Anyone who has formed a company in Europe knows the ritual: book an appointment, bring your ID, have the articles of association read aloud, sign, wait. So with a US LLC, many people wonder whether they have to fly to the United States, see an American notary or at least appear at a government office once. The answer is short: a US LLC can be formed entirely remotely. No flight, no notary appointment, no visit to a government office. What it takes instead is a few steps in the right order and an understanding of the two places where the process works differently for foreign founders than for Americans.
Why no notary is needed
In the United States, an LLC does not come into being through a notarised contract but through a filing with the state. In Wyoming, this document is called the Articles of Organization. The official form of the Wyoming Secretary of State asks for the LLC's name, the Registered Agent with its address in Wyoming, a mailing address and a principal office address, an email address and the signature of an organizer. There is no field for a notary or a certification. The signature is given by the organizer, meaning the person who files the formation.
Delaware is similar. Under § 18-201 of the Delaware LLC Act, one or more authorised persons sign the Certificate of Formation, which is filed with the Secretary of State. It only has to contain the LLC's name, the Registered Agent and its address. The LLC comes into being on filing. And § 18-206 states expressly that any signature on such a document may be a facsimile signature or an electronically transmitted signature.
That is the heart of the matter: the company law of the US states does not require notarisation to form an LLC. What a notary secures in Europe is handled in the United States by the public register at the Secretary of State, together with the Registered Agent.
The steps at a glance
The full guide with all variations is in Forming a US LLC. For the question of the remote route, it is enough to look at the steps where someone would have to be physically present if things were different.
1. State and name
Choosing the state is a decision made at your desk, not a trip to a government office. Whether the name is available is shown by the public name search of the relevant Secretary of State. In Wyoming, according to the form, the name must contain the words "Limited Liability Company" or one of the permitted abbreviations such as "LLC".
2. Registered Agent
This is the one point where a physical address in the United States really is required. The Registered Agent is the LLC's statutory address for service of process in the state of formation. In Wyoming, under the official form, it must have a physical address in Wyoming; a mail drop service is expressly not allowed, and a PO box only in addition to a real address. The agent signs its own consent, which is filed with the Articles. In Delaware, the law likewise requires a Registered Agent with an address in the state.
For you, this means: you need no address of your own in the United States, but you do need a service provider to take on this role. It receives official mail and lawsuits for the LLC and forwards them. It is not an office for your business operations.
3. The filing with the state
In Wyoming, the Articles of Organization can be filed online through the wyobiz.wyo.gov portal. Payment is by credit card; according to the notes on the form, card payment is only possible for online filings. Under the fee schedule in force since 1 July 2026, the fee is 100 dollars. If you are in a hurry, you can add next-business-day processing for 700 dollars or same-business-day processing for 1,400 dollars.
One detail that fits the remote idea: the email address on the Wyoming form is mandatory. By ticking a box, the LLC agrees to accept service electronically at this address in the circumstances set out by law. The state also sends reminders and the confirmation of registration there.
4. Operating Agreement
The Operating Agreement is the LLC's constitution. It is not filed with any state and needs no certification. It sets out who owns the LLC, who represents it and what happens on a sale or a death. It is signed by the members, and that works just as well on paper at a kitchen table in Lisbon as electronically. Banks still want to see it, which is why it is among the first documents after registration.
5. EIN: the second point where things work differently
The EIN is the LLC's tax number with the IRS. It costs nothing, but this is where the second difference from American founders shows. According to the IRS's own information, its online application is only available if the responsible party has an SSN or ITIN and the principal business is located in the United States. If your principal business is outside the United States, the IRS says you should apply by phone, fax or mail.
On its EIN page, the IRS names a separate route for international applicants: by phone on +1 267-941-1099, Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time, or with Form SS-4 by fax to +1 304-707-9471 (from abroad) or by mail to the EIN International Operation in Cincinnati. Only one EIN is issued per day, whichever route you use.
The IRS only gives processing times for the domestic route: around four business days by fax, about four weeks by mail, longer at busy times. For international applications it gives no timeframe of its own. That is why, in practice, the EIN is more often the bottleneck than the registration with the state. An expedite fee at the state therefore only speeds up the first of several steps.
