Opening a US Business Bank Account From Abroad in 2026

Have these ready before you start. An application that stalls halfway is worse than one that starts late.

The CP 575 is the one that sets your timeline, because you cannot start the bank application without it and the EIN itself takes one to three weeks in practice.

Proof of address means where you live. Not the registered agent, not a virtual office. The institution is verifying a person, and substituting a US address you do not live at is a misrepresentation that surfaces at exactly this step.

Mercury tests residence. Relay tests citizenship or residency, for every owner on the application. Both published lists were read.

Blocked by Mercury, accepted by Relay: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Vietnam.

Blocked by Relay, accepted by Mercury: Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau.

Blocked by both: Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine, among others.

If you live in one of those first five countries, a Mercury rejection is not a verdict on your company. It is a verdict on Mercury's risk appetite, and Relay reached a different one. Apply there.

Relay's scope is wider in a way that catches co-founded companies:

"The restriction applies to any business owner named on the Relay Account application, including beneficial owners."

Relay, Prohibited Countries. Last updated August 11, 2026. One co-founder's passport or address can close an application your own position would have passed.

Wise runs an inclusion list rather than an exclusion list:

"You can hold money in your account if you live in one of the following countries and territories:"

Wise, Where do I need to live to hold money with Wise?.

Seventy-nine territories, hand-counted on that date. India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, the UAE, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana and Mexico are absent.

So for most founders reading this, Wise is not the fallback when Mercury and Relay say no. Of the main corridors, only the Philippines is on Wise's list, and the Philippines is also one of the five where Relay already works.

Note the scope: that page governs holding money. Sending and receiving are covered separately and we have not verified them.

Your US-formed LLC files nothing with FinCEN, and your bank will still ask you for beneficial ownership at account opening. Two different regimes; only one of them ended.

FinCEN's rule effective August 14, 2026 exempted domestic entities from beneficial ownership information reporting. Your US-formed LLC files nothing with FinCEN.

Your bank still asks. Customer due diligence and know-your-customer collection at onboarding are a separate regime under separate rules, and they did not change. You will be asked for owner identity, ownership percentages, passports and proof of address, and declining on the grounds that BOI was repealed does not work because the bank is not asking for a BOI report.

Any service telling you otherwise is wrong about something basic.

Check the platform gates before you assume you're stuck. Stripe, Shopify Payments, Apple Developer and Google Play do not test where you live. Being unable to bank with these two fintechs affects where the money lands, not whether you can earn it.

Look at traditional banks with in-person onboarding. This usually means travelling to the US to open an account in a branch. It is expensive and slow and it is a real route that the fintech-first framing tends to omit.

Reconsider the structure. If your banking is closed and your customers are not American, the honest question is whether a US entity is the right vehicle at all. That question has a real answer and it is sometimes no.

Do not misstate your address. It is the obvious idea. It fails at verification, and the consequence of a financial institution concluding you misrepresented your residence is worse than not having the account.

Does forming in Wyoming or Delaware improve my odds? No. Both Mercury and Relay test the owner, not the entity's state. The state matters for fees and filings, not for this.

Mercury rejected me. Should I reapply? Not to Mercury with the same facts. Check whether your country is on Relay's list, because five significant markets are blocked by one and accepted by the other.

My co-founder lives in a listed country. Does that sink it? For Relay, yes. Its restriction covers any owner named on the application including beneficial owners.

Can I open an account before the EIN arrives? No. Every institution asks for the CP 575. Start the EIN the day your formation documents are stamped.

Do I need to fly to the US? Not for Mercury or Relay, which onboard remotely. For a traditional bank when both have refused, often yes.