A system and methods are shown for selecting a packet data serving node (PDSN) for a mobile node in a mobile Internet Protocol network. One method includes responsively to receiving on a first foreign agent control node (FACN) from a radio node a registration request message and determining that a mobile profile associated with a mobile node specified in the registration request is not available at the first FACN, sending from the first FACN to a second FACN a query request message including a request for the mobile profile. If the second FACN includes the requested mobile profile, the second FACN sends it to the first FACN using a query response message. When the first FACN receives the query response message, the first FACN makes a determination that the mobile profile includes a network address of the last serving PDSN. Responsively, the first FACN sends to the radio node a registration response message including the network address of the PDSN specified in the mobile profile, and the mobile node registers with the PDSN. Alternatively, if the second FACN does not have the requested mobile profile, the first FACN may select a PDSN using a set of PDSN selection rules available at the first FACN.