Done-for-You US LLC, ITIN, Banking, and Cards for Non-US Founders

Setting up a US LLC, getting an ITIN, opening a US business bank account, and getting a business credit card is a four-part project, not one task. Each piece depends on the one before it, and most non-US founders lose weeks to bank rejections, IRS delays, or filing the LLC in the wrong state. A done-for-you setup handles the whole sequence in the right order so you don't have to learn US bureaucracy from scratch.

What Each Piece Actually Does

Non-US founders often treat 'set up my US company' as one step. It's really four separate systems that have to connect to each other.

• The LLC is the legal entity. It's what signs contracts, invoices clients, and holds a bank account.
• The EIN (Employer Identification Number) is the LLC's tax ID. Banks, payment processors, and the IRS all ask for it.
• The ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) is a personal tax ID for you, the founder. Not every founder needs one immediately, but it becomes necessary for certain tax filings and some bank or card applications.
• The bank account and credit cards are what actually let the business function day to day, paying vendors, collecting revenue, and building a credit history tied to the LLC.

Skip or rush any one of these and the next one gets harder. A bank will reject an account application if the EIN was filed with mismatched information. A card issuer will decline you if there's no US bank history behind the LLC.

The Order That Actually Works

There's a sequence that avoids most of the rejections and delays non-US founders run into. Here's the standard path.

1. Pick the state. Delaware, Wyoming, and New Mexico are the most common choices for non-US founders because of low fees, no state income tax on out-of-state income, and straightforward annual maintenance. The right choice depends on your business type and where your customers are.
2. Form the LLC. File the Articles of Organization with the state, appoint a registered agent (required in every state, and this has to be a person or company with a physical address in that state), and get your filing confirmation.
3. Get the EIN. Apply through the IRS. Non-US founders without a Social Security Number can still get an EIN, but the application has to be filed correctly, usually by fax or mail if you don't have an SSN or ITIN, since the online EIN application isn't available to everyone.
4. Apply for the ITIN, if needed. This requires original or certified identity documents and a valid reason for needing the number, tied to your LLC. Processing from abroad generally takes longer than domestic applications.
5. Open the US business bank account. Most traditional banks want an in-person visit, which isn't realistic for most non-US founders. Several banking platforms built for founders will open an account remotely once the LLC and EIN are in place.
6. Apply for business credit cards. Amex and other issuers typically want to see a few months of banking and transaction history tied to the LLC before approving significant credit. Some cards are available earlier if the application is structured correctly from the start.

Where Non-US Founders Get Stuck

A few patterns show up over and over.

• Wrong state for the business. Founders form in Delaware because they've heard the name, then find out their state of operation should have been Wyoming for lower fees, or vice versa.
• EIN applied for incorrectly. Missing a responsible party's information or using an unavailable online path leads to weeks of delay waiting on a fax response from the IRS.
• Bank account denied with no clear reason. Many US banks are cautious with non-resident applicants and will decline without much explanation, especially if the business address, EIN, and personal ID documents don't line up cleanly.
• No credit history for the LLC. Founders apply for a business credit card immediately after forming the LLC and get rejected, because there's no banking history yet to underwrite against.
• Registered agent issues. Using a random cheap registered agent that doesn't forward mail reliably means missed state notices, which can lead to the LLC falling out of good standing without the founder knowing.

Why This Is Usually Outsourced

None of these steps are individually complicated. What makes this hard is that they're sequential, they involve different institutions (state governments, the IRS, banks, card issuers), and a mistake early in the chain shows up as a rejection two steps later, with no obvious link back to the cause. Most non-US founders doing this alone spend more time troubleshooting than founders who go in with a checklist built from having done it repeatedly.

This is the exact gap Founders Credit is built for. We handle the LLC formation, EIN, ITIN application, US business bank account, and business credit cards, including Amex, as one connected process, fully remote, with no US travel required. You get the entity, the tax IDs, and working financial infrastructure without spending weeks figuring out which step broke which application.

What You Need Before Starting

• A valid passport
• A clear idea of what state and business type fits your situation
• A registered agent in your formation state (or a service that provides one)
• Patience for ITIN processing timelines if you need one
• A plan for your business address, since most banks and card issuers want a real, non-PO-box address on file