Most of the delays we see in first-time US company formation have nothing to do with the paperwork itself — they come from doing the steps in the wrong order and then waiting on something that depended on a step that hadn’t happened yet.

Step 1 — Registered agent and Articles of Organization

Every LLC needs a registered agent with a physical address in the state of formation before the Articles of Organization can be filed. This is the foundation everything else depends on: your entity legally exists only once the state endorses the Articles, and that date becomes the effective date referenced throughout your Operating Agreement.

Step 2 — Operating Agreement

Not all states require one to be filed, but you should have one signed before you request an EIN or open a bank account. Banks and the IRS both may ask for it, and drafting it after the fact — rather than before — is how founders end up with a document that doesn’t match decisions they’ve already made.

Step 3 — EIN (Employer Identification Number)

The EIN is requested from the IRS after the entity exists. Non-US founders without a Social Security Number can still obtain one, but the process takes longer and typically can’t be done through the online portal — it requires a specific form and, often, a fax or mail submission. Budget for this to take several weeks, not days.

Step 4 — Business bank account

This is almost always the step that depends on everything before it. Banks generally require the formation documents, the Operating Agreement, and the EIN before they’ll open an account — and increasingly, they want to see a US-based point of contact or at least a clear reason for the business’s connection to the US. Trying to open the account before the EIN is issued is the single most common cause of a stalled formation.

Done in order, the full sequence typically takes four to eight weeks from filing to a funded bank account, depending on the state’s processing time and the EIN turnaround for foreign applicants. Done out of order, it regularly takes twice that.