How to open US or UK Stripe account as an international entrepreneur in 2024

Ryan Patrick

• 4 min read

Are you trying to create Stripe account from a Stripe unsupported country? Incorpuk can help you get started. We are a one stop platform for founders from any country.  Start your UK Company

What is Stripe?

Stripe is an excellent choice for international founders who have an e-commerce sales channel and need a technology-first payment gateway with strong security. This payment processing platform also supports a variety of currencies, and using this payment method for your company has several advantages.

Why should you create a UK or US Stripe account even if you are residing in an unsupported Country?

Stripe is well-known for its quick and secure payment processing. Furthermore, because of its ease of integration and usability, many business owners and developers worldwide find it simple to work with Stripe's platform. The system's interface is intuitive and extremely easy to use, which saves much time when navigating and entering data.

Stripe also powers the world leading ecommerce and SaaS platforms. This means that if you truly want to scale your business global, you should definitely use Stripe to power your business. Stripe will not only help you unlock international customers, it will also help you built trust.

Requirements to create a US or UK Stripe account

Since we only incorporate UK companies for foreign founders, we have listed the requirements to create a UK stripe account below. These requirements is the same to set up a US Stripe account. The only difference is that you will have to incorporate a US entity instead of a UK entity.

Requirements for UK Stripe Account

  1. UK Company Incorporation (provided by Incorpuk)
  2. UK Registered office address (provided by Incorpuk)
  3. Phone number from the UK (Incorpuk can help)
  4. Proof of  ID from any country (from your country)
  5. Proof of Address from any country you are residing

Is there a difference between the UK and US stripe accounts?

In reality, there is no difference between US or UK stripe accounts. Stripe is the same for every country Stripe supports. The only thing that could be different is your company’s country of incorporation.

What countries are currently supported?

Stripe currently supports many countries across the world you can see the current list here https://stripe.com/global

If I am from a Stripe unsupported Country how do I get accepted?

The solution is to incorporate your company in a Stripe supported country.

We at incorpuk can help you with the following:

  • Incorporate your startup in the UK
  • Assist you with UK business bank account setup
  • We can help you with a UK phone number
  • Provide you guidelines for Stripe account setup

As long as you have a Government issued ID card from your country of citizenship and you have proof of address from wherever you currently reside we can help.

What currencies will Stripe pay my fund in?

Irrespective of where you incorporate your company, Stripe can send your payouts to any currency account they support as long as the current account is from one of their supported countries.

https://stripe.com/docs/payouts#supported-accounts-and-settlement-currencies

Does it mean I can use a  UK company on Stripe and use any Stripe supported currency for payouts?

Yes, it means you can open a UK company and use either GBP, USD, Australian Dollar or Euro domiciled account for receiving stripe payouts.

Do I need a website to get accepted by Stripe?

Yes, you need a working website when you create a Stripe account to get accepted. Stripe wants to know what kind of products or services you sell.

https://support.stripe.com/questions/do-i-need-a-website-to-use-stripe

Do I need a VPN while setting up a Stripe account?

You do not need a VPN to set up a Stripe account if you have the details we mentioned above. Stripe 100% support this system.

Do I need to be a US or UK resident to open a Stripe account?

As confirmed by Stripe, you do not need to be a resident of a Stripe-supported country to open a Stripe account.

This is what Stripe has confirmed

As quoted by Stripe:

To open a Stripe account in a country different than your primary business country, you will first need to make sure that Stripe supports processing payments in that country. You can see which countries Stripe currently supports here: https://stripe.com/global

Once you have determined that the country is supported by Stripe and are ready to open a new account, you will need the following:

  • For Stripe business accounts: a legal entity registered in the same country for which you plan to open the account
  • A tax ID in that country
  • A physical location in that country at which you can receive mail (cannot be a P.O. box)
  • A phone number in that country
  • A government-issued ID, such as a passport or driver’s license, from any country
  • A working website that shows what your business sells or what services you provide.
  • A physical bank account in that country (cannot be a virtual bank account), is denominated in a supported transfer currency for that country.

https://support.stripe.com/questions/requirements-to-open-a-stripe-account-in-another-country

How can Incorpuk Help?

The UK is widely regarded as the financial capital of the world. All major fintech startups either started in the UK or started overseas and quickly set up a major branch or headquarter in the UK.

Incorpuk has been helping international founders take their business global through company incorporation in the UK, business bank account setup, and Stripe account setup support for the past 3 years. Incorpuk is the right partner to help you gain access to global financial services like Stripe.