What Is Foreign Qualification?

The foreign qualification process is quite similar to the business formation process in many states, although the fact that each state creates its own rules and regulations can complicate things a bit. Essentially, foreign qualification is obtained by filing a form usually known as the Certificate of Authority, which grants your business the right to operate in an additional state.

With a foreign qualification service like Northwest Registered Agent, all you have to do is provide them with some basic info and they’ll take care of the rest. You won’t need to worry about filling out any forms or filing them with the Secretary of State. Instead, you can pay Northwest a reasonable fee and spend that time growing your business.

Northwest Registered Agent Foreign Qualification Service Review

Northwest Registered Agent is a popular pick for foreign qualification services, for a handful of reasons. Let’s quickly review its pros and cons before we dig into the details.

Pros

• Personalized customer support
• Acceptable pricing model
• Outstanding dedication to privacy

Cons

• High prices for business formation service

The Northwest Registered Agent Foreign Qualification Service Package

Northwest Registered Agent’s foreign qualification service costs $200, plus your state’s fee. It includes a preliminary name search of your state’s business database, along with the preparation and filing of your Certificate of Authority (or similarly named document).

However, that’s all you get with Northwest Registered Agent, as well as most of its competitors. While domestic business formation services almost always have some additional features and perks, the foreign qualification services offered by the same companies typically do not.

Overall Pricing and Value:

At $200, Northwest Registered Agent’s price point for foreign qualification is not the lowest price point we’ve seen. That distinction goes to MyCompanyWorks, with a $99 rate.

While we do appreciate Northwest’s domestic business formation service, it too has a higher price point than most competitors. At $225, it’s still not a bad deal, considering it includes a year of registered agent service.

Track Record:

Northwest Registered Agent is a trusted midsize business services provider with more experience than many of its competitors, without being such a large company that details can slip through the cracks. While there isn’t a ton of feedback for Northwest available online, the vast majority of the reviews they do have are positive.

The largest collection of feedback on any third-party review website is on Google, where we found a few hundred reviews with strong average scores. Their satisfied customers often discuss their personalized customer support (more on this in a moment!) and lack of upsells and sales pushes.

Customer Support:

With Northwest Registered Agent, customer support is far from the afterthought it can be with some competitors. While some companies in this industry outsource their support to call centers where questionably trained “associates” field your questions, Northwest keeps everything in-house.

Every Northwest Registered Agent employee who answers the phone or responds to an email is a highly trained expert in the business services world. We have always been impressed by their ability to help us solve even the most complicated problems we’ve had.

Ease of Use:

The entire point of using a foreign qualification service is to make this part of your business run seamlessly with little-to-no effort on your part. Northwest Registered Agent certainly fits the bill, as it’s simple to place orders, renew services, and navigate its website.

However, Northwest automatically adds registered agent service to your foreign qualification service order form, and you’ll have to call them to remove it.

The foreign qualification order form also includes a host of other upsell attempts, including those for annual report service, mail forwarding, virtual office services, phone service, a credit card processing consultation, and corporate supplies.

How Does Northwest Registered Agent Work?

The process of ordering foreign qualification service from Northwest Registered Agent couldn’t be much simpler. Here’s an overview of what you can expect when you click the “HIRE US” button after you select your state and entity type on the Northwest foreign qualification service page. Keep in mind that the process for foreign qualification can vary from state to state, but in most states, it will look something like this.

• Choose your state(s) and entity type: The first page of the order form asks for your state(s) and business entity type. This page also gives you the opportunity to choose between standard and rush processing.
• Enter business info: Next, it’s time to provide Northwest with your business name, business purpose, domestic state, and the physical and mailing addresses you want on file with the state.
• Include business management info: You will also indicate your company’s management structure and how many owners it has. Then, you can enter each owner’s name and address.
• Set up your Northwest account: The next step simply requires you to enter your email address and set a password for your Northwest Registered Agent customer account.
• Enter your contact info: This step asks for your personal name and address. You will also indicate whether you want Northwest to send your attorney a copy of any lawsuits or legal notices. If so, you’ll enter your lawyer’s name and email address.
• Upsells: The next page is entirely comprised of upsells. Northwest will push annual report service, mail forwarding, virtual office services, phone service, a credit card processing consultation, and corporate supplies.
• Provide your payment info: Finally, it’s time to provide Northwest with your credit card info and billing address.

What Are Northwest Registered Agent Customers Saying?

Compared to some companies in this industry that have thousands of reviews available online, we only found a few hundred for Northwest Registered Agent. That said, while the volume of reviews isn’t as high as some competitors, it’s impossible to complain about the quality of feedback this company receives.

On Google, we found more than 300 reviews for Northwest with an average rating score of 4.5 out of 5. We discovered that its customers really like the specialized customer support they receive and the lack of pushy sales tactics.

There are certainly foreign qualification services with larger volumes of customer feedback, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a company with a higher quality of reviews than Northwest Registered Agent.

Our Final Thoughts

We appreciate this company’s personalized customer support and commitment to privacy, although it also has a couple of drawbacks as well.

While we realize that each business has its own unique needs and characteristics, we think Northwest is always a good option for foreign qualification service.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.