

Ask HN: Is it legal/easy for a foreigner to open a bank account in the US? - lzm

I have a website hosted in the US, sustained by adsense ads.<p>Adsense transfers my earnings to a local bank account, and every month I pay the hosting provider with my local credit card.<p>However I lose a lot of money transferring money internationally due to taxes and rate conversions, and I'm wondering if I could keep the money in the US without being a US citizen, without having to physically go to a US bank.<p>Does anyone have more information on this?
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petercooper
In many countries you can get accounts that are denominated in other
currencies. For example, Citibank does an account in the UK that's denominated
in US Dollars -
[http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/eur...](http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/international/eurocurrent.htm)
\- this would resolve the rate conversion issue.

 _However I lose a lot of money transferring money internationally due to
taxes and rate conversions, and I'm wondering if I could keep the money in the
US without being a US citizen, without having to physically go to a US bank._

I don't know where you are, but in many jurisdictions, doing what you're
suggesting to evade local taxation could be illegal (that is, locally in terms
of tax evasion. Opening a bank account overseas is not an illegal act in and
of itself).

For example, let's say you're a British citizen (just because I'm familiar
with the British rules, but they're likely to be "similar" across much of
Europe).. if you are domiciled in the UK and earn money in the US from a Web
site you maintain from the UK, you owe the UK tax authorities tax on the full
income from that site BEFORE any deductions.

So let's say you make $2000 a month and spend $500 on hosting. If you set up
an account in the US and then eventually only remit $1500 to the UK, you would
be breaking the law if you did not declare the full $2000 to the tax man. In
which case, having the remote account has no benefit except for the rates..
and you can get that locally anyway, as I demonstrated above.

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foldr
You certainly don't need to be a US citizen to have a US bank account, but
they would want you to show ID and give a US address if you want to open an
account in the normal way. Not sure what other options there are.

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patio11
Legal and easy.

<http://www.kalzumeus.com/2007/08/15/banking-for-the-uisv/>

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sliverstorm
From what I've read, you need to present a SSN, or present yourself face-to-
face to open an account. As I presume you can do neither of these...

Perhaps, if you have a very trusted operative living in the US they could take
responsibility for the transfers? Although, sadly your email might read much
like a Nigerian scam! :) Minus the poor grammar and spelling errors. And the
claims of royal blood.

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foldr
>you need to present a SSN

Just FTR, an SSN is absolutely _not_ necessary to open a US bank account.

