You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore, and your French company has no address in France that you can actually use. The bank asks for a French proof of address, the INPI single window (guichet des formalit\u00e9s des entreprises, the online portal where every French company is registered) rejects your filing for want of a valid proof of occupancy (justificatif de jouissance des locaux), and the registry office of the commercial court (greffe du tribunal de commerce) sends you a request for additional documents that you do not understand. Meanwhile, official letters keep going to an old address, and one day a court judgment is served at a place where your company no longer sits. For a foreign founder, the registered office (si\u00e8ge social) of a French company is not a formality: it determines where the company legally exists, where lawsuits must be served, which commercial court has jurisdiction, and whether the company stays on the Trade and Companies Register (registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, RCS) or is struck off (radiation d’office). French law is strict but accommodating: a company may be domiciled with an approved provider (entreprise de domiciliation), installed at the home of its legal representative (repr\u00e9sentant l\u00e9gal), or hosted in premises shared with other businesses, yet each option comes with documentary proof, and the greffe checks it. The case law of 2025 shows what happens when the address fails: a company whose Kbis extract (extrait Kbis, the official proof of registration of a French company) still shows the old seat is deemed to sit there until the contrary is proved, and a lawsuit served anywhere else can be annulled. This guide explains, step by step, how a foreign owner gives a French SAS (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e, the flexible company form most founders choose) or SARL (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e, the limited liability company with stricter statutory rules) a valid French address from abroad, how to move that address lawfully, and how to fix a rejection without flying to France.<\/p>\n
French law starts from a blunt rule. Article L123-11 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides: “Toute personne morale demandant son immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s doit justifier de la jouissance du ou des locaux o\u00f9 elle installe, seule ou avec d’autres, le si\u00e8ge de l’entreprise, ou, lorsque celui-ci est situ\u00e9 \u00e0 l’\u00e9tranger, l’agence, la succursale ou la repr\u00e9sentation \u00e9tablie sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais.” In plain English, no registration without proof that the company actually occupies premises in France. For a founder living abroad, the most practical answer is the domiciliation contract (contrat de domiciliation): a professional provider lends its own address as your si\u00e8ge social, receives your mail, and makes meeting rooms and accounting records available. But not anyone may sell this service. Article L123-11-3 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: “Nul ne peut exercer l’activit\u00e9 de domiciliation s’il n’est pr\u00e9alablement agr\u00e9\u00e9 par l’autorit\u00e9 administrative, avant son immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s.” The provider must hold an official approval (agr\u00e9ment pr\u00e9fectoral) issued by the pr\u00e9fet of the d\u00e9partement where its premises sit, or in Paris by the pr\u00e9fet de police under Article R123-166-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. Before you sign anything from abroad, ask the provider for its approval number and check it: a contract signed with an unapproved mailbox company is worthless at the greffe and exposes you to a rejection, or worse, to a seat later treated as fictitious.<\/p>\n The approval is not a rubber stamp, and knowing its conditions helps you judge a provider. The statute grants it only to operators that make available premises with a room preserving confidentiality, allowing regular meetings of the management bodies and the keeping and consultation of the books and registers required by law; that own the premises or hold a commercial lease (bail commercial) over them; whose managers have no disqualifying criminal conviction; and who have completed anti-money-laundering training. Article L123-11-5 of the Commercial Code<\/a> adds that domiciliation providers implement the anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing duties of the Monetary and Financial Code. That is why a serious provider will ask you for your passport, proof of your own address abroad, your company’s draft articles (statuts), and sometimes the origin of your funds before countersigning: it is complying with its own legal duties, not inventing paperwork to annoy you. For a foreign founder, the practical checklist before signing is therefore short: approval number shown on the provider’s website and in the draft contract, commercial lease or ownership of the provider’s premises, confidential meeting room and mail handling described in the contract, and a clear termination and mail-forwarding clause. The official service-public guidance on domiciling a company and its activity<\/a> confirms that installation with a domiciliation company is one of the standard routes, and your contract is the proof of occupancy (justificatif de jouissance) that the INPI single window will demand at registration.