Why do banks refuse to open accounts to foreigners or people with temporal residence permits?
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In the US, the Patriot Act requires banks to verify the identity of accountholders. Easy enough to do for those holding official US or US state IDs (like passports and drivers licenses) and a social security number, but more difficult to do when the ID is issued by another country. That said, plenty of US banks will go through the verification process for foreign documents as long as there’s also a social security number or an individual taxpayer identification number provided as well, and a US address. They generally won’t do this online though – you have to go to a branch, and sometimes you have to go to a particular branch. In other words, it’s usually less streamlined for a foreigner to open an account at a US bank, but generally doable if you have a few key pieces of information and ID.
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