The account belongs to your company, identified by its EIN. For you as the owner, US rules let a bank take a passport number in place of an SSN or ITIN. Whether a provider does is its own policy.
Registate isn't a bank and doesn't open accounts. Every provider reviews each application and decides.
Two federal rules set the minimum, one for the account holder and one for the people behind it. Neither makes an SSN a condition for a non-US owner.
Employer ID number
Your company's EIN
Your Company LLC
The account holder is the company. Formed under a US state's law, it is a “U.S. person” in the rule whoever owns it, so the bank needs its EIN, which the IRS issues free and without an SSN.
Owner · 25% or more
Passport number
Passport number
Banks identify each owner of 25% or more and one person in control. For foreign persons FinCEN names a “passport number or other similar information”, so an ITIN is one option, not a condition (FinCEN FAQ B.7).
The rule asks for “risk-based procedures”, so each provider adds conditions on countries, addresses and business activity. Nothing in it obliges anyone to open an account.
Sources, checked October 2026: 31 CFR 1020.220 (CIP rule) · 31 CFR 1010.230 (beneficial owners) · 31 CFR 1010.100 (definitions) · FinCEN: CDD rule · FinCEN CDD FAQs (May 2026) · IRS: ITIN. A description of the rules, not legal advice; the regulation links open the official annual edition, and the current text is on eCFR. Since February 2026 FinCEN lets banks collect owner details when a company opens its first account with them, instead of at every new account.
Quoted from each provider's own pages, checked October 2026. None promises an account, and each can change its rules. The payment platforms pay out to an account; they don't replace one.
“A government ID (e.g., a passport or U.S. government identification document)” for each owner of 25% or more and one person with operating control.
Where an SSN is given, Mercury uses it “solely to verify your identity”.
Its pages differ. One lists “Social Security Number (SSN) or passport number” and “Non-U.S. citizens: passport only”; another says “every beneficial owner must have a valid SSN”.
Ask Relay before you apply.
An SSN only for owners “that reside in the US or have a US passport”. “For the non-US beneficial owners we'll request a copy of a photo ID”.
In its own words, “Wise is not a bank, but a Money Services Business (MSB) provider”.
“National ID, Driver's license, Passport”. Its document list doesn't mention an SSN.
Receiving accounts for business payments, which isn't the same as a bank account. Registate is a Payoneer Affiliate Partner.
“If you don't have a SSN, please list your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).”
With neither, “your local non-US tax ID and respective documentation to confirm you aren't a US taxpayer”.
For each beneficial owner: “Social Security Number (or passport number or other similar information in case of foreign persons)”.
Its tax step is separate, and our guide covers the gap it leaves.
For LLCs and companies: “If you are a non-US resident, then you can provide a photograph of a valid passport instead.”
Sources, checked October 2026: Mercury FAQ · Mercury: eligibility · Relay: documents by entity type · Relay: how to open · Wise: verifying a US business · Payoneer: document verification · Payoneer: why accounts are blocked · Stripe: tax ID requirements · PayPal: beneficial owners · Shopify Payments: US requirements. In the providers' own words: “Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.” “Relay is a financial technology company and is not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank, Member FDIC.”
The missing SSN is rarely the reason on its own. These are the points where a founder abroad gets held up.
Providers want the IRS document, not just the nine digits; Mercury names Form CP575, Form 147c or an SS-4 as returned by the IRS.* Without an SSN or ITIN you can't apply online, so you apply by phone, fax or mail. Our paid EIN support prepares and sends the SS-4.
EIN supportMercury, Relay and Wise refuse a registered agent, PO box or virtual mailbox as the address the business runs from, and Mercury and Relay accept a documented home abroad there.* Our lease-backed address comes with a lease and utility bill in the company's name; the provider still decides how to treat it.
Proof of addressPayoneer lists “mismatching details” among the reasons it blocks accounts. Keep the company name identical on the form, formation document and EIN letter, and your name as your passport prints it. If Relay says the “EIN doesn't match IRS records”, re-enter it exactly as on Form CP 575.
Relay looks at citizenship or residency; Mercury looks at where founders live. The lists change, so read the current one on Mercury's, Relay's and Wise's own pages.
Mercury wants “some type of existing or planned operations in the U.S.” and may ask for proof of US operations.* Stripe reviews the website or profile you sell through. Have a contract or an invoice to show.
