Opening a US business bank account from abroad
The documents a traditional US bank asks for, how some bankers verify you over video, and why funding the account comes before anything else.
What does a US bank need before it opens a business account from abroad?
Before it opens an account, a US bank has to know who owns the company, who controls it, what it does and where its money comes from. For a company owned from abroad, little of that is on file anywhere the bank can check, so the banker builds the picture from your documents and your answers. Gaps and contradictions lead to questions, and each round can add weeks.
A bank wants to understand the company and the people behind it.
Before it opens an account, a US bank has to know who owns the company, who controls it, what it does and where its money comes from. For a company owned from abroad, little of that is on file anywhere the bank can check, so the banker builds the picture from your documents and your answers.
A clear, consistent file is usually read once. Gaps and contradictions lead to questions, and each round of questions can add weeks. Most of the work before an opening is making sure every document describes the same company in the same way.
What the bank asks for.
Each bank keeps its own list, and a banker may ask for more once they have read the file. Most start with these, so if the company has no EIN yet, getting the company’s EIN from abroad comes first.
- The company’s formation documents and its EIN letter
- A passport for each owner and each signer
- Proof of where each owner lives
- What the company sells, and to whom
- Where the opening deposit will come from
Some bankers verify you over video instead of at a branch.
Where a bank allows it, a banker checks your passport and asks their questions on a video call, so you don’t have to travel. Keep a possible branch visit in the plan anyway. It is easier to arrange early.
Every address you give the bank must be true.
The bank asks for two addresses: the company’s address in the US and the address where you live. The company’s address has to be one the company actually uses, and some banks won’t accept a registered agent’s address in its place. Your own address is your home, wherever in the world that is, with a document that shows it. Never give the bank a US home address where you don’t live. Banks compare addresses across documents and over time, and a mismatch found later can close an account without warning.
Funding comes before anything else.
An account that opens and then sits empty tells the bank very little, and an empty account is the easiest kind to close. Fund it soon after it opens, from an account in the company’s name, with an amount close to what you told the banker to expect, and keep the statement that shows where it came from. Then use it for what you said it was for. The deposits and the activity of the first months are what the bank’s card team looks at when you apply for a card.
How it usually runs.
Every bank has its own process, but most openings run in this order. The longest part is the bank’s review of the company.
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Prepare the company’s file
We gather the formation documents, the EIN letter, the ownership details and a description of the business, and check that every name, date and address matches before the bank sees it.
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Introduce the company to a banker
The banker reads the file and decides whether the bank can take the company on. Questions at this stage are normal, and they are usually about the business or the money.
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Verify each owner and signer
Each person is identified at a branch or, where the bank allows it, over video. Use the same passport that appears in the file.
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Wait for the bank’s review
The bank’s compliance team reviews the company, its owners and the activity you expect. This can take days or several weeks, and the bank may not say why.
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Fund it and start using it
Once the account opens, fund it from the company’s account abroad and begin the activity you described to the banker.
The first months are watched closely.
A new account gets more attention than an old one. The bank compares what happens in it with what you said at the opening: the size of the deposits, where they come from, who gets paid and how often. Large transfers it didn’t expect, payments to countries you never mentioned or long quiet spells can all prompt a review. Tell your banker before anything unusual happens, and answer any letter from the bank quickly and completely.
More in Why US banks close accounts, and how to keep yours open.
Keep the fintech account if it does a job.
If the company already banks with an online platform, there is usually no reason to close that account. It may be quicker for some payments, and a second account keeps the business running if the first is under review. What matters is that each account has a clear job and that the traditional bank sees the activity that belongs with it. The traditional account is the one that leads to US credit for a company owned from abroad, so most of the company’s regular business should run through it.
We can help you be more efficient.
It reads like a lot from the outside. We take care of the steps, line them up in the right order and tell you what comes next, so you only do the parts that need you.
