So let me answer the question behind the question first, which I take to be "I don't live in the US, but would like a US bank account": http://www.kalzumeus.co

So let me answer the question behind the question first, which I take to be "I don't live in the US, but would like a US bank account": http://www.kalzumeus.com/2007/08/15/banking-for-the-uisv/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2007/08/15/banking-for-the-uisv/ Now to answer the question you asked: I have lived in Japan for my entire adult life, but prior to that I grew up in the United States. I routinely use my former address, which my parents still live at, for business purposes. Even if it weren't trivial for me to open accounts online, I would still have accounts in good standing from e.g. my college student days, which are sufficient to bootstrap me into a customer relationship at any US bank.