Why in person
American banks verify a non-resident in person. The relationship accounts and the top-tier cards are opened in a branch, with a banker, with your documents on the desk. It is the one step of the whole process that cannot be done from a laptop, so we built the process around doing it once and doing it right.
Before you fly
- Your ITIN is filed and your company is formed in the right state, with its EIN and a real business address.
- Your documentation packet is prepared: your entry record and the papers banks ask for before a private-client conversation.
- Your credit profile is already building.
- We introduce you to your bankers about a month before you fly, so your file is on their desk before you sit down.
The trip is the peak, not the work. Most of the work happens before the flight, and the client portal tracks every step of it.
Day one: our office and local identification
You start at our office in Miami. Local identification is sorted on day one, so on day two you are not putting only a foreign passport in front of a banker. The checklist you have been working through in the portal becomes a folder of documents in the right order.
Day two: the bankers
Day two is the banking day. You meet the relationship bankers we introduced you to and open personal and business accounts across multiple institutions, with private-client status where the deposit supports it. Jack, from Australia: "Today I spent six, seven hours in banks, but now I have three banking relationships with three of the most powerful institutions in the world."
The GTM agency co-founder from Cyprus, on Chase: "Chase, you went there with me, you knew the banker… made me a private client." And the e-commerce founder from Latvia, on walking in prepared: "I just came to the bank, I had all the documents, and she's saying, 'You are prepared.'"
Day three: confirmations
Day three closes the loop: final confirmations with the banks, anything that needs a second signature, and the plan for the credit applications that follow.
After the trip
With the accounts open and the relationships in place, the credit profile is built in the right order and the card applications are sequenced bank by bank. Richard, a UK software founder, was approved for a $150,000 Chase credit line the day after his trip. Kevin, from Italy, had his Sapphire Reserve about three weeks after his first call. Both are individual results, shared with permission, not a promise of yours; the limit is always the bank's decision.
The approval is what we guarantee. The trip, an active business and funding your own accounts are conditions of that guarantee, among others set out in the client agreement. This guide describes how the US system works for non-US founders and how we build within it. It is not tax, legal or immigration advice; your CPA or attorney answers those questions for your situation.