Code of Virginia § 8.01-301. How process served on foreign stock or nonstock corporations and foreign limited liability companies generally.
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Subject to § 8.01-286.1 , service of process on a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or a foreign limited liability company may be effected in the following manner:
1. By personal service on any officer or director or the registered agent of a foreign stock or nonstock corporation that is authorized to do business in the Commonwealth, by personal service on any agent of any such foreign corporation transacting business in the Commonwealth without such authorization, wherever any such officer, director, or agents be found within the Commonwealth, and by personal service on the registered agent of a foreign limited liability company that is registered to do business in the Commonwealth;
2. By substituted service on
(i)a foreign stock or nonstock corporation in accordance with §§ 13.1-766 and 13.1-928 , respectively, and on a foreign limited liability company in accordance with § 13.1-1018 , if any such corporation or limited liability company is authorized or registered to transact business or affairs within the Commonwealth, and
(ii)a foreign stock or nonstock corporation in accordance with subsection F of § 13.1-758 and subsection E of § 13.1-920 , respectively, and on a foreign limited liability company in accordance with subsection E of § 13.1-1057 , if any such corporation or limited liability company is not authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth;
3. By substituted service on a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company in accordance with § 8.01-329 , or by service in accordance with § 8.01-320 , where jurisdiction is authorized under § 8.01-328.1 , regardless of whether any such foreign corporation or foreign limited liability company is authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth; or
4. By order of publication in accordance with §§ 8.01-316 and 8.01-317 where jurisdiction in rem or quasi in rem is authorized, regardless of whether the foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company so served is authorized or registered to transact business within the Commonwealth.
This section does not prescribe the only means, or necessarily the required means, of serving a foreign stock or nonstock corporation or foreign limited liability company.
For the purposes of responding to a subpoena served in the manner prescribed by this section, a foreign corporation transacting business in the Commonwealth that has a registered agent in the Commonwealth shall be deemed to have consented to service.
Code 1950, § 8-60; 1977, c. 617; 1991, c. 672; 2005, c. 866 ; 2013, c. 113 ; 2024, c. 454 ; 2025, c. 345 .