Comments on: Opening a bank account in America as a non-resident alien

By: Lynda

Lynda — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:21:12 +0000

My 20 yr old son is presently in the US with his band. They have a visa which entitles them to work as musicians legally.
He needs to open a bank account so any money he may earn can be paid into it for safe keeping.
What requirements does he need to do this. He already has an HSBC account in the UK, but like a lot of young folk, not much money in it.
Please help.

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If he’s actually in the US then he should be able to simply walk into a bank and open an account. The difficulty in opening US accounts is mainly down to them not being able to identify non-American customers but that is not supposed to apply if they actually walk into a branch. I suspect that it would be a lot easier if he could go into an HSBC branch but they aren’t that common in America outside the north east. Failing that, Bank of America would be useful (free cash withdrawals in Barclays in the UK) or Citibank. However, in theory any bank (not necessarily a savings and loan) should do it.

In terms of opening an account in person, it’s not so much his UK HSBC balance that matters but simply having an HSBC UK account as it should show to HSBC America that he is an existing customer which generally eases things.

Arnold

By: sholay

sholay — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:33:34 +0000

how on earth will i open a us bank accout here in nigeria please help out

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I suspect that it would be virtually impossible to do this basically because Nigeria is seen as the fraud capital of the world.

Having said that, if you could open an account with HSBC in Nigeria, it might be possible to use that as a way into opening an account with HSBC in America. Worth looking into: let me know if you succeed with that one.

Alternatively, in principle you could set up a company in America and use that to open an account. Once you’ve got the company set up it’s definitely no problem but you might run into problems in setting it up in the first place.

Arnold

By: Patsy

Patsy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:06:32 +0000

I want to know more about the swiss account option. I am curious about how to get business credit cards on a swiss account with the non-disclosure rules

I have a US company so just need a US dollar account so I am option one and will try Etrade. Ultimately I will apply for business credit cards so please let me know what other options you know of that I can try.

Thank you in advance and thank you for imparting this knowldedge to begin with. Keep up the good work
Patsy

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For the Swiss accounts see our article at http://www.wholeearthguide.co.uk/t-weg-zr-er105-en.htm .

If you have a US company you should be able to open any of the American bank accounts online that a normal US resident would be able to open. I wouldn’t bother with etrade if you have a company as other banks are more likely to meet your needs better (eg the business credit card).

Arnold

By: cosmin

cosmin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:35:35 +0000

at this moment there is no way to open a bank account in the US without having a Social Security Number at least. I’ve called over 30 banks and this is the answer…bank of america will not open an account if you are not an us citizen, HSBC bank will not open a personal account if you want to withdraw PayPal money since that is considered a business withdraw..

By: anthony

anthony — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:15:37 +0000

i wish to open an account in america how do i do that

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The post above gives all the necessary information. For more complete information, check out the link re our information pack.

By: teeluck

teeluck — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:12:56 +0000

i want to open a account in bank of america

By: Nana

Nana — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:01:38 +0000

Hell could you please send me detailed information to open a Bank of America account or any other American account .I live in Ghana.I would appreciate it very much

By: Tom Odenweller

Tom Odenweller — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:10:27 +0000

I’m looking for information on bank accounts in Switzerland. Pro’s, con’s, how to select the bank.

By: catherine fortune

catherine fortune — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:30:37 +0000

hi there we have purchased a property in New York state which we rent out on a permanent basis, and intend to keep it for the forseeable future. we cannot see us managing to fly there for at least 6 months we need to open a bank account in order to pay in the rentors monies $800 USD p.c.m. someone is holding monies for us till we can open an account and they are willing to pay monies into account each month thanks hope you can assist

By: Arnold

Arnold — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:32:35 +0000

1. In principle you can do Bank of America but see http://www.wholeearthguide.co.uk/i-weg-zr-er101-en.htm which includes the link required to get the bank account opening kit.
2. Yes. It’s a Visa Debit card which you can use to buy things or to withdraw cash.
3. It’s a debit card so there isn’t a credit limit as such. As far as I know there is no limit on it so long as you have the funds in your account.
4. It doesn’t cost anything to open the account. Obviously you need to put some money in the account but that remains your money.
5. They post everything to you.
6. Yes, it’ll work fine with PayPal.
7. It’s a proper bank account so you can receive bank transfers from America or anywhere else in the world.

Arnold