How I Opened A Bank Account In The USA From India: Stripe Atlas Experience

Do you want to have a bank account in the U.S.A?
Do you know if you are earning money in US dollars, having a U.S. bank account may help you save huge money.
Furthermore, if you incorporate a company in the U.S. (anybody in the world can do this without physically being in the U.S.), you will remove the biggest headaches of restrictions imposed by many online services that exist in developing countries.
You might not know any of this, so let me first give you a little background of what I’m talking about. After that, what you are about to learn might change the way you do business online.
Having a registered company helps you do more global business. If you are someone who lives in a developing country, you are probably aware of certain restrictions and limited opportunities when doing business online.
If your company is registered in a developed country (like the U.S., Singapore, or Japan), you will be able to engage in business activities with anyone around the world, and a lot of the restrictions that exist in developing countries will be lifted.
Recently, I incorporated a company in the United States of America. In this tutorial, I will show you one of the ways that you can do this for yourself. (There are many ways to incorporate in the U.S., and each way comes with its pros and cons.)
However, the biggest limitation of this is that you won’t be able to open a bank account in the U.S. remotely. In order to open a bank account, you have to physically visit the country. And, without a bank account in U.S., opening just a company won’t serve the higher purpose.

Meet Stripe Atlas

A few months back, I got to know about a service started by the popular payment processor company Stripe. The service is named as Atlas by Stripe.

This service lets anyone in the world open a company in the U.S. while also helping businesses open a U.S. bank account without visiting the country. It’s a double win for any startup or individual who wishes to expand their business & needs to become a truly global company.
However, before you apply for Stripe Atlas, you should be clear of the benefits you are getting by doing so.
Earlier opening a maintaining the bank account used to be free. However, now they have added a charge/month if you are not maintaining minimum balance. Here is new rule:
Your business bank account with SVB will cost $25 per month. This fee is waived if you maintain a minimum average balance of $25,000 per month. SVB will share details about your account’s complete fee schedule and functionality as you complete the documents to open your bank account.
Before we get started, you should also read the following guides to help you learn the pros & cons of using Atlas by Stripe:

Incorporating A Company & Opening A Bank Account In The U.S. From Anywhere In The World

Here is what you will get when using Stripe Atlas:

• An incorporated company in the U.S.
• A U.S. bank account and a U.S. tax ID number.
• A Stripe account to accept payments from around the world.
• Guidance about U.S. law and taxes from Orrick and PwC. (This is optional and costs money. You can also use any 3rd party lawyer or company for this.)
• Access to tools and resources from Amazon Web Services (as well as $15,000 in AWS promotional credits for beta users).

Here is the complete FAQ on getting started with Stripe Atlas.
In short:

• Stripe lets anyone open a “C-Corporation” company in Delaware, U.S.A.

Note: Right now they don’t support LLCs.
Here is a good guide that helps you understand the tax benefits of each type of company.
You will need an invitation to join Stripe. You can apply for one here, or find a company in your country which is part of the Stripe Atlas network.
In my country, India, we have three companies who can give a Stripe invite:

Stripe charges $500 for the whole process of setting up your company.
However, there are additional costs for bylaws, actions of incorporator, and notices of stock issuance. Stripe will help you connect with companies who can do this for you & also help you with tax filing. You can also hire any 3rd party CPA or company to help with these things.
If you are in India, you can drop me an email. I will connect you to a team who can help you with everything from documentation to tax submission to post-company incorporation.

Getting Started

When you get the invite, click on the link in the email to start the process. You need to have a Stripe account & if you don’t have one, it will ask you to create one.