Your LLC does not have one address. It has several: a registered agent address, sometimes a manager or member address, and a principal office address. Each one goes on a different form, filed with a different office, for a different reason.
Some of those addresses become searchable by anyone with an internet connection. Others never do, because the state never asked for them in the first place. Which is which depends on which state you registered in and which box you checked on the form. It does not depend on whether you live in the United States.
This causes a specific kind of surprise. A founder hires a commercial registered agent expecting full privacy, then finds their own name and address sitting in a state filing they forgot they signed. The reverse also happens: someone assumes their home address is now public because they run their own agent, when in fact a different state would not have asked for it at all.
What the rule actually requires
There is no single national rule here. Each state decides what it publishes, and the differences are large enough to change your privacy outcome by hundreds of dollars a year, or by nothing at all.
New York. Under N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law § 206, within 120 days of your articles taking effect, you must publish notice of the LLC in two newspapers in the county where the LLC's office is located: one published weekly and one published daily. The notice has to run once a week for six weeks in a row. You then file a certificate of publication with the Department of State. Miss the deadline, and starting on day 120 your LLC loses its authority to do business in New York until you fix it.
Arizona. Under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 29-3201(G), within 60 days of your articles being approved, you publish notice in a newspaper in the county where your statutory agent's street address is located, for three consecutive publications. There is one exception: in counties with a population over 800,000, which in practice means Maricopa and Pima, you skip the newspaper and the state posts the notice in its own online database instead.
Delaware. The free entity search shows the company name, file number, formation date, and the registered agent's name, address and phone number. It does not show member or manager names, because Delaware's LLC Act never requires you to file them anywhere. Information that was never filed cannot show up in a search.
California. The bizfile search shows your registered agent's information. Under Cal. Corp. Code § 17701.13, if you designate a commercial registered agent, you can leave that agent's address off the filing entirely. That looks like full privacy. It is not. California separately requires a Statement of Information (Form LLC-12), and that form asks for the name and address of your manager, or if you have no manager, at least one member. That filing is public. It is a California-specific slot that Delaware and Wyoming do not have.
Wyoming. The entity detail page shows registered agent information, but there is no way to search by agent name to find which companies they represent. Neither the articles of organization nor the annual report asks for member or manager names, so that information does not exist in the public record to begin with. The annual report's principal office address is public regardless of where that office is.
🇺🇸 If the IRS counts you as a U.S. person
Nothing here changes because of your tax residency. If you register in New York or Arizona, the newspaper publication rule applies to you exactly as it applies to a non-resident. If you act as your own registered agent because you have a street address in the state, that address goes on the public record the same way it would for anyone else.
Where residency matters indirectly is convenience. A U.S. resident is more likely to be physically present to run their own agent, which puts a home address on the record that a non-resident, who has to hire a commercial agent, would not.
🌏 If it does not
The rule that decides what becomes public is still the state's rule, not a rule about your residency. But there is a structural side effect worth knowing.
If you hire a commercial registered agent, the agent's business address goes on the record, not your home address. Your personal address was never asked for on that form, so it was never at risk of appearing there. This gives non-residents, who almost always hire a commercial agent, a form of privacy that is automatic rather than chosen.
That side effect has a limit. In California, the Statement of Information asks for your name and home address directly, whether you hired a commercial agent or not. Using a commercial agent protects the registered-agent slot. It does nothing for the Statement of Information slot.
The slot that gets missed
The mistake in either direction is treating "hire a commercial registered agent" as a single privacy switch that turns off every address on every form. It does not. Each state has its own set of forms, and each form has its own rule about what it asks for.
There is also a second, less obvious link. In New York and Arizona, the newspaper publication requirement is triggered by the registered agent's address, specifically which county it sits in. If you change agents and your new agent's address is in a different county, you change which newspapers you have to pay to publish in. The publication obligation follows the agent's address, not the company's.
What is the same across states
The lane split for this topic does not run along U.S. person versus non-resident. It runs along which state you registered in and which form you filed. The table below shows what changes and does not change based on residency.
| Question | 🇺🇸 U.S. person | 🌏 Not a U.S. person |
|---|---|---|
| Does my tax residency change what a state publishes? | No | No |
| Can my registered agent's address end up public? | Yes, same as anyone | Yes, same as anyone |
| Does New York's newspaper rule apply to me? | Yes, if you form there | Yes, if you form there |
| Does California's Statement of Information apply to me? | Yes, if you form there | Yes, if you form there |
| Am I more likely to act as my own agent, and put a home address on record? | More likely, if you have a U.S. address | Less likely, since you usually must hire a commercial agent |
Common mistakes
🇺🇸 If the IRS counts you as a U.S. person
- Assuming that because you live in the state, you have to be your own registered agent. You do not. You can still hire a commercial agent and keep your own address off that filing.
- Missing New York's or Arizona's newspaper publication deadline because nobody told you it existed. It is separate from the articles of organization and easy to miss.
- Filing California's Statement of Information with your home address, then being surprised it is searchable, because you thought the commercial agent already covered privacy.
🌏 If it does not
- Assuming a commercial registered agent makes every address on every filing private. In California, it does not touch the Statement of Information.
- Not knowing your agent's county in New York or Arizona, and being caught by a publication deadline you never saw coming.
- Choosing Wyoming or Delaware for the state's own privacy rules, then registering a business in a different state for a different reason, and running into that state's own disclosure rules instead.
FAQ
Does hiring a commercial registered agent make my home address fully private?
No. It keeps your address off the registered-agent slot on the formation filing. It does not affect other filings the state requires, such as California's Statement of Information, which asks for the manager's or member's name and address directly.
Which states require members or managers to be named in public filings?
California requires it through the Statement of Information (Form LLC-12). Delaware and Wyoming do not ask for member or manager names on any standard filing, so that information is not in their public record.
What is the New York publication requirement?
Under N.Y. LLC Law § 206, within 120 days of your articles taking effect, you must publish notice of your LLC in two newspapers, one weekly and one daily, in the county of your LLC's office, once a week for six weeks, then file a certificate of publication. Missing the deadline suspends your authority to do business in New York starting on day 120.
Does Arizona have a similar publication rule?
Yes. Under Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 29-3201(G), within 60 days of approval you publish notice for three consecutive issues in a newspaper in the county of your statutory agent's street address. In counties over 800,000 people, mainly Maricopa and Pima, the state's online database replaces the newspaper requirement.
If I change registered agents, does that change what gets published about me?
In Delaware and Wyoming, changing agents changes the name and address shown in the entity search, since that is what the state publishes. In New York and Arizona, it can also change which county's newspapers you are required to publish in, since the publication requirement follows the agent's address.
Is my principal office address public even if it is outside the state I registered in?
In Wyoming, yes. The annual report requires a principal office address and that address is public regardless of where it is physically located.
Can I avoid all public disclosure by using a virtual address?
Not entirely, and it depends on which slot the virtual address fills. A virtual address used as your registered office still ends up in the state's public entity search, because that slot is public by definition. A virtual address used only for mail may not appear in any public filing at all, since most states do not require a mailing address to be disclosed.
Does this differ for a foreign-owned LLC compared to one owned by U.S. residents?
No. The disclosure rules attach to the state and the form, not to who owns the LLC. A foreign-owned Delaware LLC and a U.S.-owned Delaware LLC show exactly the same fields in the entity search.