<\/p>\n When you file on the INPI single window from abroad, attach exactly what the greffe expects: the signed domiciliation contract showing the provider’s approval references, a recent certificate from the provider confirming the domiciliation is current, and the draft articles mentioning the si\u00e8ge at that address. The contract must cover the whole company, not a side activity, and its address must match the si\u00e8ge stated in the articles to the letter, including floor and door number. Rejections most often come from three avoidable mistakes: a contract signed but undated or expired, an address in the articles that differs by one line from the contract, or a provider whose approval has lapsed. If the greffe issues a complementary-documents request (demande de pi\u00e8ces compl\u00e9mentaires), answer within its deadline with a fresh attestation from the provider rather than re-uploading the same expired page. Keep every version of the contract: under the 2025 case law discussed below, the address on your Kbis extract protects you against third parties only so long as nobody proves it fictitious or fraudulent, and a lapsed domiciliation with no paper trail is exactly how a seat starts looking fictitious.<\/p>\n Domiciliation with a provider is not the only route. Article L123-11-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides: “Toute personne morale est autoris\u00e9e \u00e0 installer son si\u00e8ge au domicile de son repr\u00e9sentant l\u00e9gal et y exercer une activit\u00e9, sauf dispositions l\u00e9gislatives ou stipulations contractuelles contraires.” A SAS president or SARL manager (g\u00e9rant) living in France may therefore install the si\u00e8ge at his own home and even carry on business there, unless a statute or a lease or co-ownership clause forbids it. Where such a clause exists, the law still offers a five-year temporary faculty from the company’s creation, provided the representative notifies the landlord, the co-ownership association or the building manager in writing before registration, and then comes the sting that foreign founders discover too late: “Avant l’expiration de la p\u00e9riode mentionn\u00e9e au deuxi\u00e8me alin\u00e9a, la personne doit, sous peine de radiation d’office, communiquer au greffe du tribunal les \u00e9l\u00e9ments justifiant son changement de situation, selon les modalit\u00e9s fix\u00e9es par d\u00e9cret en Conseil d’Etat.” Miss the five-year move, and the company can be struck off the register by the court. If your French director leaves France or sells his flat, treat the si\u00e8ge as an emergency on that day, not as an administrative detail for next quarter.<\/p>\n Two traps deserve special attention from abroad. First, the home route assumes the representative actually lives in France. A founder living in Dubai or New York cannot credibly claim his French company’s si\u00e8ge at a French address where nobody connected with the company resides: the greffe may ask for the director’s own proof of address, and a mismatch between the director’s declared residence and the si\u00e8ge raises the suspicion of a fictitious seat. Second, residential leases and co-ownership rules frequently prohibit professional use. Read the lease (bail d’habitation) and the co-ownership regulations (r\u00e8glement de copropri\u00e9t\u00e9) before declaring a home si\u00e8ge; a clause excluding any business activity blocks the permanent installation, leaving only the temporary five-year faculty with prior written notice. For most non-resident founders, the safer permanent solutions are therefore a commercial lease (bail commercial or bail professionnel) in the company’s own name, premises shared with other companies, or an approved domiciliation provider. Shared premises are expressly lawful: Article L123-10 of the Commercial Code<\/a> recalls that a business may be domiciled “dans des locaux occup\u00e9s en commun par plusieurs entreprises dans des conditions fix\u00e9es par d\u00e9cret en Conseil d’Etat”, the decree specifying the equipment and services required to prove the reality of the installation. A friend lending his office corner without a written occupancy title is not shared premises in the legal sense; a sublease, a provision agreement or a domiciliation contract is.<\/p>\n One structural limit closes this landscape. Article L123-11-2 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides: “L’activit\u00e9 de domiciliation ne peut \u00eatre exerc\u00e9e dans un local \u00e0 usage d’habitation principale ou \u00e0 usage mixte professionnel.” A provider cannot run its domiciliation business from a flat, and you cannot turn your Paris apartment into an informal domiciliation centre for other companies. Whatever option you choose, align four documents before any filing: the occupancy title (domiciliation contract, lease, sublease or ownership deed), the director’s own proof of address, the articles stating the si\u00e8ge identically, and the mail-handling arrangement proving the company can actually be reached there. Companies fail at the greffe stage for want of this alignment, and they fail years later, in court, when an opponent shows the si\u00e8ge was an empty shell. The Cour de cassation has just confirmed how the address on the Kbis works, and the lesson cuts both ways, as Part II shows.<\/p>\n Official guidance defines any change of address as a transfer of si\u00e8ge social subject to a multi-step procedure, and warns that the formalities differ with the company form and with whether the move leaves the district of the registry where the company is registered (service-public, changing a company’s registered office<\/a>). A transfer within the same commercial court’s district is a light file; a transfer to another district means a new registration with the new greffe, a notice in the Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial Announcements (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, BODACC), and coordination between the old and the new registry. From abroad, budget for the heavier case whenever the new address might sit in a different court district: Paris, Nanterre, Bobigny and Cr\u00e9teil are different districts, so a move from Paris to Boulogne-Billancourt already crosses a registry boundary.