This is a guide that you can find answers to any kind of question that you may have. Let’s start our journey to creating and verifying an account on Stripe, the most preferred payment gateway.
Deal alert! Our favorite company, Northwest, is forming LLCs for $39 (60% off!)
Overview
Every entrepreneur needs a payment gateway like Stripe to start an e-commerce business. However, the countries that are supported by Stripe are limited. The solution is possible if you can meet every condition required by Stripe
How does Stripe accept when an account is created from an unsupported country?
To make this possible, looking at the FAQ documents is enough. They explain their needs clearly. Stripe says;
Everything is clear above. To create a Stripe account, the country should support Stripe. Since the USA is on the list of supported countries, if you start a LLC there, the problem will be solved.
To start an LLC in the USA for a reasonable price, the first thing you need to do is incorporate Northwest into the state of New Mexico. Otherwise, Stripe may suspend your account. The safest way to set up an LLC is to hire a Registered Agent based in the USA.
With the special discount we got from Northwest, you can form an LLC for very cheap by paying $39 + state fee.
You should meet the requirements below after form your LLC
The Requirements to Create an Account from a Different Country
- The Tax ID in the country that you want to establish your company (EIN can be gotten from IRS after incorporation of the company.)
- A physical place address in that country that you can receive mail. (They accept Northwest’s free mailind address)
- An ID, passport, or driver’s license that given by the government
- A website that completed, and complies with the terms and conditions of Stripe
- The currency that is used in that country and a physical bank account. Mercury or Wise Business is accepted.
1. Form an LLC in the USA
To open a verified Stripe account, you must first create an LLC. The best US state for this is New Mexico. With Northwest you can form one LLC for $39 + $50 NM state fee, for a total of $89.
2. LLC Articles of Organization (New Mexico LLC)
After forming an LLC in the state of New Mexico with the Northwest Registered Agent, download your Articles Of Organization from the Northwest client portal
3. Get Your EIN
After your LLC is formed, you need to apply for an EIN. Complete your SS4 form and obtain an EIN for your LLC from the IRS. Here is a guide on how to do it.
4. A Website That is Completed, and Complies with the Terms and Conditions
Create a website that complies with Stripe’s terms and conditions. All content should be complete and look very corporate. About us page, refund conditions page and contact page must be complete.
5. A US Bank Account
Open a US bank account for your LLC. You can use Mercury Bank or Wise Business for free.
Creating a Stripe Account
Go to dashboard.stripe.com/register and fill out the form.
Choose the country where your company is located.
Write down your company e-mail address, name, and surname. Select the United States and create a password. Create your account by agreeing on the terms.
Complete your e-mail activation.
Now, you can create your business account.
In order to do it, click on New Account from the top left, and write your company name
After creating a new account for your company, click on the “Activate Your Account” on the left side.
After choosing the registered business address and business structure, continue.
You can enter the free mailing address provided by Northwest in the address section. There’s nothing wrong with that.
In this step, you have to be sure that you are giving the right and full information.
You can continue to the next step after writing your legal business name, EIN, industry, business website, and a brief product description.
Fill out every form from the left side.
You can fill out the bank account information part with your Mercury Bank or Wise Business information.
After everything is done, you will have a verified Stripe account.
You can see the tax information is verified in the screenshot below.
Finaly
Please test it before on the test mode. Then go to live mode and get the API and secret key and complete the integration process of your website.
You can ask your questions about opening a Stripe account and forming an LLC in the comments section.
19 Comments. Leave new
Hi,
Do I need to use a US IP address via VPN while setting up and using the Stripe account for US LLC? Or can I just set up a US LLC stripe account from any foreign country while showing that country’s IP?
Do they ask for your residence address and address proof such as a utility bill, as part of the stripe registration process? And if you don’t need to cover up your real IP address, I guess this residential address would need to be a match for your IP? I am worried about getting asked for proof of residential address or proof of tax residence and then being unable to satisfy that demand from them.
When you open an account with Stripe, US LLC, you don’t need a VPN or a US-based IP address. In the future, Stripe will not ask you to invoice for proof of address.
Hi, great information and so detailed!
I have this question. I have read about people talking when you are a Non-resident in US, Stripe will ask your ITIN, and reading in Stripe’s docs, it looks like true but its not clear for me. Do you know something about it?
And if this is true, what can I do to get it?
Thank you so much for your value information
Hi Jose,
If you don’t reside in one of the embargoed countries, it’s fine.
If you are a us llc owner and your country is not among the embargoed countries, stripe will not ask you for an ITIN.
You can enter your own citizenship number.
Thank you for this nice information, please at the beginning when creating the stripe account, which country can be selected because initially I selected usa and now they are forcing me for ssn.
Hello,
Your business is in the USA, so you must select USA as the country.
You do not need to enter an SSN, you will choose the country you are a citizen of and enter your Citizenship number. There is a field for you to choose, please look more carefully and you will see it there.
When you say “enter your Citizenship number”, What number please? Do you mean NIN number in the case of a nigerian?
Yes, it can be your NIN number for Nigeria.
If he insists on SSN, then you can also enter the last 4 digits of your EIN number.
Hi I’m glad that you wrote very detailed article on this topic.
Can you please suggest me,
I’m planning to launch my own product online, which will be subscription based product people will come and purchase 20 or 50 USD subscription.
I have created an LLC company soon I will get the EIN number.
Since I want to do business globally all over the world I’m confused if Mercury or Wise may stop me for this.
Can you please suggest in order to use stripe without any problem to allow all users globally as a subscription based product on tech services.
Thanks for your comment.
Mercury and Wise won’t stop you because they both support digital platforms and entrepreneurs globally. You can transfer the balances you collect with Stripe to your Mercury or Wise accounts. Many people already use this method. Nothing negative has happened so far.
By the way, if you are going to use Stripe, remember that you can only add one bank account. When you reach that stage, you will have to choose between Mercury or Wise.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I really appreciate.
Now if i want to create a business account on wise using my LLC it means my business account is supposed to be located in the US so i will have to provide a US bank account again to approve my “US” business account…. Which is the reason why i am using Wise for… Does it make sense? Because i had tried to do that in the past and found that if i am going to use my LLC to creare my Wise business account they will ask for my LLC bank account in US also and address and phone number in US… Can you explain how you did it with Wise?
Wise requests a payment from you to verify your account. Then you get that payment back. You can also make your payment at your local bank. You do not need to have an account with an American bank for this.
Not sure to understand. One last question just to make sure i UNDERSTOOD what you mean?
So you mean i can create a business account using my US LLC and when asked my LLC bank account i porovide my local bank account details (which is not a US one)? Is that what you are saying?
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
Great. Thank you for your time and guidance. I really appreciate that.
You’re welcome. glad it worked!
Thanks
Thank you for this article. I have tried Mercury and got rejected twice. First time they said that my business is not serving US citizens.
. A year has passed and i am still struggling with this matter Now i am left with Transferwise as my last chance yo get a bank account
I have a question do i open a personal transferwise account or a business account to match my stripe account? When filling my details on stripe do i fill out using my LLC details or my own personal details(referring to phone number, address…)
Hello,
Mercury bank usually wants you to operate within the US and may therefore reject some projects.
The best thing to do right now is to open a Wise account.
You must open a business account for Wise. Give them your company information and EIN number when opening an account.
Your account will be approved within 2 days. In this way, you can get the money on the stripe with TWise. I also use this method.