You do not need to be a US citizen, a US resident, or even set foot in the United States to own a Delaware LLC. Delaware has no residency requirement for LLC members, and thousands of international founders use Delaware LLCs to sell to US customers, hold US assets, and plug into the US financial system.
That is the easy part. The hard parts are the ones nobody mentions until later: getting an EIN without a Social Security number, the $25,000 penalty attached to a form many foreign owners have never heard of, and opening a US bank account from abroad. This guide covers all of it, plus the case where a Delaware C corporation is the better vehicle entirely.
Non-US citizens and non-residents can own 100% of a Delaware LLC. You need a registered agent with a Delaware address; you do not need a US address, an SSN, or an ITIN to form the company.
You can get an EIN without an SSN by submitting Form SS-4 to the IRS by fax or mail, or by phone for international applicants. The online EIN tool is the only route closed to you.
A foreign-owned single-member LLC must file Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, even with zero US activity. The penalty for skipping it starts at $25,000.
Whether you owe US income tax depends on whether the LLC is engaged in a US trade or business, not on where it is registered. Get a cross-border tax advisor before your first sale.
Banking is the biggest practical hurdle, since many US banks require in-person visits or an SSN. If you are raising US venture capital, a Delaware C corp solves several of these problems at once.
Can a non-US resident really own a Delaware LLC?
Yes, fully and directly. Delaware's LLC Act places no citizenship or residency conditions on members or managers, and the Certificate of Formation does not even ask who the owners are. You can form and run the company entirely from abroad.
What you must have:
A Delaware registered agent. Every Delaware LLC needs an agent with a physical Delaware street address to receive legal and state mail. Commercial agents charge modest annual fees and this is the piece that makes remote formation possible.
The $110 state filing fee for the Certificate of Formation, plus Delaware's flat $400 annual franchise tax every year after, due June 1. The full formation process is covered step by step in our Delaware LLC formation guide.
A mailing address somewhere. It does not have to be in the US. That said, a US mailing address (often via a virtual mailbox) makes banking, payment processors, and vendor onboarding noticeably smoother.
Delaware is the default choice for international founders, but it is not the only one. Wyoming costs less to maintain and offers stronger anonymity; the tradeoffs are laid out in our Delaware vs Wyoming LLC comparison and our broader guide to the best state to form an LLC.
Getting an EIN without an SSN
An EIN, or Employer Identification Number, is your LLC's federal tax ID, and nothing works without it: no bank account, no payment processing, no required tax filings. Applying directly with the IRS is free.
The IRS online application requires the responsible party to have an SSN or ITIN, so it is off the table for most non-residents. Your routes instead:
Complete Form SS-4. Where the form asks for the responsible party's SSN or ITIN, foreign applicants without one write "Foreign" in that field. The responsible party is you, the owner, not your registered agent.
Submit it by fax or mail to the IRS office listed in the SS-4 instructions for applicants with no principal place of business in the US. Fax is meaningfully faster; expect days to a few weeks for fax versus several weeks or more by mail.
Or apply by phone. The IRS operates a phone line for international EIN applicants, which can issue the number during the call if your paperwork is in order.
You do not need an ITIN to form the LLC or to get the EIN. An ITIN only becomes relevant later if you personally must file a US tax return. For what an EIN is used for and how to retrieve one you have lost, see our EIN lookup guide.
US taxes: the rules that surprise foreign owners
A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity by default, and a multi-member LLC is a partnership, so the LLC itself generally pays no US federal income tax. Whether you owe US tax personally depends mostly on whether the LLC is "engaged in a US trade or business," a facts-based test that turns on things like having people, offices, or dependent agents working for you in the US. Plenty of foreign-owned LLCs selling remotely into the US owe little or no US income tax, and plenty of owners wrongly assume that. A cross-border tax advisor is not optional here, and a tax treaty between the US and your country can change the analysis significantly.
One obligation applies regardless of any of that: Form 5472. Every foreign-owned single-member US LLC must file Form 5472, attached to a pro-forma Form 1120, reporting transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner. Even funding your own LLC's bank account counts as a reportable transaction. The form is due annually even if the LLC had no activity, and the penalty for filing late or not at all starts at $25,000 per form, per year. This is the single most expensive surprise in the foreign-owned LLC playbook, so put it on your calendar the week your EIN arrives.