<\/p>\n In a SARL, the statute decides who votes. Article L223-30 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides that “le d\u00e9placement du si\u00e8ge social est d\u00e9cid\u00e9 par un ou plusieurs associ\u00e9s repr\u00e9sentant plus de la moiti\u00e9 des parts sociales.” More than half of the shares, not three quarters as for other amendments: a majority partner can move the SARL’s si\u00e8ge alone, and the minority cannot block the move, though it can challenge an abusive transfer used to harm its rights. Record the decision in written minutes (proc\u00e8s-verbal) signed by the manager, and update the articles the same day so that every later document matches. In a SAS, freedom of contract governs: no statute imposes a specific decision-making rule for the transfer, and the competent organ, quorum and majority are whatever the articles say, president, shareholders’ meeting or any other body created by the articles. Read your articles before doing anything: many SAS articles give the president alone the power to move the si\u00e8ge within the same d\u00e9partement but require a collective decision beyond it. And if the articles say nothing at all, where the articles are silent, official guidance requires unanimity of the shareholders A sole shareholder (associ\u00e9 unique) decides alone and records the decision in the register of decisions. From abroad, the foreign shareholder signs the minutes electronically or by proxy (pouvoir), and the trap to avoid is the informal move: changing offices, telling the provider, and forgetting the vote. Without a valid corporate decision, the transfer does not exist, and the old si\u00e8ge remains the company’s legal address with all the consequences for service of process.<\/p>\n The decision taken, two clocks start. First, publication: the transfer recorded in the minutes must be published in a legal announcements support (support d’annonces l\u00e9gales, SHAL, formerly journal d’annonces l\u00e9gales) of the place of the si\u00e8ge, within one month. Second, filing: Article R123-105 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides that “Les actes, d\u00e9lib\u00e9rations ou d\u00e9cisions modifiant les pi\u00e8ces d\u00e9pos\u00e9es lors de la constitution sont d\u00e9pos\u00e9es dans le d\u00e9lai d’un mois \u00e0 compter de leur date”, with an updated copy of the articles certified by the legal representative attached. In practice you file everything on the INPI single window (procedures.inpi.fr, the official portal for business formalities<\/a>): the minutes, the updated articles, the legal announcement certificate (attestation de parution), and the new proof of occupancy at the new address. The greffe then updates the RCS, issues a new Kbis showing the new si\u00e8ge, and the BODACC publishes the transfer so third parties are informed. From abroad, appoint one person in France to receive the greffe’s messages daily during the file’s life: complementary-document requests have short deadlines, and an unanswered request turns into a rejection (rejet) that forces you to restart and repay the registry fees. When the new Kbis arrives, circulate it immediately to the bank, the accountant, the tax office (service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises), the domiciliation provider for mail redirection, and every counterparty with a contractual notification clause: the transfer binds third parties once published, but only your own diligence makes it known in time.<\/p>\n Rejections follow a pattern, and each has a fix you can execute from abroad. The occupancy proof is missing or stale: upload a current domiciliation contract with the provider’s approval references plus a fresh certificate, making sure the address matches the articles character for character. The corporate decision is defective: a SAS transfer signed by the president alone when the articles required a collective vote, or minutes without the majority the articles demand. Reconvene properly, even by written consultation or video meeting if the articles allow it, sign new minutes, republish if the address changed again, and refile. The transfer crosses a court district and the old greffe keeps the file: file expressly as a transfer with change of registry, pay both registries’ fees, and check the BODACC notice. Never let a rejected file sleep: an unregistered transfer leaves the company domiciled at the old address in the eyes of third parties, which is precisely where bailiffs (commissaires de justice) will serve lawsuits, and where tax and URSSAF letters (URSSAF, the body collecting employers’ social contributions) will go. Our overview for foreign founders, Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder: Bank Account, Kbis, VAT and Your First Hire<\/a>, explains how the Kbis anchors the bank, tax and hiring steps that all presuppose a valid seat.<\/p>\n The deeper danger is the strike-off. A company whose si\u00e8ge has become a dead letter, domiciliation expired, director’s home sold, mail returning unopened, can be struck off the register by the court (radiation d’office), after which it can no longer sue, borrow or sign, while its debts and the manager’s exposure survive. The five-year home-installation rule quoted in Part I carries that exact sanction, and greffes also act when a company has no effective establishment. The foreign owner’s defence is documentary routine: a calendar reminder ninety days before any domiciliation contract expires, a fresh proof of occupancy uploaded at each renewal, and immediate single-window filing at every move. If a strike-off has already been ordered, instruct counsel in France at once to seek restoration (rapport de la radiation) with the missing proofs: delay hardens the situation because contracts signed while struck off may be challenged and counterparties learn of the Kbis annotation (mention au RCS) within days.