Doing company formations online is no big deal these days, and it can be done relatively fast and without any hassles. Any person located anywhere worldwide can instantly register a firm in most foreign nations. The only thing it needs is a filing fee and some basic details.

Note that almost every country requires a local representative to be the registration agent. This 'agent' will be authorized to receive legal papers on the firm's behalf and must have a physical location (place of business) in the state where the firm is being registered. Other things that need to be filled in include the name of the firm, the directors, secretary and shareholders.

Even the office address and nominees for the firm can be taken care of by the registration agent. Said agent can also help with things like opening a bank account and setting up an answering service. All these things will have to be paid for separately by the registrant, in addition to the basic filing fee and the agent's processing charges.

After the order is purchased, the registration is done in a matter of hours. Once completed, the papers and all accompanying documents are sent by mail to the registrant. The process described above is the most basic one, and registrants can choose to make quite a few changes.

For example, the registrant can choose to register with a new business name or pick a pre-existing shelf company. The latter is obviously faster since everything is already done and the registrant can simply start doing business. But there might be a premium involved when picking up a pre-registered shelf business.

Then there is also the question of where (as in city and state or province) to register. Sometimes there can be a difference in the tax regime, business regulations and the registration formalities. Consult the registration agent about the best place for doing company formations online.