How Long Does It Take to Form an LLC? By State

Fastest states to form an LLC

These approve online filings same-day (often within minutes), with no expedite needed: Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee, Wyoming, Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Vermont. If speed is your only criterion, Wyoming and Colorado are the standard picks — but for non-residents, banking acceptance should drive the choice more than approval speed (see the Wyoming guide).

Slowest states — and how to avoid the wait

The slowest are Maryland, New Hampshire, Arizona, Maine. Maine has no online filing at all (paper only); Maryland’s non-expedited queue can run ~2 months; Arizona and New Hampshire periodically back up even online. In these states, file online (where possible) and pay the state expedite — it is usually the only lever that works.

Online vs mail vs expedited

The single biggest time saver is filing online instead of by mail — in many states that is the difference between a few days and 3–6 weeks. Several states (Colorado, Montana, Mississippi, New Mexico) have dropped paper filing entirely. Paid expedite only helps where the state offers it, and a few states (Florida, Oregon, South Carolina, North Dakota) offer no expedite at all — there the online queue is the only speed you get.

How to get your LLC approved faster

• File online, not by mail.
• Pay the state expedite if you are in a slow state and have a deadline.
• Get your name and registered agent right the first time — rejections reset the clock.
• Avoid filing in January–February, the annual peak, if you can.
• Start your EIN and bank application the moment the state approves — that is the real bottleneck.

"I need my LLC by a certain date"

Working backward from a hard deadline: in an instant state (CO, WY, KS, TN) plus an SSN-based EIN you can be bank-ready in about a week. Without an SSN, the EIN-by-fax step adds 1–4 weeks regardless of how fast the state is — so non-residents should start the EIN process first and not over-optimize the state approval. Model the cost side in the LLC cost calculator and compare states in the 50-state cost comparison.

Non-resident timeline (no SSN): the EIN is the real bottleneck

If you are a non-US resident with no SSN or ITIN, the state approval speed barely matters — the IRS will not issue your EIN online without an SSN/ITIN, so you fall back to faxing or mailing Form SS-4, which currently takes about 4–6 weeks. That single step dwarfs the 1–3 day state filing. Realistic end-to-end for a non-resident:

1. State approval — 1–3 business days in Wyoming or Delaware (filed online).
2. EIN by fax (no SSN) — ~4–6 weeks. This is the gate. Start it the moment the state approves; an error on the SS-4 restarts the clock (see the EIN-without-an-SSN guide).
3. Business bank account — Mercury or Relay KYC takes ~1–3 weeks after you have the EIN, and may ask for extra documents from non-residents.
4. BOI report — US-formed LLCs (including non-resident-owned ones) are exempt as of the March 2025 FinCEN rule; only foreign-formed entities file. Verify at fincen.gov/boi.

So plan on roughly 6–10 weeks to a fully bank-ready non-resident LLC, almost all of it the EIN wait. The practical takeaway: do not pay to expedite a fast state — it saves days against a multi-week EIN. Instead, file in an instant state, submit the SS-4 fax immediately, and line up your bank documents while you wait. Full playbook in the non-resident US LLC guide; estimate any US tax with the non-resident tax calculator. The specific traps that stretch this to 10+ weeks — EIN reference 101, SS-4 errors, bank denials — are in the 7 delay traps guide.

Frequently asked questions