Mississippi Foreign Corporation

Expand your business with a foreign corporation in Mississippi

A Mississippi foreign corporation filing is a great way to expand a corporation that was filed elsewhere into the state. (A brand new corporation would file instead as a domestic Mississippi corporation.)

There are a variety of documents that are required in order to register a foreign corporation in Mississippi. They include:

Mississippi Application for Certificate of Authority

The Application for Certificate of Authority is similar to the Articles of Incorporation that would be filed for a brand new corporation: it creates a regard of the entity with the Secretary of State in Jackson and creates a legal entity in the state.

Information that should be included in the foreign corporation Application includes:

  • Corporate name as listed with the domestic state
  • Date of registration with the domestic state
  • Name and address of domestic registered agent
  • Name, address, and title of the corporate officers
  • Name and address of corporate directors
  • Members/No members (applicable to nonprofit foreign corporations only)
  • Name of foreign corporation in Mississippi (which must be available for use)
  • Name and signature of person signing the Application for Certificate of Authority

Certificate of Good Standing from the domestic state

Also known as a Certificate of Existence or Status, the Certificate of Good Standing can be obtained from the Secretary of State of the state in which you originally incorporated.

It shows the Mississippi Secretary of State, essentially, that you not only have in fact registered as a corporation in that state, but also that you haven't been negligent in your corporate responsibilities to the extent that you were administratively dissolved or had your status revoked—which would be noted on your Certificate. (Repeated failure to file an annual renewal or pay state taxes, for example, are common reasons for the state to revoke corporate status.)

Registered agent agreement

In most cases, your corporation already has a registered agent in its domestic state. That person might even be you. But recall that a registered agent has to have a physical address in the state in which the corporation registration—and if you reside in your original state, by definition you do not reside in Mississippi. In this case, you're not able to act as your own company's agent.

But what if you don't know anyone who lives in Mississippi? Foreign corporation registration requires a physical address within the state. How will you fulfill the requirements?

Not to worry. The registered agent requirement can be fulfilled by a domestic Mississippi corporation, as well as by a resident individual, and these days it's easy to find a company that could potentially act as your registered agent in all 50 states.

What if I don't have all of the required documents on hand right now?

Don't worry—your business incorporation company should be able to help you acquire some of these documents.

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Other Mississippi Businesses

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