Not really. You can use an ITIN. IRS gives them and they are for tax tracking only. http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=222209,00.html

With that and a passport you can easily walk into a bank and open a checking account.

> Not really. You can use an ITIN. IRS gives them and they are for tax tracking only.

I just went though trying to get an ITIN for my spouse so we could file a joint tax return. After waiting for 5 weeks, they rejected the application because we didn't attach a copy of a previous tax return--which we don't have, so it's a catch 22 if I ever saw one. I'm certain that requirement is bogus on their part, but it meant we had to file for an extension on the tax return until we could get it sorted out. If it's that much trouble when you are a legal resident, I can't imagine the process for a non-resident.

It should be easier if you are a corporation. Did you file with a CPA?

No. My naive thinking was that since we're not claiming any complex deductions (we don't have any relevant assets in the US), I could easily do everything by myself. I'll probably regret that.

Yes, in our case we preferred to go with a CPA at least this first time that we don't know how things work.

I've had several banks hassle me about my TIN, and was outright told that I couldn't use it to open an account because their system simply wouldn't let them enter the number because it was expecting SSN format. YMMV

What do you mean by operate? That's very vague.