Multi-member LLCs file partnership returns instead (Form 1065) and may owe withholding on income allocated to foreign partners. Different forms, same message: engage an advisor before year one closes, not after.
Banking: the real bottleneck
Forming the LLC takes days. Getting it a US bank account is where international founders stall, because US banks must verify the identity of the humans behind every account, and their processes were built around SSNs, US addresses, and branch visits.
What helps:
Have the full document set ready: approved Certificate of Formation, EIN confirmation letter (CP 575), operating agreement, your passport, and proof of address. Applications fail most often on missing basics.
Favor fintech banking platforms over branch banks. Modern platforms onboard businesses online and are far more workable from abroad than banks that require you to walk into a branch.
A US mailing address and US phone number smooth almost every verification flow, even where not strictly required.
Expect enhanced review. Foreign-owned entities get more scrutiny under US anti-money-laundering rules. Slow is normal; it is not a rejection.
A card program helps too once the account exists. Some issuers will work with an EIN alone, which we cover in our guide to getting a business credit card with an EIN only.
Raising US venture capital? Consider a C corp instead
If your goal is not just selling into the US but raising money from US investors, the LLC is usually the wrong vehicle. US venture funds invest in Delaware C corporations almost exclusively: C corps issue preferred stock, support option pools and SAFEs, and avoid the pass-through complications that make many funds unable to invest in LLCs at all. Foreign founders get a bonus benefit: a C corp's income does not pass through to you personally, which simplifies your home-country tax picture compared with an LLC.
Rho Incorporation supports international founders forming Delaware C corps: attorney-reviewed formation for $400, refunded when you open a Rho account and maintain a $10,000 average checking balance for 60 days. Registered agent service is included for the first year, your SS-4 is prepared and submitted for you, and you get same-day access to Rho banking once approved, which collapses the formation and banking problems into one step. Rho Incorporation currently supports Delaware C corps, with LLC support coming soon.
FAQs
Yes. Delaware has no residency requirement for LLC owners, whether you live in another US state or another country. You need a Delaware registered agent and the $110 filing fee, and everything can be done remotely.
Delaware and Wyoming are the two standard choices. Delaware offers the strongest legal reputation and the smoothest path if US investors are in your plans, while Wyoming costs less each year ($60 versus Delaware's $400) and keeps owner names off public filings. Since non-residents have no US home state, the usual "form at home" advice does not apply.
Yes, non-US citizens and non-residents can own US LLCs outright, with no visa or green card required. Owning an LLC does not by itself grant any right to live or work in the US, and it does create US filing obligations like Form 5472, so plan for the compliance side from day one.
For foreign owners, the main drawbacks are the flat $400 annual franchise tax, the annual Form 5472 filing with its $25,000 minimum penalty for misses, and the difficulty of opening US bank accounts from abroad. If you later raise US venture capital, you will likely need to convert to a C corporation anyway, which adds legal and tax cost mid-fundraise.
File Form SS-4 with the IRS by fax or mail, writing "Foreign" in the SSN/ITIN field, or call the IRS international EIN line. Fax typically takes days to a few weeks and mail considerably longer, and the application is free. No SSN, ITIN, or US address is required.
It depends on whether the LLC is engaged in a US trade or business, which turns on US-based people, offices, and agents rather than on where customers are. Some foreign-owned LLCs owe US income tax and some owe none, but all foreign-owned single-member LLCs must file Form 5472 annually either way. Get advice from a cross-border tax professional before relying on either outcome.
Yes, Delaware's LLC Act places no citizenship or residency requirements on members or managers, so non-US residents can own 100% of a Delaware LLC and form it entirely from abroad.
File Form SS-4 with the IRS by fax or mail, writing "Foreign" in the SSN/ITIN field, or call the IRS international EIN line. The online application is the only route unavailable to non-residents, and the application itself is free.
Every foreign-owned single-member US LLC must file Form 5472 annually, even with zero activity, reporting transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner. Missing or late filings carry a minimum penalty of $25,000 per form, per year.
Opening a US bank account is the most common bottleneck, since many US banks require in-person visits or an SSN. Having your full document set ready and using fintech banking platforms that onboard businesses online can help significantly.