Foreign Qualifications

A foreign qualification registers a company formed in one state to legally operate in another. Include foreignQualification in POST /orders with the existing companyId; filingState is the state being qualified into.

curl -X POST https://api.fileforms.com/v1/orders \
  -H "x-api-key: sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "userId": "user_a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8",
    "companyId": "comp_x1y2z3w4v5u6t7s8",
    "filingState": "CA",
    "foreignQualification": true,
    "registeredAgent": { "isChangeOfAgent": false }
  }'

Field requirements

• A registered agent in the qualifying state is required — states demand one before admitting a foreign entity. Either order FileForms RA service in the same request (as above, the common case), or supply an existing agent: "foreignQualification": { "registeredAgent": { ... } } with the agent's address in the filing state.
• With an agent ordered or on file, the shorthand "foreignQualification": true is all you need.
• Cannot be combined with formation in one request — a company is formed in a state or qualified into it, never both. Form first, then qualify in additional states with follow-up orders (one request per state).
• The company's formationState and entityType must be set on the company record — they determine the state fee and appear on the qualification filing.
• A certificate of good standing is added automatically where the qualifying state requires one. Most states won't admit a foreign entity without a certificate from its home state, and several require it of corporations but not LLCs (or the reverse), so the requirement is resolved from the filing state and the company's entityType rather than left to you — the Foreign Qualification tab of State fees marks which rows require one. When it applies, the certificate is ordered for you, billed as its own line, and returned in items alongside the qualification — see Billing. It is issued from the company's formation state, not the state being qualified into, which is the certificate the qualifying state asks to see. Without formationState on the record, the order returns 400.
• You can also add "certificateOfGoodStanding": true yourself — in a state that already requires one this changes nothing, and you are charged for one certificate, not two. Order it that way when you want a certificate the state doesn't strictly require. See Certificate of Good Standing.

Duplicate protection

409 Conflict — Foreign qualification already purchased for this state — if the company already has a paid qualification there. A cancelled or unpaid earlier attempt doesn't block reordering.

Billing

One-time: foreign qualification wholesale plus the qualifying state's fee (see State fees). RA service, if ordered, is its own annual subscription line. A certificate of good standing — whether you asked for it or the state requires it — is a separate one-time line, priced from the formation state it is issued from, not the state being qualified into.

After ordering

• filing.status_changed → filed when the state admits the entity
• document.uploaded → the state's qualification certificate/confirmation
• Common exception: code 487 (out-of-state registered agent) — the supplied agent must be in the qualifying state