Mercury for your US LLC: what the account requires without US residency

For many founders in Europe, Mercury is the first name that comes up when it's time to open an account for a US LLC. The reason is simple: the application is online, and Mercury itself says you don't need to be a US citizen or US resident. That doesn't make the account a formality. Behind the application sit the same identification duties every US bank must meet, and Mercury lays them out openly in its Help Center.

This guide sorts out those rules: what Mercury is legally, who can apply, which documents and addresses are required, who Mercury needs to know as an owner and what happens after you apply. Everything comes from Mercury's public pages and from US regulations. Mercury decides on every application, not us and not this text. For the big picture on banking and credit in the USA, see the guide US bank account and US credit.

1What Mercury is, and what it isn't

Mercury describes itself with the same sentence on every page of its Help Center: a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services are provided by partner banks that are FDIC members. The debit cards aren't issued by Mercury either, but by those partner banks. Day to day, the account looks like a bank account: account number, transfers, card, app. Legally, your contract is with a technology company that holds your money at banks.

That has a consequence the FDIC spells out in its consumer guidance. If you open an account directly at an insured bank, you're covered there for at least $250,000. A company that isn't a bank, by contrast, is never insured itself. Money you send to such a company is only covered once it's deposited at an insured bank and further conditions are met, including precise records of who owns which amount. The FDIC then calls it insurance that "passes through" to you. In the FDIC's words, deposit insurance does not protect against the failure of the company itself.

For most founders, that's no reason to skip the account. It is a reason to read the terms and not to park larger reserves in a single account without thinking it through. How an account at a traditional US bank fits alongside it is covered in the guide Business account for your US LLC without US residency.

2Who can apply for an account

The basic rule is in the first sentence of the eligibility page: the company must be formed and registered in the USA or a US territory. A European company won't get an account there. Its US subsidiary can, if it meets the other conditions.

For founders abroad, Mercury names three requirements. The company is registered in the USA. It has existing or planned operations in the USA. And it has an address for its principal place of business, in the USA or abroad: residential addresses are fine, but Registered Agent addresses, PO boxes and parcel shop addresses are not.

Then there's a country list. Mercury doesn't open accounts for founders who live in certain countries, or for companies operating there. According to Mercury, what counts is the country you live in, not your citizenship. Some European countries are on the list, including Croatia and Latvia. If you live in one of them, read the list before you apply.

Finally, Mercury excludes certain industries and structures. There are no accounts for money services businesses, crypto exchanges, adult content, cannabis or online gambling, nor for trusts or unregistered sole proprietorships. The LLC, on the other hand, is the most common entity type among Mercury's customers, both as a single-member LLC and with several members.

3The documents at a glance

Mercury lists three documents for every entity type. First, the formation document registered with the state, for an LLC usually the Articles of Organization or a Certificate of Formation. It must show registration with the Secretary of State or a comparable authority. An Operating Agreement doesn't replace it.

Second, an IRS document for the EIN, the company's tax number. Mercury accepts the CP 575 confirmation, the replacement Letter 147C, or the SS-4 as returned by the IRS with the assigned number; an application form you filled in yourself won't do. Mercury says it temporarily accepts a screenshot of the EIN confirmation from the IRS website.

Third, ID for every owner with at least 25 percent and for at least one person with operational control. Applicants from abroad provide a passport. The ID must show a photo, date of birth, issue and expiry dates and an ID number. An SSN or ITIN isn't on this list.

Besides the documents, the application asks for details: the company's name, its industry and a description of what it does, its address, the source of its funds and its existing or planned US operations. For some industries, Mercury asks for more. What documents look like for accounts at other institutions is covered in the guide Documents for opening an account.

4Beneficial ownership: who Mercury needs to know

Mercury doesn't ask about owners out of curiosity. Under 31 CFR 1010.230, US banks must identify and verify the beneficial owners of every company that opens an account. The rule names the LLC explicitly. A beneficial owner is, first, every individual who directly or indirectly holds 25 percent or more of the ownership interests; that can be up to four people. Second, exactly one person with significant responsibility for managing the company, such as a manager, a managing member or a CFO. Both can be the same person.

Mercury applies this exactly as the rule requires. If the LLC is wholly or partly owned by another company, such as your company at home or a holding, you may not list that company as the owner. You follow the chain upward until you reach people. Mercury gives its own example: if a holding owns 50 percent of the LLC and two people own the holding half each, both are listed, because each indirectly holds 25 percent. For each of these people, you also provide the residential address where they actually live.

Once approved, the person with management responsibility gets admin access to the account. All owners and team members must be at least 18 years old.

One misunderstanding is easy to clear up here. Reporting beneficial owners to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act is something different from the bank's review. Under FinCEN's final rule, companies formed in the USA are exempt from that reporting. The bank's duty under 31 CFR 1010.230 still applies regardless. So you don't report your owners to a government agency, but you do disclose them to the institution where the LLC holds its account.

5Three addresses, three sets of rules

Addresses are where precision pays off most, because several rules apply side by side. Mercury distinguishes three company addresses plus the residential address of every owner. The Legal Address is the one in the formation documents; it appears on bank documents and serves as the billing address for the cards. It must be a physical address in the USA, a PO box won't do.

The Physical Address is where you and your team actually work. Here Mercury accepts a verifiable residential address as long as the company has no office yet, and for customers abroad a verifiable address there. PO boxes, virtual addresses, mail receiving services and the Registered Agent's address are not accepted. If your Legal Address is with such a service, Mercury may verify the Physical Address.

