US LLC Formation
for Non-Residents

US LLC formation for non-residents follows the same legal process as it does for a US citizen, with one practical difference: every step has to work without a US visit, a Social Security number or a US address of your own. There is no requirement to travel. A valid passport from your home country and a mailing address are what the process actually needs from you.

The formation itself is a state-level filing, the Articles of Organization, submitted to the Secretary of State of whichever state you choose. Wyoming, Delaware and New Mexico are the states we most often recommend to non-resident founders, each for a different reason: Wyoming and New Mexico for lower ongoing costs and stronger privacy, Delaware for its established legal system where a business expects to raise investment later.

Once the LLC exists, it needs an EIN, an Employer Identification Number, from the IRS before it can open a US bank account or a payment processor like Stripe. Non-residents cannot apply for an EIN online the way a US-based founder can; the application goes through the IRS by fax, using the process described on the IRS's own Form SS-4 page. It typically clears within a few days once correctly submitted.

The company also needs a registered agent, a person or service with a physical address in the formation state who can receive legal and state mail on the company's behalf. This is a legal requirement in every state, not an optional add-on, and it is what makes forming the LLC from outside the US possible in the first place.

With the LLC formed and the EIN in hand, the last step is banking: a real US business bank account, most commonly through Mercury or Relay for non-resident founders, followed by payment processor access once the account is active. Each of these steps depends on the one before it, which is why the order matters as much as any individual step.

None of this is unusual or improvised. Thousands of non-resident founders form a company this way every year, and the process is well documented by the states and the IRS themselves. What tends to go wrong is sequencing: applying for an EIN before the state filing is actually approved, or trying to open a bank account before the EIN exists to support it. Following the order above, rather than starting several steps in parallel, is what keeps the timeline predictable.