SECTION 8.01-301. How process served on foreign corporations generally  

Subject to § 8.01-286.1 , service of process on a foreign corporation may be effected in the following manner:

1. By personal service on any officer, director or on the registered agent of a foreign corporation which is authorized to do business in the Commonwealth, and by personal service on any agent of a foreign corporation transacting business in the Commonwealth without such authorization, wherever any such officer, director, or agents be found within the Commonwealth;

2. By substituted service on a foreign corporation in accordance with §§ 8.01-286.1 and 8.01-286.1 , if such corporation is authorized to transact business or affairs within the Commonwealth;

3. By substituted service on a foreign corporation in accordance with § 8.01-286.1 or by service in accordance with § 8.01-286.1 , where jurisdiction is authorized under § 8.01-286.1 , regardless of whether such foreign corporation is authorized to transact business within the Commonwealth; or

4. By order of publication in accordance with §§ 8.01-286.1 and 8.01-286.1 where jurisdiction in rem or quasi in rem is authorized, regardless of whether the foreign corporation so served is authorized to transact business within the Commonwealth.

This section does not prescribe the only means, or necessarily the required means, of serving a foreign corporation.

Code 1950, § 8-60; 1977, c. 617; 1991, c. 672; 2005, c. 8.01-286.1 ; 2013, c. 8.01-286.1 .