None of these routes requires travel. The IRS instructions for Form SS-4 allow the phone route only for international applicants. If you apply by phone, you get the number during the call; if you fax, all you need is a fax machine or a fax service that provides a return fax number.
6. Bank account
For the business account, the bank decides, not the state. There is no law requiring a visit to the United States to open an account; whether a bank opens accounts online is its own decision. The documents requested are almost always the same: ID, Articles, the IRS EIN confirmation, the Operating Agreement and a clear description of the business. Which documents each bank wants to see and where things typically get stuck is shown in the overview A US account for your LLC.
7. What has gone: the BOI report
Until early 2025, formation still included reporting the beneficial owners to FinCEN. Since FinCEN's interim rule of March 2025, companies formed in the United States are exempt from BOI reporting; the final rule of 11 August 2026, in force since 14 August 2026, made this exemption permanent. For a newly formed LLC from Wyoming or Delaware, this step no longer applies.
Where paper still has to travel
Remote does not mean a document with a seal is never needed. It only means you do not have to travel for it. The typical cases come later and on the European side: a bank in Europe wants a register extract, a land registry asks for proof of existence and representation, a business partner wants evidence that the LLC is in good standing.
Then you need a Certificate of Good Standing, sometimes with a certified copy of the Articles and an apostille, the authentication under the Hague Convention. That too runs by mail or courier. In Wyoming, according to the fee schedule, good standing certificates can even be downloaded online free of charge. Which documents stand in for a commercial register extract and when the apostille is needed is explained in the article US register extracts.
So a notary may well still turn up, but not at formation: on the European side, when a European authority requires a certified form for a particular transaction.
What "remote" does not mean
The fact that formation works without travel says nothing about the LLC's later tax position. Three misunderstandings come up again and again.
The Registered Agent is not a place of business. It is an address for service. The LLC does not get an office or staff in the United States through it, and for most foreign founders that is exactly how it should be.
No US visit does not automatically mean no US tax. Whether the United States taxes the profits depends on whether the LLC carries on a business in the US, for example through employees, warehouses or offices there. If you run your business entirely from abroad, you generally do not meet that test. The reporting obligations to the IRS still apply: an LLC with a single foreign owner files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 every year, even without profit.
Formed remotely does not mean tax free at home. Where the profits of a transparent LLC are taxed is decided by your residence. If your country of residence taxes your income, the LLC saves you no tax there. It comes into its own for people who have moved their residence to a country that taxes foreign income lightly or not at all.
A realistic timeline from abroad
If you handle everything from abroad, you can roughly expect these stages:
- Preparation: choose the state, check the name, engage a Registered Agent, gather the details on members and business purpose. This takes days and depends mainly on you.
- Registration: online filing with the state, with expedited processing if needed. According to its fee schedule, Wyoming offers next-business-day or even same-business-day processing for a surcharge.
- EIN: by phone, or by fax with Form SS-4. This is where the longest and least predictable wait arises, because the IRS gives no timeframe for international applications.
- Operating Agreement and bank: as soon as the Articles and EIN are in hand. The bank review runs online and takes different lengths of time depending on the provider and the business model.
- Ongoing operation: annual report and annual license tax with the state, due in Wyoming on the first day of the month of formation, plus the annual filing with the IRS.
None of these steps requires you to sit on a plane. The biggest difference between a fast formation and a slow one is not the location but having complete documents at the first attempt. If a detail is missing on the EIN application, or the name on the application does not match the name in the Articles exactly, the wait starts all over again.
Do it yourself or have it done
Every step can, in principle, be done yourself. The forms are public, and so are the fees. In practice, remote formations rarely fail on the law but on details: a Registered Agent that is not renewed after a year, an SS-4 with the wrong category, a forgotten Form 5472 in the first year, which carries the threat of a 25,000 dollar penalty.
How we take a formation from the order to the finished LLC with an account is shown in the process in four stages. Everything an engagement includes, from the Registered Agent and the EIN to the annual tax return, is listed in the overview of our services.