Running a US Company From Nigeria: The Banking Problem

"we're unable to open accounts for founders living in any of the countries and regions listed below."

Mercury, Prohibited countries.

Nigeria is among the 48 countries under Mercury's "Prohibited countries" heading.

"Relay cannot open a Relay Account for any business owner who holds citizenship or residency in one of the following countries"

Relay, Prohibited Countries. Last updated August 11, 2026. Nigeria is among Relay's 31. And because Relay tests citizenship as well as residence, a Nigerian passport holder living in Berlin or Toronto is also outside its policy.

Wise excludes by absence: Nigeria is not among the 79 territories where Wise says you may hold money.

Nigeria appears on no sanctions list among the twelve providers we track. Not on Mercury's separate sanctions heading, which names Cuba, Iran, North Korea and the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. Not on Upwork's sanctions-driven list, which is why Upwork is open to you.

Nothing in US law prevents a bank from serving a Nigeria-resident founder. Three companies each made a commercial risk decision.

That matters for two reasons. It means the answer can change, because policy changes and law does not. And it means you should not accept "you're sanctioned" as an explanation from anyone, because it is not true.

Stripe. Its residency requirement is scoped to unregistered businesses:

"Registered businesses must be registered in the US, even if you operate in another country"

Stripe, Requirements for having a US Stripe account.

Your registered LLC is covered by that sentence. The obstacle is the payout bank account, which brings you back to the section above.

Shopify Payments, if you sell through Shopify. Its residency rule covers individuals and sole proprietorships only, and it documents a passport route for representatives living abroad. It requires a full US checking account that is ACH-eligible.

Apple Developer. No residency or citizenship requirement stated anywhere. Requires a real legal entity, a D-U-N-S number, a work email on your own domain and a live website on a matching domain.

Google Play. Select the organization account. An individual account requires a United States government-issued photo ID; an organization's representative may use a photo ID issued in any country.

Upwork. Open. Nigeria is not on its list.

Etsy is not available. Nigeria is not among Etsy's eligible locations, and it is not one of the sixteen countries starred for Payoneer either.

Everything except banking runs on a normal timetable. Banking is the step that turns a four-week project into an open-ended one, and it should shape the decision about whether to start at all.

If your customers pay you in naira and your banking works at home, a US LLC buys you filings and a banking problem you may never solve.

If your customers are Nigerian and pay in naira, a US LLC adds a Form 5472 obligation, a state filing, an annual state fee, and a banking problem you may not solve, in exchange for nothing your business needs.

If your customers are American or European and will only pay a US or EU entity, the calculation changes and the banking problem becomes worth solving.

Be honest about which one you are before you spend money.

Nigeria has its own rules on foreign entity ownership, remittances and reporting, including Central Bank of Nigeria requirements on inbound and outbound funds.

We have not verified any of them and this page makes no claim about them. They are real, they matter, and they require a Nigerian professional. We are not going to summarize another country's exchange-control regime from memory on a page a founder might act on.

There is no US income tax treaty with Nigeria. Confirmed against the IRS treaty list on September 1, 2026: the entries under N are the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway.

This is almost never explained in guides aimed at this market, and it materially changes the analysis of how US and Nigerian tax interact for a Nigeria-resident owner. What it means for you is a question for practitioners on both sides, and it is worth paying for rather than guessing.

Separately and regardless: a foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, with a substantial penalty for missing it. That obligation does not depend on the treaty question or on whether you owe any US tax.

There is no US-Nigeria income tax treaty, and that absence changes the arithmetic in ways most guides never mention. The full treatment, plus what to ask a Nigerian tax professional, is on US tax for Nigeria-resident LLC owners.