A non-resident can form a New Mexico anonymous LLC without ever entering the US, get an EIN without an SSN, and open a Mercury or Relay account remotely. The one tradeoff is that New Mexico bank onboarding is harder than Wyoming, so we plan the banking before you file.
By Fozlol Hoq, Banking & Financial Setup Specialist, Anonymousllc.co
Updated July 2026
Yes. New Mexico places no residency or citizenship requirement on LLC ownership, so a founder anywhere in the world can own a New Mexico LLC outright. You never need a US address of your own, a US visit, or a US visa. Your registered agent supplies the required New Mexico address.
New Mexico is the cheapest US anonymous LLC at $347 total ($297 + $50 state), with no annual report and no annual state fee. For a non-resident who wants a US entity at the lowest lifetime cost, it is the leading option, provided you accept the tighter banking that comes with it.
You apply on Form SS-4 and leave the SSN and ITIN fields blank, writing 'Foreign' where the form asks for a taxpayer identification number. A non-resident responsible party cannot use the online EIN tool, so the application goes to the IRS by fax or mail instead.
Fax is the practical route. We prepare and submit the SS-4 by fax on your behalf, and the IRS returns the EIN in about five to seven business days, versus several weeks by mail. You do not need an SSN, an ITIN, or a US presence to get the number. Our EIN service handles the filing end to end.
Harder than Wyoming, but very achievable through fintechs. Traditional US banks want the owner to appear in a branch, which a non-resident cannot do, and New Mexico entities draw slightly more compliance scrutiny than Wyoming ones. The reliable path is remote-friendly fintechs that onboard non-resident-owned LLCs by passport and EIN.
| Provider | Non-resident owners | US visit needed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Yes | No | Primary account, startups and SaaS |
| Relay | Yes | No | Backup account, multi-account budgeting |
| Traditional US bank | Rarely remote | Yes | Owners who can visit a branch |
We apply to Mercury and Relay together so a decline at one does not leave you unbanked, and we position the New Mexico entity to clear the review.
New Mexico entities carry a heavier risk perception in fintech compliance models, so applications get a closer look. The state's strong anonymity and low cost also make it popular with high-risk registrants, which trains automated screening to scrutinize New Mexico LLCs more than Wyoming ones. The same owner and documents clear faster with a Wyoming entity.
The gap is friction, not a wall. A clean application with a real business purpose, a consistent address, and complete documents gets New Mexico non-residents approved. If banking speed is your top concern, Wyoming at $397 all-in is the smoother route.
Every US bank verifies the beneficial owners regardless of your state-level anonymity. Under the Bank Secrecy Act and the Customer Identification Program (31 CFR 1010.230), the bank must collect and verify the identity of anyone who owns 25% or more of the LLC, so your passport, EIN, and ownership details go on file.
Anonymity does not conflict with this. New Mexico keeps your name off the public record, but the bank privately identifies you as the law requires and simply does not publish it. Any provider claiming to bank a truly nameless owner is either misdescribing the account or is not a real US bank.
A complete packet, which is what turns a harder application into an approval. Have these ready before you apply:
We assemble this packet during formation so nothing is missing when the bank reviews it. Incomplete applications are the most common reason a non-resident approval stalls.
Frequently no US income tax is due, but the filings still apply. A non-resident running the LLC entirely from abroad with no US employees or office frequently has no US-source income, though a US tax professional should confirm your specific position. New Mexico taxes only New Mexico-source income, so out-of-state revenue is not taxed at the state level.
What is mandatory is the paperwork. A foreign-owned single-member LLC must file Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 each year, with a $25,000 penalty for missing it. Our New Mexico tax guide covers the federal and state picture in full.
Formation to funded bank account runs about three to four weeks for a non-resident. The New Mexico filing and documents take 5 to 10 business days, the fax-filed EIN follows in about five to seven business days, and bank onboarding runs 8 to 10 days after the EIN is issued.
The EIN is the gating step, because no US bank will onboard the LLC without it. We start the SS-4 fax the moment the Articles are stamped so the EIN is moving while the formation paperwork settles, then submit the Mercury and Relay applications together once the number lands. Sequencing the steps this way keeps the total window tight instead of running each stage back to back.
No. You do not need a US address of your own or a US phone number to form the LLC, get the EIN, or open a fintech account. Your registered agent supplies the required New Mexico address, and Mercury and Relay accept a non-US phone number and your home-country residential address on the application.
What you should not do is invent a US address you have no real connection to. Fintech screening cross-checks the address you give against the entity records, and a mismatch or a known virtual-mailbox address raises a flag that slows or sinks the application. A consistent, truthful home-country address is what clears the review.
The three failure points for a non-resident are an EIN rejection, a bank decline, and a missed Form 5472. Each is preventable with the right handling. A rejected SS-4 comes from a wrong responsible-party entry or an incomplete form; we prepare it so line 7b reads Foreign and the entity details match the Articles exactly.
We manage all four points as part of the formation, which is why a New Mexico non-resident setup that looks harder on paper clears reliably in practice.
Personal reply, not a script. Formation from $347 total, Wyoming $397 all-in.
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