If Mercury said noThe passport route works because the account belongs to a company with its own EIN. Relay “cannot support sole proprietors without a valid SSN or a physical U.S. address”, Wise asks them for an SSN or TIN, and Shopify says an SSN or ITIN “can't be bypassed”.
Forming a company from abroadSources, checked October 2026: IRS: get an EIN · IRS: Form SS-4 instructions · Mercury: address rules · Relay: registered agent address · Wise: business address · Mercury: prohibited countries · Relay: prohibited countries · Wise: where you can use Wise · Mercury: US operations · Stripe: website requirements. * From Mercury's help center, last checked in September 2026.
The SSN and ITIN questions, the EIN, and what Registate can and can't do for your application.
The federal rules allow it. The account holder is the company, identified by its EIN. For a non-US owner, the Customer Identification Program rule lets a bank take one or more of a taxpayer identification number, a passport number and country of issuance, an alien identification card number or another government-issued document number. Whether a given bank or fintech does so is its own policy, and each one reviews the application and decides.
For a company account, the rule doesn't make either one a condition for a non-US owner: a passport number and its country of issuance is one of the listed identifiers. Some providers still ask for more. Stripe, for example, asks for an ITIN if you have no SSN, or a local non-US tax ID if you have neither. Read the provider's own page before you apply.
Not under the federal minimum. The IRS issues an ITIN for federal tax purposes only, to people who need a US taxpayer number and aren't eligible for an SSN. A provider can set its own requirement, so check its page. Registate doesn't file ITIN applications.
The EIN identifies the company, but it isn't the whole application. Banks must also identify each person who owns 25% or more and one person who controls the company, with a name, date of birth, address and an identification number. For a non-US owner that number can be a passport number.
No list is reliable for long, because each provider sets its policy and changes it. As of October 2026, Wise says it asks non-US beneficial owners for a photo ID, Mercury lists a passport as accepted government ID, Payoneer lists a passport among its accepted IDs, and Relay's pages give two different answers. None of them promises to open an account.
The rule lets a bank adopt a procedure for a customer that has applied for a taxpayer identification number and not yet received it. It doesn't require one, and the providers on this page list the IRS-issued EIN document among what they ask for. Plan to apply once you hold the CP 575 notice or a 147C letter.
No. Registate isn't a bank and doesn't apply on your behalf. We form the company, help with the EIN, act as registered agent and provide a lease-backed address with documents in the company's name. The provider makes the decision, and nothing we sell ensures approval.
Last reviewed
Usually your passport. For a non-US person, the federal identification rule lets the bank record a passport number and its country of issuance in place of a US taxpayer number, and when it verifies you with documents, the example it gives is an unexpired government photo ID such as a passport.
The bank may also check you without documents, for example by contacting you or comparing your details with other sources, so keep your name, date of birth and address identical across the application and the passport. For the company itself it relies on documents showing the entity exists, such as the formation filing. Each bank writes its own procedure on top of that minimum, so its checklist can ask for more. EIN vs ITIN, side by side.
Yes, for a US company: the account belongs to the company, identified by its EIN, and you as an owner in India can be identified by your passport instead of an SSN. India wasn't on the restricted-country lists of Relay or Wise when we checked, but providers revise those lists, so check each one before you apply.
This works for a company account, not a personal US account, which is a separate product with its own rules. Expect questions about where the business operates and where its money comes from; Relay, for example, asks non-US owners for their source of funds and annual personal income. Indian rules on setting up and funding a foreign company are separate from the bank's checks, so confirm them with an adviser in India. Forming a US company from India.
Yes, for a company: Mercury, Wise Business and Relay take business applications online and describe passport-based ID for owners outside the US, although Relay's own pages disagree on whether an SSN is required. You upload the formation document, the IRS EIN letter and each owner's passport, and the provider runs its checks from there.
Online doesn't mean automatic. Each provider reviews the application, can ask for more documents by email, and applies its own country and address rules: Wise wants a physical trading address in a country it supports, Mercury looks at where founders live, and Relay looks at citizenship as well as residency. A traditional bank may ask for more, so compare the providers' own pages before you choose. What Relay asks for.
We don't open bank accounts or guarantee approval. Each provider decides.
