Sooner or later, someone asks for it. A bank in Europe wants to see a register extract before opening an account, a payment provider asks for proof of existence, a notary handling a property purchase needs evidence that the LLC exists and who may represent it. At home you might simply pull an extract from the commercial register. In the US, no such document exists. There is no nationwide company register, no single search and no extract that shows everything on one page. Instead, each of the fifty states keeps its own register with the Secretary of State, and what you need to present is made up of two or three documents.
Why there is no US register extract
In the US, company law is a matter for the states. Your LLC comes into being through a filing with the Secretary of State of the state of formation, and that is where its file lives. Washington keeps no company register. Nor is the IRS a register: your LLC's EIN proves that a tax number exists, not that the company legally exists.
There is a second difference. A typical European register extract shows the managing directors, their authority to represent the company and often the shareholders too. Many US registers show little of that. In some states, members and managers do not appear in the public register at all; which states they are is shown in the overview Anonymous LLC: the eleven states. What a register extract does in one step elsewhere is spread across several documents in the US.
The three documents that replace the extract
1. Certificate of Good Standing
The Certificate of Good Standing, depending on the state also called a Certificate of Existence, Certificate of Status or Certificate of Fact, confirms that your LLC exists and has met its obligations to the state, meaning it has filed its annual reports and paid its state fees. It is the document that comes closest to a register extract, and the one banks and authorities in Europe usually mean when they ask for a register extract.
A good standing certificate is a snapshot. It carries an issue date, and many recipients only accept it if it is recent. Submitting a three-year-old certificate only proves that the LLC was in order three years ago.
2. Articles of Organization
The Articles of Organization, called a Certificate of Formation in Delaware and Texas, are your LLC's founding document. They contain the name, date of formation, Registered Agent and, depending on the state, further details. They prove when and where the LLC came into being, not whether it is still in good standing today. That is why many recipients ask for both: the Articles for the formation, the good standing certificate for the current status.
For recipients abroad, you need a certified copy from the Secretary of State, not the PDF confirmation you received at formation.
3. Operating Agreement and proof of authority
Who may sign for the LLC? In the US, that question is usually answered not by a state document but by the Operating Agreement, your LLC's company agreement. It is not filed with the register in any state. Why it is still your LLC's most important contract is explained in the article The Operating Agreement. When a bank or notary in Europe wants to see the authority to represent the company, you present the Operating Agreement, notarised and apostilled if needed, and sometimes a members' resolution expressly authorising the signatory.
What the documents cost: four states compared
Each state sets its own fees. The amounts below come from the current fee schedules of the Secretaries of State.
Wyoming. Under the fee schedule in force since 1 July 2026, you can download a Certificate of Good Standing online free of charge through the wyobiz.wyo.gov portal. A state-issued certificate of existence or good standing costs 20 dollars, a certification 10 dollars, copies 50 cents per page for the first ten pages.
Delaware. According to the fee schedule as of 1 August 2026, the short form good standing costs 50 dollars, the long form 175 dollars. Certified copies cost 50 dollars per document plus 2 dollars per page. For expedited processing within 24 hours or on the same day, 40 to 80 dollars are added, depending on the document.
Texas. The Secretary of State issues a Certificate of Fact, Status, which by its own description serves as official proof of existence and shows the current name, the date of formation and the status. According to the ordering instructions it costs 15 dollars, and certified copies 15 dollars plus 1 dollar per page. Watch the terminology: when people in Texas talk about a Certificate of Good Standing, they often mean a certificate from the Comptroller on the franchise tax status, now called a Certificate of Account Status. For a European bank, the Secretary of State's document is usually the right one.
New Mexico. Here the special feature is the apostille, which according to the Secretary of State costs only 3 dollars per document, far less than in the other three states. Applications are made online through the state's portal.
The apostille: when you need it
Abroad, a US document is at first just a foreign piece of paper. You are on the safe side with an apostille. It is a certificate of authenticity under the 1961 Hague Convention, which has applied to the US since 15 October 1981, as the status table of the Hague Conference shows. With an apostille, no consular legalisation is needed between the states that are party to the Convention.
The apostille is issued by the Secretary of State of the state where the document originated, not by a federal agency. The costs:
- Wyoming: 20 dollars per apostille, plus 20 dollars for a certified good standing or 10 dollars for certified Articles of up to ten pages. That is what the application form as of 1 July 2026 says. Important: a certificate you printed yourself online will not be apostilled; the document must be issued in certified form by the Business Division. Processing can take up to 15 business days.
- Delaware: 30 dollars per apostille for business purposes.
- Texas: 15 dollars per apostille, according to the Secretary of State's FAQ.
- New Mexico: 3 dollars per document.
One detail from the Wyoming form matters for everyone: private documents such as the Operating Agreement or a power of attorney are only apostilled there if they have first been notarised by a Wyoming notary. In Texas, too, private documents go through notarisation first; the Secretary of State has a separate procedure for notarised documents. So if you want your Operating Agreement apostilled for a European bank, you need the notary first, then the apostille.
Who asks for what
The requirements depend on the recipient, not on the law. A few typical cases:
Banks and payment providers usually want the Articles, a recent good standing certificate, the IRS's EIN confirmation and the Operating Agreement. What else leads to a rejection is covered in the article LLC account rejected: the nine reasons.
Notaries and land registries are the strictest. For an LLC buying property, expect to need certified register documents with an apostille, and often a translation.
Business partners and marketplaces are often satisfied with a simple good standing certificate without an apostille. It is worth asking before you pay for a certification nobody needs.
Formed in one state, registered in another
Some LLCs are registered in more than one state: formed in Wyoming, say, and additionally registered as a foreign company in a state where they actually operate. This registration is called a Certificate of Authority or foreign registration and carries its own fees: 150 dollars in Wyoming under the fee schedule, 200 dollars in Delaware. It makes the LLC visible in that second state, but it does not make it the state of formation.
For register documents, this matters. The good standing certificate that counts always comes from the state of formation. A certificate from the second state only confirms that the LLC is registered there and meets its obligations there. A European bank asking for a register extract almost always wants the proof from the state under whose law the company was formed. If you later move your LLC to another state entirely, you also change the office where you order your documents in future; how such a move works without forming a new company is shown in the article Changing states with your LLC.
What puts good standing at risk
Good standing is not permanent. It is lost when the LLC fails to meet its obligations to the state: a missed annual report, an unpaid state fee or tax, a Registered Agent that has dropped away. In Wyoming, for example, reinstatement under the fee schedule costs 100 dollars if the annual report license tax was not paid, and 350 dollars if there was no Registered Agent. On top of that come the missed amounts themselves.
In practice, that means: if you need a good standing certificate, you first need an LLC that meets its deadlines. A certificate stating "not in good standing" is worse for a bank than none at all.
How to go about it
- Ask the recipient exactly which documents they want: good standing, Articles, Operating Agreement, with or without an apostille, with or without a translation, and how old the good standing certificate may be at most.
- Order from the Secretary of State of the state of formation, not from another state where the LLC is merely registered.
- Order the apostille at the same time if it is needed; in Wyoming that is a single application.
- Allow time. Processing in Wyoming alone can take up to 15 business days, plus international shipping.
- Clarify the translation question. Some offices accept documents in English, others require a certified translation.
When we form your LLC, you receive all formation documents digitally, and certified copies and apostilles can be added if needed. What the package includes is set out in the overview of our 19 services.