<\/p>\n Court service is where a bad address turns into a lost case, and two 2025 decisions draw the map. The Cour de cassation held on 12 June 2025 that a company that has not chosen a new seat is deemed to keep the seat shown on the RCS extract, unless its fictitious or fraudulent character is proved: “\u00e0 d\u00e9faut de preuve de son caract\u00e8re fictif ou frauduleux, la SCI BD \u00e9tait r\u00e9put\u00e9e domicili\u00e9e \u00e0 cette adresse” (Cass. 2nd civ., 12 June 2025, no. 22-24.111<\/a>). In that case the court of appeal had annulled a referral declaration because a bailiff reported the company unknown at its Kbis address; the Cour de cassation quashed that ruling, since the address matched the RCS extract and nobody had proved it fictitious or fraudulent. The protection this gives you is real but narrow: keep the Kbis address real, staffed for mail, and backed by a current contract, and opponents cannot discard it with a single bailiff’s report. Let it become an empty shell, and the exception swallows the rule: once the opponent proves the seat fictitious or fraudulent, service there fails and the company may be deemed unreachable, with default judgments following.<\/p>\n The mirror decision came from the Paris Court of Appeal on 15 May 2025. A creditor had a company served at the former president’s home instead of the registered office, obtained a liquidation judgment without the debtor appearing, and saw everything annulled: “la signification d’une assignation \u00e0 une personne morale doit \u00eatre r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement effectu\u00e9e au si\u00e8ge social de celle-ci, sans qu’il y ait lieu de signifier l’acte au domicile du g\u00e9rant de cette soci\u00e9t\u00e9” (Paris Court of Appeal, p\u00f4le 5, ch. 9, 15 May 2025, RG no. 24\/17364<\/a>). Because the summons had not been delivered to the company’s si\u00e8ge, the court held the first-instance court had not been validly seised and annulled the judgment. For a foreign owner, the double lesson is operational. As a defendant, check every summons against your current Kbis: service at an old address, at the director’s home, or at a lapsed domiciliation is attackable, and annulment of the service can annul the judgment that followed, provided you act within the appeal and opposition deadlines and prove the correct seat. As a claimant serving a French debtor from abroad, instruct the bailiff with the debtor’s live Kbis extract in hand and verify the si\u00e8ge the same week: serving the wrong address wastes months and, as this case shows, can collapse the whole judgment. In Paris and the \u00cele-de-France, where companies move between Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne registries every week, cross-check the Kbis, the BODACC transfer notices and the actual letterbox before any service.<\/p>\n A French company owned from abroad stands on its address. Give it a real one on day one, through an approved domiciliation provider whose contract you keep current, a genuine lease, or the French-resident director’s home used within the statute’s limits, and prove occupancy with matching documents at every filing. Move it lawfully, by the vote your form requires, majority of the shares in a SARL and the organ your articles designate in a SAS, published within a month in a legal announcements support and filed within a month on the INPI single window with updated articles and a fresh proof of occupancy. And when the greffe rejects the file, fix the exact defect, decision, publication or proof, before the deadline rather than refiling the same papers. The courts protect a real Kbis address and punish service at the wrong one, but neither protection survives a fictitious seat. Review your domiciliation contract’s expiry date this week, compare your articles with your Kbis line by line, and file the transfer the day the company moves: these three habits cost little from abroad and decide whether your French company can be reached, served and defended.<\/p>\n You are setting up or running a French company from abroad and the address, the domiciliation or the transfer is blocking. Call 06 46 60 58 22<\/a> for a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm, or write via our contact page<\/a>. Bring your Kbis extract, your domiciliation contract or lease, your articles and the greffe’s last message: we will tell you what is valid, what to refile, and what to challenge first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foreign founder with no usable French address? Domiciliation contract with an approved provider, proof of occupancy, SAS and SARL seat-transfer votes, one-month publication and filing, and how to fix a greffe rejection from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2124967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nB. Installing the seat at the director’s home, in a lease, or in shared premises: what the law allows and where founders living abroad get trapped<\/h3>\n
II. Moving the registered office and surviving a registry rejection from abroad: vote, publication, single-window filing and remedies<\/h2>\n
A. Voting the transfer, publishing it and filing it on the INPI single window: the SAS, the SARL and the one-month clock<\/h3>\n
B. Registry rejection, strike-off risk and lawsuits served at the wrong address: how to fix, oppose and challenge from abroad<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n