Is It Possible to Register an LLC for a Foreign Citizen

Firms, companies, organizations and individuals can be founders of limited liability companies in the Russian Federation. But they are not necessarily residents of the country. One can quite often find a company with a foreigner in the list of its beneficiaries. Registration of LLC for a foreign citizen has its own characteristics.

Doing Business by Foreigners

But at the same time, these persons may be prohibited or restricted by law from participating in some business companies. Foreign persons may not be founders of companies that carry out, in particular:

The answer to the question whether a foreign citizen can be a founder of an LLC will be unequivocally affirmative — Russian legislation does not prohibit residents of other countries to create various enterprises, societies and organizations. After all, this is a kind of direct investment in the country’s economy, which is carried out by foreigners through contributions to the authorised capital of legal entities. In addition, when new companies are opened, the number of jobs increases, which reduces social tension and removes the state’s obligations to organize the employment of its citizens.

Among the positive aspects of this cooperation one can also mention the development of competition, the introduction of new mechanisms and of the experience of foreign specialists.

If a limited liability company is created by a foreigner, this form of business is called an LLC with foreign investments.

Citizens of another country directly, as well as legal entities whose beneficiaries are foreigners can be the founders.
If we consider the first option, it will be a company with 100% foreign capital, in the second case — a joint venture with participatory share capital.

How to Register

So, first consider the situation when a foreign citizen who wants to form an LLC is an individual. In this case, the tax authority requires:

resolution (if there is one founder) or protocol (if there are several beneficiaries) on the establishment of the company.
LLC charter in 2 copies, one remains in the tax service, the second is issued to the owner with a mark of registration;
application for LLC registration according to the P11001 form. Do not forget that all the signatures of the founders on it must be notarized;
confirmation of payment of state duty;
a letter of guarantee from the lessor if the company is registered in a real estate not owned by the founder.

In addition to these standard documents the foreigner must also provide a notarized copy of his passport with a translation into Russian.
The second option is when the founder is a legal entity. In this case, the standard package must be supplemented with an extract of the register of the country where the legal entity is registered (also accompanied by a notarized translation).

Peculiarities of the Application Preparation

Since it is allowed for residents of other countries to create an LLC in the Russian Federation, there are special fields for such cases in the P11001 registration form:

for individuals: one should specify one’s actual residential address in a foreign country;
for a legal entity: one need to fill in the data according to the extract of the register of one’s country.

The remaining requirements for filling out the document are typical.

Certification of Documents

The establishment of LLC by a foreign citizen provides that the documents submitted for registration must have:

a mark on the legalization at the consulate;
apostil;
translation into Russian;
translation of the apostil.

All papers must be notarized.

An apostil is provided in accordance with international agreements, one of the parties of which is the Russian Federation. However, the existing agreements between certain countries (for example, CIS countries) simplify the legalization procedure of such documents greatly.

Submission of Documents

The conditions for document submission are standard: they can be brought to the registration office of the Federal Tax Service personally or sent by mail with a notification letter.