Seal Global

US Market Entry, Fully Managed

US Market Entry, All Under One Roof

Most providers hand you a certificate of incorporation and leave you to find your own lawyer, accountant, HR provider, and logistics partner. Seal Global runs the entire operation for industrial groups and business houses entering the US: entity formation, tax and accounting, legal and contracts, HR and payroll, real estate, logistics, technology, and ongoing management. One team, one point of accountability, from your first filing through your first year of operations.

Built for established industrial groups and business houses expanding into the US, not startups looking for a virtual mailbox.

Book a structuring review See the full market entry programme
Corporate seal embosser and fountain pen on incorporation paperwork with a city skyline behind

25+

Years of Continued Excellence

120+

Global Clients Served

24/7

Worldwide Operations

40-60%

Average Cost Savings

Beyond Incorporation: The Full US Operations Enablement Stack

Once the entity exists, the real work starts. Seal Global covers everything a foreign company needs to actually run in the United States — finance, legal, people, logistics, technology and go-to-market operations — delivered as one bundled programme at value pricing rather than nine separate vendors quoting piecemeal. It is the same operations enablement for foreign companies we run as a full market entry programme, with incorporation as its entry point.

One accountable partner instead of nine vendors: a single scope, a single point of escalation, and no gaps between the accountant, the lawyer, the broker and the payroll provider. Scope and pricing are quoted per engagement in a consultation, because the mix depends on your headcount, your operating states and whether you import.

Tax, Accounting & Finance Ops

The finance function a US entity needs from its first invoice.

  • Bookkeeping and U.S. GAAP accounting
  • Federal and state income/franchise tax filings
  • Sales tax registration and filings (Avalara/TaxJar setup)

Legal, Regulatory & Risk

Contracts, employment compliance and IP protection in place before you trade.

  • Business contracts (MSAs, NDAs, SLAs, vendor/customer agreements)
  • Employment law compliance and policy drafting
  • Trademark and IP filing support (USPTO)

Digital & AI Enablement

Selling channels and intelligent operations, stood up together.

eCommerce platform launch (Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce), marketplace onboarding, and AI/ML integration for modern digital operations.

ShopifyAmazonGenAIAnalytics

HR, People & Immigration

From first hire to a compliant US payroll and mobility pathway.

  • HR setup and compliance with U.S. labor laws
  • Hiring and talent acquisition (executive search, recruiting)
  • PEO/EOR solutions, payroll setup (ADP, Gusto, etc.)

Sales & Marketing

CRM setup, digital marketing, PR, influencer marketing, and lead generation.

  • CRM setup and sales pipeline design
  • Digital marketing (SEO/AEO, PPC, social, content)
  • PR, influencer marketing, and brand awareness

Real Estate & Facilities

A physical footprint sized to the plan, not to a broker’s inventory.

  • Commercial lease negotiation and buildout
  • Virtual office and flex-space solutions
  • Retail site selection and store buildout

Ongoing Operations

Senior operating cover once the build is done.

  • Virtual/fractional COO and CFO services
  • Customer success and support setup
  • Vendor management and procurement

Logistics & Supply Chain

Getting goods into the country and out to customers.

  • 3PL and fulfillment partner selection
  • Freight forwarding and customs brokerage
  • Inventory management and WMS setup

IT & Infrastructure

A secure, audit-ready technology base from day one.

  • Cloud setup (AWS, Azure, GCP)
  • Cybersecurity (SOC 2, ISO 27001 readiness)
  • SaaS and enterprise software stack selection

Finance workstreams run through our outsourced accounting services and, where senior oversight is needed, a fractional CFO. Ongoing operations are supported by back office outsourcing and customer support outsourcing once customers are live.

Any of these categories can be taken on their own, but they are priced better when bundled with incorporation as part of the wider US market entry operations enablement programme. Tell us what you plan to do in the US and we will scope and quote the stack you actually need.

Get a bundled scope and quote

Does Seal Global only handle incorporation?

No. We can run the full operational build-out—from entity formation through finance, legal, HR, facilities, logistics, technology, sales support, and ongoing management.

Can the services be bundled?

Yes. Bundling creates better value than appointing each vendor separately, while giving you one scope, one accountable team, and fewer gaps between workstreams.

“We went from concept to profitable U.S. subsidiary in just 8 months with Seal Global's support. Our revenue increased 65% within the first year.”
Arts & Entertainment Company, CEO

What Are US Entity Incorporation Services?

US entity incorporation services cover the formation and activation of a US legal entity: state selection, entity-type modelling, name clearance, the formation filing, registered agent appointment, EIN issuance, governance documents, foreign qualification in operating states and the first year's compliance calendar. It is operations enablement work — the legal and administrative infrastructure a business needs before it can bank, hire, import or contract in the United States — and it is distinct from commercial go-to-market activity.

