Founder notes · free
I run SIPmind through a Florida LLC that I opened from Kazakhstan without ever setting foot in the United States, without an SSN, and without a lawyer. Total cost was under $200 and about three weeks. Here is the actual sequence, the two places people get stuck, and the annual filing that carries a $25,000 penalty that almost nobody mentions.
Written from one founder's experience in 2026. It is not legal or tax advice — rules change and your situation may differ.
For most founders outside the US there is exactly one honest reason, and it's infrastructure. Stripe, and the payment rails and vendor accounts that assume a US entity. If you sell software to US or EU customers, a US LLC is the shortest path to getting paid without an intermediary taking a cut and a month of float.
The other reasons are real but secondary: credibility with B2B buyers, telephony providers that only sell US numbers to US entities, and accelerators that require a US company. If none of those apply to you, you may not need this at all — and plenty of businesses are better off not adding a foreign filing obligation to their life.
| Step | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Registered agent (required by law) | $40–50/yr | instant |
| Articles of Organization (Florida) | $125 | 3–5 business days |
| EIN from the IRS | free | 4–7 business days |
| Operating agreement | free | an afternoon |
| US business bank account | free | 1–3 business days |
| Stripe | free | 1–2 days |
Roughly $175 and two to three weeks end to end. Ongoing: the registered agent renewal and Florida's annual report (about $139, due between January and May). Florida has no state income tax, the filing fee is low, and processing is fast — that combination is why it's a common choice. Delaware is worth it when you're raising venture money and your investors expect it; otherwise it's a more expensive habit.
A person or company with a physical Florida address who receives official mail on your behalf. Legally required — you cannot register without one, and you pick them first because their address goes on the filing. Any of the established services is fine at this price point.
Done online through the state's own portal — you do not need an intermediary. You'll list the company name, the agent's address, and yourself as manager. Pay by card, get a tracking number, wait a few days for approval by email.
The IRS online application requires an SSN, which is where most people stop. Non-residents don't use it: you file Form SS-4 by fax instead, writing "N/A" where the SSN would go, and the number comes back in about a week. No SSN, no ITIN, no US visit. An online fax service costs a couple of dollars.
An internal document — you don't file it with the state, but the bank will ask for it. It states who owns the company, who manages it, and which state's law governs. For a single owner it's short. Decide here whether you own it personally or through an existing company abroad; that choice is hard to reverse and it matters if you ever pursue an intracompany visa.
Startup-focused online banks will onboard non-residents remotely with a passport and a video check. This is the step that actually gets rejected. See below.
With the EIN and the bank details in hand this is the easy part — a day or two. Which is worth remembering, because Stripe is usually the reason the whole exercise started.
A single-member LLC owned by a foreign person pays no US federal income tax if it has no income effectively connected to a US trade or business. Founders hear that and conclude there is nothing to file. That is the expensive misunderstanding: you still have to file Form 5472 together with a pro-forma 1120 every year, purely as an information return. The penalty for not filing starts at $25,000 — on a company that owes zero tax.
Put the deadline in your calendar the same week you get the EIN, and budget for an accountant who has actually filed one before. This single paragraph is the reason I wrote this page.
Roughly one in seven non-resident applications is refused, and the reasons are consistent enough to plan around. The bank is trying to answer one question: is this a real business or a shell?
Describe a real business, specifically. "Consulting" reads as a shell. "SaaS platform for AI phone agents used by dental clinics" reads as a company.
Have a website that exists before you apply. They look. A live product page with real pricing does more than any document.
Any revenue at all helps. Even a few hundred dollars of existing invoices moves you out of the shell category.
A refusal is not the end. There are several banks serving this market; being declined by one is common and doesn't follow you.
Don't form the company first. Get a customer, or at least a product people can see. Everything downstream — bank, Stripe, and any visa conversation later — is easier when the company is demonstrably doing something.
The formation services are optional. They charge $300–600 to do what the state charges $125 for. They're buying you convenience, not access. Worth it if your time is scarce; not worth it if your cash is.
The ownership structure is the one decision to think hard about. Owning the LLC personally is simpler and cheaper. Owning it through a company you already run abroad is more paperwork but keeps an intracompany transfer visa on the table. You can't retrofit that cheaply.
Send a DM to @inndmitrii and say where you are in the list. I've been through every step of it and I'm happy to point you in the right direction.
And if you're here because you're building something: SIPmind is what I built with that LLC — an AI employee that answers your business phone, replies across WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram, and keeps your CRM.