Register an existing business in another state
⚠️ Early access — This endpoint is in preview and may change in backwards-incompatible ways before it is marked stable. Avoid depending on it in production, and reach out before building on it.
Register an LLC that already exists in your Palm account to transact business in another state (a foreign qualification).
What the request carries. Reference the business with business_id and name the target state in jurisdiction. The legal name, entity type, formation jurisdiction, formation date and registration number are read from the business record and never accepted on the request; the record must also carry its registration jurisdiction, equal to its formation jurisdiction. You supply only what the target state asks for beyond that: optional alternate_names to file under if the target state refuses the legal name, a filing contact, the principal and mailing address, governing persons where the state wants them, a registered agent if you are not using Palm’s, an expedited tier, and any state-specific fields the foreign qualification requirements endpoint lists. A delayed effective_date is one of them: it is listed only for states that offer one, and sending it to a state that does not is rejected with a 400, since dropping it would change when the registration takes effect.
What gets created. A new business record for the target-state registration, whose formation_jurisdiction is the home state, registration_jurisdiction is the target state, domestic_legal_name is the legal name of the business in its home state, and domestic_business_id is the referenced business, and a foreign_qualification filing linked to it as business_id. Owners of the referenced business are carried over. Omit registered_agent to have Palm act as registered agent in the target state; it appears under related_items.
Before anything is created the request is checked in this order: the business exists and is the domestic registration; it carries every field the application needs (a 400 lists any gap); it is a US LLC (501 otherwise); the target state is supported (501 until a state is released); the business is not already registered there (409 already_registered, carrying the existing registration); the expedited tier is one the state offers; every alternate name differs from the legal name and from each other and clears the target state’s naming rules, and at least one of the legal name and the alternate names clears those rules and is available there (400 carrying the conflicts for each name); and the payload satisfies the state’s requirements.
Result. Returns the filing in queued status. It then moves through ready_to_file → processing → filed → completed, sending a filing.* webhook at each step. Once completed, filing.result carries the target state’s registration_number and registration_date, filing.legal_name and the new business’s legal_name are the name the state registered (the legal name, or the alternate name it accepted), the state documents are on the new business, and its registration number is on the new business record. Until the filing enters processing, you can cancel it with the cancel endpoint.
Authorizations
Enter your API key in the format: sk_test_xxxxx or sk_live_xxxxx
Headers
Use one key per logical submission and reuse it for every retry of that submission. A key is bound to the first request that succeeds with it and honored for 24 hours: retrying with the same key and payload returns the previously created filing with the Idempotent-Replayed: true response header instead of creating a second one. Reusing a key with a different payload or on a different operation is rejected with a 409 idempotency_key_conflict problem carrying existing_filing_id. Keys are 1-255 characters, unique per organization and mode.
255Body
The state to register in (ISO 3166-2). Becomes the registration jurisdiction of the new business record.
"US-TX"
The existing business in your account, as registered in its formation state: its registration jurisdiction must equal its formation jurisdiction. Its legal name, entity type, formation jurisdiction, formation date and registration number are read from the record and are never accepted on this request.
"987e6543-e21a-45b6-c789-012345678901"
Primary contact for questions about this filing. Used by Palm operations; never sent to the state.
Business email address
"info@acme.com"
Principal office address, as you hold it
Up to 3 backup names, in the order to try them. Palm files under the legal name first; if the target state refuses it, Palm files under the first alternate name the state accepts, without asking you. Each must differ from the legal name and from each other, and must satisfy the target state’s naming rules. The request is refused only when neither the legal name nor any alternate name is available in the target state. The new business’s legal_name is the name the state registers.
3Business phone number
"512-555-1234"
Business website
"https://acme.com"
Mailing address if different from the principal office. Defaults to principal_address when omitted.
Members or managers of the LLC, where the target state asks for them. The requirement endpoint says whether the state does.
Purpose of the business in the target state, where the state asks for one.
"Any lawful purpose"
Your own registered agent in the target state. If omitted, Palm provides registered agent service there.
Expedited processing tier. Omit for standard processing. Valid values are jurisdiction-specific — discover them via GET /v1/filing/foreign-qualification/requirement (expedited_tiers) and price them via GET /v1/filing/foreign-qualification/fee (expedited_tiers). Rejected with 400 if the value is not offered by the jurisdiction.
"expedited"
Context for Palm operations to read before submitting this filing, such as an existing name reservation. Returned on the filing.
2000"The member holds name reservation 2026-123456 for this name."
Partner-defined metadata. Round-tripped on webhooks and the filing record.
Response
Foreign qualification filing created
Unique identifier for the resource
"123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
Object type
filing "filing"
Whether this resource was created with test or live credentials. Test and live data are fully isolated — a test resource never appears in live results and vice versa.
test, live "live"
ISO 8601 timestamp of when the resource was created
"2025-10-24T10:30:00Z"
ISO 8601 timestamp of when the resource was last updated
"2025-10-24T15:45:00Z"
Store up to 50 custom key-value pairs for application-specific data. Useful for storing references to external systems, feature flags, or other custom attributes.
Filing type
formation, ein, amendment, scorp_election, foreign_qualification Current status
queued, ready_to_file, processing, filed, completed, canceled Entity type. Set on formations and foreign qualifications (derived from the referenced business).
llc, professional_llc, corporation, professional_corporation Jurisdiction the filing is made in (ISO 3166-2). For a foreign qualification this is the target state.
"US-NC"
Business name the filing is being made under, as sent on the request. For a foreign qualification, the name being registered in the target state: the legal name of the business, or the alternate name the state accepted once the filing completes. Changes when a legal_name_change case resolves.
"Acme Holdings LLC"
Deprecated: use legal_name. The same value.
"Acme Holdings LLC"
Expedited processing tier requested for this filing, or null for standard processing. Only set on filings submitted with an expedited_tier.
"same_day"
Context the partner sent for Palm operations when creating this filing, or null when none was sent.
"The member holds name reservation 2026-123456 for this name."
Linked business ID. For a foreign qualification this is the new business record created for the target-state registration, whose formation_jurisdiction and registration_jurisdiction say where the entity was formed and where it is registered.
Filing result — populated on completion, null until then. Shape depends on the filing type: formation → { registration_number, formation_date }; foreign qualification → { registration_number, registration_date, palm_id }; EIN → { ein_number, legal_name }. Other filing types have no result.
- Option 1
- Option 2
- Option 3
Parent filing ID (for bundled EIN/RA)
Bundle of obligations tracked under this filing, each with its own object type and status: filings (state registration, EIN) and the registered agent (id is the business, resolvable at GET /business/:id/registered-agent).
- Option 1
- Option 2
Documents associated with this filing
Fee components keyed by type (base, dynamic, late, credit_card, ach), plus a convenience total grand total (assumes credit-card payment). Only present components are included. When items is set, it lists each evaluated rule for itemized rendering — the component-keyed values are the sums across those items.
Reason the filing was canceled (partner request, parent off-boarded, duplicate, etc.). Only present when status is canceled.
Role that initiated the cancellation. One of: partner, palm. Only present when status is canceled.
Timestamp the filing was canceled
Cases attached to this filing. One entry per partner-visible case, in chronological order. Each case carries a typed request payload describing what Palm needs and, once submitted, a typed response. Partners respond via POST /v1/case/:case_id/response. An entry with status=needs_response is an outstanding ask — its presence is the signal that the filing needs partner action.