Incorporation is where this starts, not where it ends. A marketing agency can build demand in the US market; it cannot make your company legally able to receive the revenue. Our US market entry and operations enablement programme exists to close that gap, and incorporation is its first workstream.

What's Included

State & entity-type modelling

LLC vs. C-Corporation and Delaware vs. your operating state, modelled against your tax position, funding plans and physical footprint — with a written rationale before anything is filed.

Formation & governance documents

Name clearance, certificate of formation or incorporation, registered agent for year one, operating agreement or bylaws, initial resolutions and a members or stock register.

EIN & banking readiness

Form SS-4 filed for foreign responsible parties, EIN tracked to issuance, beneficial ownership charts and the bank application pack assembled in the order underwriters read it.

Foreign qualification

Registration in every state where you hold an office, employ staff or store inventory, with local registered agents and annual report tracking.

Compliance readiness

Beneficial ownership reporting, franchise tax registration, Form 5472 exposure assessed, and intercompany agreements documented in year one rather than reconstructed later.

A dated 12-month calendar

Every filing, renewal and deadline for the first year handed over as dates with owners — not a folder of documents and a wish of good luck.

LLC vs. C-Corporation vs. Branch Office

FactorUS LLCUS C-CorporationBranch office
Foreign ownership100% permitted, no residency test100% permitted, no residency testThe foreign parent operates directly
TaxationPass-through by default; single layer21% federal corporate tax plus dividend withholdingParent taxed on effectively connected income plus branch profits tax
LiabilityMembers shieldedShareholders shieldedParent directly exposed to US claims
US fundraising and equityAwkward for VC; no clean option poolStandard for VC and employee equityNot applicable
Time to operating capability6–10 weeks including EIN and banking6–10 weeks including EIN and banking2–6 weeks to register, heavier tax onboarding
Best forWholly owned operating arms and service businessesRaising US capital and ring-fencing the parentShort-term project presence with no separate entity

The full tax modelling behind this table is in our Delaware LLC guide for foreign residents.

How Incorporation Runs, Week by Week

  1. Week 1

    Structure decision

    Entity type, state of formation, ownership chain and officer appointments modelled and agreed. Name availability cleared.

  2. Week 1–2

    Formation filed

    Certificate filed, registered agent appointed, operating agreement or bylaws and authorising resolutions executed. Form SS-4 sent.

  3. Week 2–4

    EIN issued

    EIN tracked to issuance, beneficial ownership chart built to natural persons, bank document pack assembled and apostilles ordered where needed.

  4. Week 4–6

    Banking live

    Application submitted to a provider matched to your jurisdiction and model; account opened; accounting system and chart of accounts configured.

  5. Week 6–10

    Operating capability

    Foreign qualification, payroll and sales tax registrations, importer of record readiness where you import, and the compliance calendar handed over.

Banking is the step that most often slips. Read US business bank account myths for foreign founders before you choose a provider, and the US payroll, accounting and HR compliance checklist before you set a first start date.

US Entity Incorporation: Frequently Asked Questions

Service basics

US entity incorporation services cover the formation and activation of a US legal entity for a foreign or domestic company: state selection, entity type modelling, name clearance, certificate of formation or incorporation filing, registered agent appointment, EIN issuance, governance documents, foreign qualification in operating states and the first year's compliance calendar. It is operations enablement work — the legal and administrative infrastructure a business needs before it can bank, hire, import or contract in the United States — and it is distinct from commercial go-to-market activity.

State and entity-type recommendation with a written rationale, name availability search, formation filing, registered agent for the first year, EIN application including Form SS-4 for foreign responsible parties, operating agreement or bylaws with initial resolutions, beneficial ownership reporting readiness, bank application document pack, foreign qualification in your operating states, and a dated twelve-month compliance calendar.

The formation filing itself is one to three business days in most states. The realistic time to an operational entity — one that can bank, hire and import — is six to ten weeks, because the EIN takes one to three weeks by fax for a foreign responsible party, bank onboarding takes two to six weeks, and state payroll or sales tax registrations take two to four weeks. We publish that sequence as dates at the start of the engagement.

State filing fees range from roughly $50 to $500 depending on the state, registered agent service runs $50 to $300 a year, and professional formation and governance work varies with complexity. Realistic all-in first-year cost for a properly documented foreign-owned US entity, including annual compliance, is typically $2,500 to $7,000. We quote the programme, not a per-filing fee.

Structure decisions

Form an LLC when the entity will be a wholly owned operating arm and you want single-layer taxation and lighter governance. Form a C-Corporation when you expect to raise US venture capital, issue employee equity, or ring-fence the parent behind a corporate shareholder. The choice is difficult to reverse once contracts, payroll and banking exist, which is why we model it before filing rather than defaulting to a template.