As proof, Mercury lists, among other things, an ID, a signed lease, a utility or mortgage bill, or a bank or credit card statement, each no older than 90 days, as well as last year's tax documents. The document must show the company's or owner's name and the full address. A Mercury statement doesn't count.

Again, there's a regulation behind this. Under 31 CFR 1020.220, before opening an account a bank must obtain a residential or business street address from an individual, and from a company its principal place of business or another physical location. A PO box isn't provided for. Finally, the Mailing Address is where Mercury sends cards. It must be physical and deliverable under US Postal Service rules. Statements don't come by mail; they're available digitally in the account.

6Company first, then the EIN, then the application

The documents dictate the order. The IRS itself says you register an LLC with the state first and only then apply for the EIN. And without an EIN document, Mercury is missing the second required document. The regulations explain why, too: under 31 CFR 1010.100, a company formed in the US is a US person, and under 31 CFR 1020.220 the bank must obtain a taxpayer identification number from a US person before opening the account. The rule does allow banks to open an account once a tax number has been applied for and to collect the number later. Whether an institution offers that is its own call.

There is a catch with the EIN if you don't live in the US. You can only apply online if the company's principal place of business is in the US and the responsible party has an SSN or ITIN. If the principal place of business is outside the US, the IRS says you apply for the EIN by phone, fax or mail using Form SS-4. The responsible party is the person who actually controls the company and its assets. The IRS states explicitly that nominees may not apply for an EIN.

If you want formation and the EIN from one source, you'll find both in our US LLC package. For the details of how the EIN is applied for, see our page Applying for an EIN.

7US business activity: the condition that stays

The requirement founders from abroad underestimate most isn't just part of the application. It applies for as long as the account exists. Mercury says US activity is required to keep the account. If a company has no workplace in the US, no owner living in the US and no owner with US ID, Mercury may ask for proof of US activity during the application or even after approval.

Mercury lists examples of proof such as a record of a sale to a US customer, an invoice or contract with a US customer, partner or supplier, employment contracts or payroll records for US employees, a lease for an office or coworking space in the US, a utility bill from the last 90 days, or the company's most recent federal tax return. The documents must match the payments on the account. Here too, a Registered Agent address or a virtual address doesn't count.

If you aren't active in the US, don't plan to be, or lack suitable documents, Mercury says you should expect the account to be frozen and eventually closed. For a company that genuinely does business in America, this paperwork comes naturally from day-to-day operations: invoices, contracts, payroll records.

8After you apply: review, follow-up questions, rejection, freezes

Mercury says it usually decides on an application within zero to two business days. If the team needs more documents, the request comes by email; if you've heard nothing after seven business days, check your spam folder too. While the review is under way, you can already set up the two-factor login Mercury requires for every account, with at least one authenticator app. Mercury itself considers SMS codes less secure. Why a US phone number still matters in plenty of other places is covered in the guide US phone number for banks and agencies.

If Mercury declines, it says it doesn't give specific reasons. The decision depends on whether your information meets the eligibility requirements. If you have new information, you may apply again, though there's no guarantee. Mercury advises reviewing the requirements and documents in full beforehand, because something was often missing the first time.

Mercury can also freeze or close an account that's already open. The reasons Mercury itself lists include processing payments for third parties, personal rather than business use, unanswered follow-up questions, residence in an unsupported country and long inactivity. A freeze can be temporary while Mercury waits for information. Answering requests on time avoids most of these cases.

9What a fintech account doesn't do

Mercury does one job very well: a US dollar account for day-to-day operations, with no trip to the US. Another job it doesn't do on its own. In the US, credit history doesn't come from account activity but from loans and credit cards whose payments are reported, both for you personally and for the company. How companies build that history is explained in the guides Business credit for your US company and Business credit card for your US LLC.

That's why we think of a company's banking in two stages: the fintech account for everyday use and, if you like, an account at a traditional US bank that you open in a branch. How we set that up is on our page US banking for your company. The Credit Builder supports the appointment at a traditional bank and the path to your own creditworthiness. How euros and francs get into your dollar account is explained in the guide Moving money between euros, francs and dollars.

Which leaves the most important point of this guide: Mercury decides on the account opening, the issuer on every card, the lender on every credit line. What you can prepare is what those decisions rest on: a properly registered company, an EIN, clear ownership, real addresses and US activity you can document.

In short

• Mercury describes itself as a fintech, not a bank; accounts are held at partner banks that are FDIC members.
• For a US LLC, Mercury requires the filed articles of organization, an EIN document from the IRS and, for applicants from abroad, a passport.
• Everyone holding 25 percent or more, including through a holding company, must be listed with ID and residential address, plus one person with management control.
• PO boxes, virtual addresses and the Registered Agent address don't qualify as an actual place of business.
• Mercury requires existing or planned activity in the US and has the sole say on opening the account.

How we help you

• Form an LLCThe US LLC with a permanent establishment, turnkey in six states.
• Apply for an EINYour company's US tax ID, applied for by us.
• US Company FormationLLC, Inc or LP in Delaware, Florida, California, New York, Texas or Wyoming.
• Credit BuilderCredit for your company and for you, built step by step.
• Company formation consultationEntity type, state and tax consequences, before you commit.