold a licesne.
You can file your Foreign Registration Statement either online by mail. If you choose the mail option, make sure to include a completed Docketing Statement.
4. Obtain Certificate of Authority
Once you submit the paperwork and the accompanying $250 filing fee, the Pennsylvania Department Of State will look over your application. If everything looks good, you’ll get a Certificate of Authority that clears you to do business in Pennsylvania. You can choose whether you want it delivered by mail or email.
Once you’ve got the certificate, your foreign LLC is registered and you can legally do business in the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pennsylvania require certificate of good standing/existence?
No. Other states require you to obtain something called a certificate of good standing or certificate of existence from your home state before you can register your foreign LLC. However, Pennsylvania has no such requirement.
Is there a publication requirement for foreign LLCs in PA?
No, foreign LLCs do not have to publish any sort of registration announcement in Pennsylvania newspapers. The publication requirement does apply to foreign corporations, but LLCs don’t have to worry about it unless they’re applying for a fictitious name under circumstances mentioned in step 2 above.
How is a foreign LLC different from a regular LLC?
In this context, a foreign LLC is an LLC that was originally formed in another state or country. So if you formed your LLC in Ohio, Pennsylvania considers that a foreign LLC and will require you to register before you can do business in Pennsylvania.
How do I amend a Pennsylvania foreign LLC?
To amend your foreign LLC in Pennsylvania, submit a Foreign Registration Amendment and pay a $250 filing fee.
Can I be the registered agent for my foreign LLC in Pennsylvania?
You can act as your own registered agent, but you’d need to have a physical residence inside Pennsylvania state lines and be available at that address during normal business in order to pull this off. And if you’ve got a foreign LLC, you probably don’t live in Pennsylvania, so it’s best to get someone else to act as your registered agent.