Delaware when you expect US investors, multi-state operations or a future acquisition, because its case law and documents are familiar to every underwriter and investor. Your operating state when staff, inventory or offices will sit in one place and no US fundraising is planned, because incorporating elsewhere then adds a foreign qualification obligation. Wyoming and Nevada are frequently oversold for foreign-owned operating businesses.

If you hold an office, employ staff, store inventory or conduct regular in-person business in a state, you generally need to foreign-qualify there, with a local registered agent and annual fees. This is the most commonly missed step in a DIY formation, and skipping it can bar the entity from bringing suit in that state and generate back fees and penalties.

Yes. Neither LLCs nor C-Corporations impose citizenship or residency tests on owners. A foreign parent company or a foreign individual can hold all of the equity and act as the sole manager or director. The only mandatory US footprint is a registered agent with a physical address in the state of formation.

After incorporation

Registered agent renewal, the state annual report, franchise tax, federal income tax filings, Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 for foreign-owned single-member LLCs, beneficial ownership reporting, and state payroll or sales tax filings once you employ or sell into a nexus state. Form 5472 penalties are $25,000 per year per form and apply to dormant entities too.

Yes — they are part of the same sequence rather than add-ons. We file Form SS-4, track EIN issuance, assemble the bank document pack in the order underwriters read it including beneficial ownership charts and authorising resolutions, and match your risk profile to providers that onboard foreign-owned entities. Formation without banking and EIN is a certificate, not an operating capability.

Yes. We register federal and state employer accounts, stand up payroll and benefits, prepare the HR compliance pack, and run bookkeeping and filings against a dated calendar. Where you need people working before the entity is payroll-ready, we can bridge the first hires and migrate them onto your own payroll afterwards.

Remediation is common and usually fixable. We audit the existing structure — entity type, state footprint, EIN records, governance documents, missed annual reports and franchise tax, unfiled Form 5472 — and produce a dated remediation plan. Restoring good standing before a customer or bank requests a certificate is materially cheaper than doing it mid-deal.

Working with Seal Global

Formation sites file a document. They do not model entity type against your tax position, sequence EIN and banking, catch a foreign qualification obligation in the state where your warehouse sits, or hand you a compliance calendar. Most of the expensive US market entry mistakes we remediate began with a correctly filed certificate and no plan behind it.

No. Seal Global is an operations enablement partner. We build and run the operational structure and coordinate with licensed US attorneys and CPAs where privileged legal advice or tax opinions are required. Being explicit about that boundary is part of how we keep engagements clean.

Incorporation is the first workstream, not the whole engagement. Once the entity exists we cover the operational stack a foreign company needs to actually trade in the US: tax, accounting and finance operations; legal, contracts and IP; HR, payroll, PEO/EOR and immigration support; sales and marketing enablement; real estate and facilities; logistics and supply chain; IT and infrastructure; digital and AI enablement; and ongoing fractional COO/CFO and support operations. You can take incorporation alone, or take it as the entry point to a sequenced build-out run by one accountable partner.

Yes. When operational workstreams are combined with incorporation they are quoted as a bundled programme rather than nine separate vendor engagements, which removes duplicated onboarding, overlapping retainers and the co-ordination cost of managing multiple suppliers. Bundled scope is priced per engagement because the mix differs by company — headcount, states of operation, whether you import, and how much finance and IT work you keep in-house — so we scope it in a consultation and quote the combined programme rather than publishing a fixed list price.

Related Services & Reading

Get your US entity right the first time

We model structure, file it, sequence EIN and banking, and hand over a dated compliance calendar. No template filings, no surprises in month nine.

Book a US entity structuring review

Service basics

What are US entity incorporation services?

US entity incorporation services cover the formation and activation of a US legal entity for a foreign or domestic company: state selection, entity type modelling, name clearance, certificate of formation or incorporation filing, registered agent appointment, EIN issuance, governance documents, foreign qualification in operating states and the first year's compliance calendar. It is operations enablement work — the legal and administrative infrastructure a business needs before it can bank, hire, import or contract in the United States — and it is distinct from commercial go-to-market activity.

What is included in Seal Global's incorporation service?

State and entity-type recommendation with a written rationale, name availability search, formation filing, registered agent for the first year, EIN application including Form SS-4 for foreign responsible parties, operating agreement or bylaws with initial resolutions, beneficial ownership reporting readiness, bank application document pack, foreign qualification in your operating states, and a dated twelve-month compliance calendar.

How long does US incorporation take?

The formation filing itself is one to three business days in most states. The realistic time to an operational entity — one that can bank, hire and import — is six to ten weeks, because the EIN takes one to three weeks by fax for a foreign responsible party, bank onboarding takes two to six weeks, and state payroll or sales tax registrations take two to four weeks. We publish that sequence as dates at the start of the engagement.

