Form 6-K: Current Report for Foreign Issuers
If your company is a foreign private issuer reporting in the U.S., Form 6-K is how you keep the SEC and your investors current between annual reports. We prepare and furnish your 6-K filings on EDGAR, including converting mining technical reports into compliant submissions.
We furnish your 6-K filings
Form 6-K is the "current report" that foreign private issuers (FPIs) use to provide ongoing information to the SEC, the rough counterpart to a domestic company's 8-K and 10-Q combined. It's required under Exchange Act Rules 13a-16 and 15d-16.
Send us the material you're releasing, such as financial results, a press release, a technical report, and we format it, send you a proof, and furnish it to EDGAR in English on your behalf. New to EDGAR? See our Form ID & EDGAR access guide.
Volume rates for active issuers. Revisions to the proof are included.
"Furnished," not "filed," and why it matters
A 6-K is furnished to the SEC rather than filed. It's a small word with real consequences:
The Exchange Act's Section 18 liability for false or misleading statements attaches to documents that are filed, not to those merely furnished.
A 6-K isn't automatically incorporated by reference into registration statements. It becomes "filed" only if the issuer expressly incorporates it (for example, into a Form F-3).
What gets reported on a 6-K
An FPI must furnish whatever material information it:
Information it makes (or must make) public under the laws of its home country.
Information it files with a foreign stock exchange that the exchange makes public.
Information it distributes to its security holders.
In practice that means interim and half-year financial results, press releases, dividend notices, material acquisitions or changes in control, amendments to constating documents, and other material developments.
How 6-K fits with annual reports
The 6-K is your interim report between annual filings. FPIs file their annual report on Form 20-F; eligible Canadian issuers may use Form 40-F under the Multijurisdictional Disclosure System (MJDS).
FPIs are exempt from Forms 10-Q and 8-K; the 6-K is the ongoing disclosure vehicle in their place.
Timing & amendments
There's no fixed day-count like the 8-K's four-business-day rule. A 6-K must be furnished promptly after the material is made public, whether at home, with a foreign exchange, or to shareholders.
Need to correct or update a prior 6-K? It's furnished as a 6-K/A.
Who is a "foreign private issuer"?
Under SEC rules, any non-U.S. issuer (other than a foreign government) is an FPI unless both of the following are true:
- Ownership: more than 50% of the voting securities are held of record by U.S. residents; and
- U.S. business contacts: a majority of officers/directors are U.S. citizens or residents, or more than 50% of assets are in the U.S., or the business is principally administered in the U.S.
Status is generally tested on the last business day of the second fiscal quarter. On the horizon: in a June 2025 concept release, the SEC asked for public comment on whether to narrow the FPI definition. It's a review at this stage, not a rule change, but worth watching if you rely on FPI status.
Official resources
- SEC: Form 6-K (general instructions, PDF)
- SEC: Form 20-F (FPI annual report, PDF)
- SEC: Financial Reporting Manual, foreign private issuers
- SEC: 2025 concept release on the FPI definition
Rules and SEC systems change; we track these sources so your filings stay current.