Rhode Island Registered Agent
When You Want More
A Rhode Island registered agent is an individual or company that accepts service of process and other legal notifications on behalf of a Rhode Island business. All business entities operating in Rhode Island—including LLCs and corporations—are legally required to have a registered agent. At Northwest Registered Agent we accept legal documents or official business mail on your behalf, contact you immediately and upload these documents to your secure online account for you to view.
With our Rhode Island registered agent service, get Privacy by Default®, business address, free mail forwarding, free Phone Service for 60 days, and local Corporate Guides®—only at Northwest.
Everything You Need To Know About Rhode Island Registered Agents:
- Get Rhode Island Registered Agent Service
- What Do Rhode Island Registered Agents Do?
- Legal Requirements for Rhode Island Registered Agents
- How Do I Change My Rhode Island Registered Agent?
- What Makes Northwest Different From Other Services?
- Rhode Island Registered Agent FAQs
- How To Order Registered Agent Service

What Do Rhode Island Registered Agents Do?
At minimum, your Rhode Island registered agent maintains a registered office address in the state and accepts service of process and official mail for your business.
Essentially, your registered agent’s address acts as the official place where any service of process and official mail for your Rhode Island LLC, Rhode Island corporation or Rhode Island nonprofit will be sent.
However, the right registered agent service can do much more. At Northwest, we go above and beyond the minimum to ensure top speed, security, privacy and support.
What Are the Legal Requirements for Rhode Island Registered Agents?
The Rhode Island Business Corporation Act (§ 7-1.2-501) outlines that Rhode Island registered agents are required to:
- Be a Rhode Island resident or a company that provides resident agent services.
- Maintain a registered office (a physical address in Rhode Island).
- Accept legal documents (service of process) during regular business hours.
How Do I Change My Rhode Island Registered Agent?
There are two ways to change your registered agent in Rhode Island.
- Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
- Do it yourself and file a Statement of Change form with the Rhode Island Secretary of State.
What Makes Northwest Different From Other Services?
At Northwest, we do business the right way. We’re dedicated to getting you your docs fast, protecting your privacy and offering you support. Here’s how:
- Same-Day Scans, Instant Notifications: We accept and scan your docs at our local office the same day. We notify you instantly and reach out to you if your essential mail goes unread.
- Privacy by Default®: We automatically minimize the exposure of and access to your personal data. If we can put our address on a public doc instead of yours, we do. If we don’t have to list your personal info, we don’t. We have tough privacy policies to keep your data safe and private. And we never sell your data.
- Free Limited Mail Forwarding: Of course we’ll get you your state and legal mail. That’s our job. But what if we get some of your regular business mail? It happens a lot—clients and businesses trying to connect with you via your registered agent. We scan 5 documents per year for FREE. We can also scan additional mail at a per document rate of $15.
- Corporate Guides®: Have questions? We have answers. Our guides are business experts whose sole job is to provide phone and email support for all your toughest business questions.
Rhode Island Registered Agent FAQs
Why Do I Need A Rhode Island Registered Agent?
- State law requires all legitimate, registered businesses to appoint one.
- The secretary of state will reject your business filing if you don’t appoint a registered agent.
- A registered agent requirement gives the public and the state a reliable way to contact your business.
Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In Rhode Island?
Yes, you can be your own registered agent in Rhode Island. However, after considering the registered agent requirements most business owners elect to hire a registered agent service instead. Why? Well although being your own registered agent will cost you $0, a Rhode Island registered agent’s name and address becomes part of the public record. Additionally, the registered agent is required to be available to accept service of process during normal business hours 5 days a week.
Where Is Northwest’s Registered Office In Rhode Island?
We accept and scan all of our Rhode Island clients’ documents from our office here in Bristol, RI.
Will You Let Me Know When My Rhode Island Annual Report Is Due?
Absolutely! When we are your registered agent, we send you a reminder and provide the forms and instructions for every state that you have registered agent service in!
Can I Use Your Rhode Island Registered Office Address For Everything On My Business Filing?
Yes! If you would like to keep your own address off of the public record, we can help! We’re the only national registered agent that allows our clients to list our registered office address for every address on your corporate filing.
Can I Have My Business’s Mail Delivered To Your Rhode Island Office?
We don’t want ALL of your business mail. It’s not what we do. And it wouldn’t serve you well. You wouldn’t have unique address or suite number. Any mail we receive on your behalf would come to to Northwest Registered Agent, care of you.
But we understand that businesses and clients sometimes reach out to you through your registered agent. Through us. That’s why we give you 5 FREE scans of regular business mail a year. You can request any additional documents to be forwarded at a per document rate of $15.
Should I Hire A Registered Agent Before Or After I Start My Business In Rhode Island?
Hire us first. Rhode Island will reject your business registration filing if you don’t have a registered agent. You can find all the forms and instructions you need to complete your filing instantly after you hire us.
How Do Rhode Island Registered Agents Get Served?
This is how it works:
- A process server, county sheriff, or third party will walk into our office and hand us the documents (service of process), then we sign for them.
- The process server then gives an affidavit (a receipt of service) to the court as confirmation that they “served” us.
Note: Once your Rhode Island registered agent signs for on your business’ behalf, you’ve been notified. So even if your registered agent never forwards those documents to you, technically, you had notice. This is a serious responsibility that we do not take lightly. Serving a registered agent is legal proof that you were notified. If you hire Northwest, long before the server submits their affidavit to the court, you will have received your documents because we scan them to your account within minute of signing for the documents.
How Do I Search For A Rhode Island Registered Agent?
You can do a Rhode Island business name search.
- Type in the name of the company you’re searching for.
- In the results, you’ll find the registered agent’s name and registered office street address.
If you want to legally notify a business through their Rhode Island registered agent service, just send a certified letter directly to the registered agent name and registered office address.
How Do I Resign From Being A Registered Agent In Rhode Island?
In Rhode Island, to resign as a registered agent, you need to submit a Statement of Resignation of Registered agent to the Rhode Island Secretary of State, Division of Business Services. For a more detailed walkthrough, you can refer to our guide on how to resign as a registered agent in Rhode Island.
How To Order Rhode Island Registered Agent Service:
You sign up online, clicking on one of the buttons or links that says “HIRE US.”
We collect the first year of the registered agent service fee up front.
For new businesses, we’ll become your Rhode Island registered agent service once your business registration filing with the state is complete.
About a year later, we’ll send you an invoice for another year of Rhode Island registered agent service. If you want to keep using us, great; if you don’t, you can easily cancel.
With offices in every state, we make it easy to add registered agent services anywhere in the country. We don’t farm out work (or your info) to other companies—wherever you are, WE are your registered agent.
We make your account a real go-to resource for you, not just for Rhode Island registered agent service or paying a bill but for keeping up with Rhode Island corporate compliance.
Information Your RI Registered Agent Should Help You Understand:
- All filings do not need original inked signatures.
- Your RI registered agent does not need to sign your filing. All entities are required to hire and maintain a registered agent in Rhode Island.
- Nothing will be returned to you from the state after it’s been processed so you will have to look yourself up online.
- Annual reports come to your RI registered agent. Northwest Registered Agent will not only scan these into your online account, we will remind you to get them filed. They cost $50 to file. RI corporations are due on March 1st. LLCs are due Sept 1st to November 1st.
At Northwest, we can also form your LLC or form your corporation in Rhode Island for $100 plus state fees. As part of our commitment to Privacy by Default®, we put our business address on your filings to better protect your privacy. And you always have the support of our Corporate Guides®.