What does it cost to incorporate in the United States?

State filing fees range from roughly $50 to $500 depending on the state, registered agent service runs $50 to $300 a year, and professional formation and governance work varies with complexity. Realistic all-in first-year cost for a properly documented foreign-owned US entity, including annual compliance, is typically $2,500 to $7,000. We quote the programme, not a per-filing fee.

Structure decisions

Should I form an LLC or a C-Corporation?

Form an LLC when the entity will be a wholly owned operating arm and you want single-layer taxation and lighter governance. Form a C-Corporation when you expect to raise US venture capital, issue employee equity, or ring-fence the parent behind a corporate shareholder. The choice is difficult to reverse once contracts, payroll and banking exist, which is why we model it before filing rather than defaulting to a template.

Which state should I incorporate in?

Delaware when you expect US investors, multi-state operations or a future acquisition, because its case law and documents are familiar to every underwriter and investor. Your operating state when staff, inventory or offices will sit in one place and no US fundraising is planned, because incorporating elsewhere then adds a foreign qualification obligation. Wyoming and Nevada are frequently oversold for foreign-owned operating businesses.

Do I need to register in more than one state?

If you hold an office, employ staff, store inventory or conduct regular in-person business in a state, you generally need to foreign-qualify there, with a local registered agent and annual fees. This is the most commonly missed step in a DIY formation, and skipping it can bar the entity from bringing suit in that state and generate back fees and penalties.

Can a foreign company own 100% of a US entity?

Yes. Neither LLCs nor C-Corporations impose citizenship or residency tests on owners. A foreign parent company or a foreign individual can hold all of the equity and act as the sole manager or director. The only mandatory US footprint is a registered agent with a physical address in the state of formation.

After incorporation

What compliance obligations start the day I incorporate?

Registered agent renewal, the state annual report, franchise tax, federal income tax filings, Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 for foreign-owned single-member LLCs, beneficial ownership reporting, and state payroll or sales tax filings once you employ or sell into a nexus state. Form 5472 penalties are $25,000 per year per form and apply to dormant entities too.

Do you help with banking and EIN after formation?

Yes — they are part of the same sequence rather than add-ons. We file Form SS-4, track EIN issuance, assemble the bank document pack in the order underwriters read it including beneficial ownership charts and authorising resolutions, and match your risk profile to providers that onboard foreign-owned entities. Formation without banking and EIN is a certificate, not an operating capability.

Can you handle payroll and hiring once the entity exists?

Yes. We register federal and state employer accounts, stand up payroll and benefits, prepare the HR compliance pack, and run bookkeeping and filings against a dated calendar. Where you need people working before the entity is payroll-ready, we can bridge the first hires and migrate them onto your own payroll afterwards.

What if I already incorporated and something is wrong?

Remediation is common and usually fixable. We audit the existing structure — entity type, state footprint, EIN records, governance documents, missed annual reports and franchise tax, unfiled Form 5472 — and produce a dated remediation plan. Restoring good standing before a customer or bank requests a certificate is materially cheaper than doing it mid-deal.

Working with Seal Global

Why use Seal Global rather than a low-cost online formation site?

Formation sites file a document. They do not model entity type against your tax position, sequence EIN and banking, catch a foreign qualification obligation in the state where your warehouse sits, or hand you a compliance calendar. Most of the expensive US market entry mistakes we remediate began with a correctly filed certificate and no plan behind it.

Is Seal Global a law firm or a tax advisor?

No. Seal Global is an operations enablement partner. We build and run the operational structure and coordinate with licensed US attorneys and CPAs where privileged legal advice or tax opinions are required. Being explicit about that boundary is part of how we keep engagements clean.

Does Seal Global only handle incorporation, or the full operational build-out?

Incorporation is the first workstream, not the whole engagement. Once the entity exists we cover the operational stack a foreign company needs to actually trade in the US: tax, accounting and finance operations; legal, contracts and IP; HR, payroll, PEO/EOR and immigration support; sales and marketing enablement; real estate and facilities; logistics and supply chain; IT and infrastructure; digital and AI enablement; and ongoing fractional COO/CFO and support operations. You can take incorporation alone, or take it as the entry point to a sequenced build-out run by one accountable partner.

Can these services be bundled at a better rate than hiring each vendor separately?

Yes. When operational workstreams are combined with incorporation they are quoted as a bundled programme rather than nine separate vendor engagements, which removes duplicated onboarding, overlapping retainers and the co-ordination cost of managing multiple suppliers. Bundled scope is priced per engagement because the mix differs by company — headcount, states of operation, whether you import, and how much finance and IT work you keep in-house — so we scope it in a consultation and quote the combined programme rather than publishing a fixed list price.