How to Open an Bank Account in USA being a foreigner (Never visited to USA)?

Can anyone suggest me how to open an Bank Account in USA as a foreigner (Indian) and never visited to USA nor having a US Visa?

The purpose to open the bank account will be for business and also I wants to know in the following both circumstances how I can open the Bank accounts in USA:

1. If I'm not registering the business in USA
2. If I'm registering the business in USA.

 

I think you registering business in USA (LLC or Inc) you can open it.. I talk to one of my friend.. He inform me to open LLC in Florida it will be cost around 150$ and Inc. as 80-90$. I have no idea how to open bank account with business..

 

You need to personally (or an officer of a corporation) needs to open the account in person in the US. There is a "know your customer" requirement in the US Patriot Act.

 

Are you sure? I've opened a Florida bank account through a bank in Canada that had an affiliate bank in the US by simply attending my local Canadian branch and showing them my passport.

 

Since 2001, US banks won't do it - not that there haven't been mistakes made. Etrade was fined a million dollars for not having adequate anti-money-laundering procedures in place. I have had a relationship with one of the major US banks for over 20 years, even have a manager assigned to my account, and still couldn't get an out of state account opened with one of their branches without physically visiting the branch in the other state. There is a huge liability if they don't see you in person, so they aren't willing to take the risk. I was able to open a brokerage account out of state that had checking, but it was a real pain - had to have US identification notarized and US address verified - and still wound up having funds frozen for 3 weeks until numerous calls and sending additional documentation solved the problem.

 

The Florida bank account that I opened from Canada was opened in 2010. The bank specifically targets non-resident Canadians for account opening, so they would have to be fairly brazen if they aren't complying with the Patriot Act.

I also used to have a Chicago-based brokerage account opened from Canada, that I opened in 2007.

 

If a US bank is opening an account for a non-resident with the only requirement/check being a passport, then yes, they are violating the US Patriot Act KYC law.

 

Obviously, one has to also fill out forms and prove residency (used a bank statement), but yes, the only ID required was a passport. No notary was involved.

I'm assuming that by the Patriot Act KYC law, you're referring in this context to the mandatory implementation of a Customer Identification Program, and not the risk assessment which has little to do with meeting the client. Here are the regulations regarding CIP: http://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/federal-register/68fr25090.pdf

If you take a look at paragraph 103.121 (b)(2)(i), you'll see that the bank must obtain, at a minimum, the following information from the customer prior to opening an account:

Name
Date of birth
Address
For a non-U.S. person, one or more of the following: a taxpayer identification number, passport number and country of issuance, alien identification card number, or number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard.

Paragraph 103.121 (b)(2)(ii) goes on to say, "The CIP must contain procedures for verifying the identity of the customer, using information obtained in accordance with paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section, within a reasonable time after the account is opened. The procedures must describe when the bank will use documents, non-documentary methods, or a combination of both methods as described in this paragraph (b)(2)(ii)."

A bit later on, it's stated that non-documentary methods are to be used when the customer opens an account "without appearing in person at the bank." According to the rules on non-documentary methods, "These methods may include contacting a customer; independently verifying the customer's identity through the comparison of information provided by the customer with information obtained from a consumer reporting agency, public database, or other source; checking references with other financial institutions; and obtaining a financial statement."

So, it would seem that I don't have to show up at an American bank to open an account, or even the Canadian branch, as long as I provide my name, date of birth, address, and passport number and country of issue, and as long as they can match that information with a credit bureau report (I assume that's done anyway for a checking account), or obtain a financial statement (they did), or contact me, or check references with other financial institutions. In fact, the account can be opened by just providing a passport number and country of issuance, without a copy of the actual document, as those details need only be verified "within a reasonable time after the account is opened."

That being said, I don't know of any bank that implements the bare minimum amount required by the CIP rules, or would let someone open an account before getting a copy of their passport. Most won't even let non-residents open accounts, which is understandable given the size of that PDF I linked to. Still, there's nothing in the rules which requires anybody opening an account to show up in person at a U.S. bank in order to open an account.

 

There is nothing specific in the law that says you have to appear at the branch in person, however, all the major banks (BofA, Citi, US Bank, Wells) require it - (and they will tell you it is part of their legal advice for liability protection). I find it highly unlikely that a non-resident from India could obtain a US bank account never having even lived in the US. In your first post, you stated that you just showed up and just displayed your passport. As you have clarified, it takes more than that. Banks in the US, at least the larger ones, are so paranoid, they don't even allow out of state bank accounts to be opened without proving state residency and doing so in person. I spent two weeks trying to do it. 15 years ago, I had business accounts in 38 states and you could do it over the phone. Not any more.

 

PNC + Kentucky + a US citizen = any name under a business checking account you want.
Kentucky banks can register as any DBA you want for business bank accounts.
and PNC has very little care as to who you really are.

 

You would have to get a Trademark, for your business in the USA, then contact a bank, and set it up from there.

 

I'm still not clear why you'd want to open a US bank account?!

I'm presuming you're based off-shore (in India) so why get one? If it's currency fluctuations you're worried about I'm sure you can talk with your local bank about a USD account or there are plenty of forex hedging services online.

If you had a US bank account (presuming this was even possible) you'd potentially open yourself up to having a taxable presence in the US meaning you'd be liable for extra tax - plus your assets (money) is in a country where you don't yourself have much control over it.

..have I missed the point somewhere?

 

i remembered once e-book was offered on digitalpoint and banks in U.S like etrade were offering to open bank accounts for foreigners but now they are not accepting any new customers from asia.

 

@guntars.melkis: Thanks for the great feedback regarding Payoneer and our services.

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Try Arizona, you can do everything online.

 

well for me I want to be selling on AMAZON.COM and they would not let me open a seller account to sell in USA until I have an account in USA, I would be really great full if anyone can help me open an account in USA (I am also from INDIA and have never lived in USA, Never been to USA)

 

can payoneer help me open an account in USA or help me open a seller's account on Amazon.com (to sell products in USA) if so I would like to know more about it please

 

Can you open an Amazon account using a UK bank?

 

Havin a US-Bank account forces you to have a tax number over there and file tax statements. You dont want to have that. You could found a LTD in the UK, setup a bank account and then register with whatever (amazon, ebay, paypal etc.) You probably wont get a US bank account for a non US company anyway. If you provide more details I could give you further advice.

 

If you were using the UK Amazon Associates program