Instructions for Ordering Copies and Certificates using SOSDirect

Office of the Texas Secretary of State

You may order a certificate of fact - status, which is official evidence of an entity's existence or authority to transact business in Texas. It provides an entity's current legal name, date of formation, and a statement of the entity's status. A "certificate of status" is often required when qualifying or registering to do business in other jurisdictions. The charge is $15.00 per certificate.

This link will take you to the SOSDirect homepage. You do not need to have a SOSDirect account. You may log on as a temporary user.

  1. Click on the temporary login form to create a temporary login. If you have an existing SOS Direct account, log in using your client ID.
  2. Enter your information (for temporary login) or choose your payment method and click continue (client account, credit card or legal ease).
  3. If you chose credit card or legal ease, enter your payment information and click continue.
  4. In the next screen, you will be given a session code. Make note of this code or print the page for future reference.
  5. Click on the Business Organizations link from the menu bar at the top of the page.
  6. From the menu, click on Order – Certificates and Copies.
  7. Under Order Type, choose Certificate of Fact.
  8. Under Fact Type, choose Status. (If you need a different type of fact, you may choose one of the other options.)
  9. Enter the SOS File Number and Click Add Order Item. If you do not know the file number, you may click Find Entity and search by name.
  10. Once you have added the order item, it should be added to the Current Order Items for this Order table.
  11. When you are finished adding items, click on Submit Order.
  12. The next screen will be a Transaction Receipt. You may print this for your records.

The website will send two emails about two hours after the order is submitted. The first email is the notice that your order is accepted and ready to view. This email is entitled SOSDirect Filing/Order Acknowledgement and the sender will be TXSOS. The second email is a packing slip or transaction receipt. Make sure to check your spam or trash folder in case our correspondence is filtered to those folders. Please make sure your computer has the required software to retrieve your order.

+ How to Order Certified Copies using SOSDirect

Certified copies of documents are $15 for the certificate and $1.00 per page of the document ordered.

To order certified copies of a document from SOSDirect follow the instructions below.

This link will take you to the SOSDirect homepage. You do not need to have a SOSDirect account. You may log on as a temporary user.

  1. Click on the temporary login form to create a temporary login. If you have an existing SOS Direct account, log in using your client ID.
  2. Enter your information (for temporary login) or choose your payment method and click continue (client account, credit card or legal ease).
  3. If you chose credit card or legal ease, enter your payment information and click continue.
  4. In the next screen, you will be given a session code. Make note of this code or print the page for future reference.
  5. Click on the Business Organizations link from the menu bar at the top of the page.
  6. From the menu, click on Order – Certificates and Copies.
  7. Under Order Typechoose Certified copies of a record or document.
  8. Enter the SOS File Number and Click Add Order Item. If you do not know the file number, you may click Find Entity and search by name.
  9. This will bring up a screen for you to choose the document to order. You may check one document or all.
  10. Once you choose which document(s), click on the Continue button.
  11. You will see the order in the Current Order Items for this Order table.
  12. When you are finished adding items click on Submit Order.
  13. The next screen will be a Transaction Receipt. You may print this for your records.

Certified copies of imaged document will be emailed within twenty-four hours. Certified copies of documents not yet imaged may take up to four business days.

The website will send two emails about two hours after the order is submitted. The first email is the notice that your order is accepted and ready to view. This email is entitled SOSDirect Filing/Order Acknowledgement and the sender will be TXSOS. The second email is a packing slip or transaction receipt. Make sure to check your spam or trash folder in case our correspondence is filtered to those folders. Please make sure your computer has the required software to retrieve your order.

+ How to Print/Order Plain Copies using SOSDirect

You may retrieve plain copies of documents online by following these steps:

This link will take you to the SOSDirect homepage. You do not need to have a SOSDirect account. You may log on as a temporary user.

  1. Click on the temporary login form to create a temporary login. If you have an existing SOS Direct account, log in using your client ID.
  2. Enter your information (for temporary login) or choose your payment method and click continue (client account, credit card or legal ease)
  3. If you chose credit card or legal ease: enter your payment information and click continue.
  4. In the next screen, you will be given a session code. Make note of this code or print the page for future reference.
  5. Click on the Business Organizations link from the menu bar at the top of the page.
  6. This will give you several search options. Click on Filing Number Search, enter the Filing Number, and click Search. If you do not know the file number, you may click Find Entity and search by name.
  7. This will bring up the entity directly. Click on the section that says Filing History.
  8. On the left side of the screen, there is a column entitled View Image. Click on the icon for the document you want to view.
  9. This will open a separate window with the document as a PDF. Click on the Save icon to save it to your computer or Print icon to print the document.

Please note: This search will result in a fee of $1.00.

If it says N/A under View Image, follow these steps to order a copy:

  1. Click the Order button.
  2. Under Order Type, choose plain copies of a record or document.
  3. The SOS File Number should populate automatically. If it does not, enter it and Click Add Order Item.
  4. This will bring up a screen for you to choose the document to order. You may check one document or all.
  5. Once you choose which document(s), click on the Continue button.
  6. You will see the order in the Current Order Items for this Order table.
  7. When you are finished adding items, click on Submit Order.
  8. The next screen will be a Transaction Receipt. Please print this for your records or make note of the session id and document number.

Plain copies are $0.10 per page. The $1 search fee is waived if an order is placed on the search results.