A Passport Number Is Enough - the Rule Says So in Terms
The federal rule that makes banks ask for identification also settles what a foreigner may offer. Before opening an account a bank must obtain a name, a date of birth, an address and an identification number - and for a person who is not a United States person, the rule accepts a taxpayer identification number, or a passport number with the country of issuance, or an alien identification card number, or the number and country of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph. A social security number is one option among several and is nowhere required. The address may be the street address of next of kin or another contact for someone with no residential or business address of their own.
At a glance
- A social security number
- Not required - it is one of several options
31 CFR 1020.220(a)(2)(i)(A)(4)(ii) lists the alternatives for a non-U.S. person.
- Passport
- Accepted, with the country of issuance
- Alien identification card
- Accepted
- Any other government document
- Accepted if it evidences nationality or residence and bears a photograph
- No address of your own
- The street address of next of kin or another contact may be used
Requirements
- A name, a date of birth and an address
- One of the identification numbers the rule lists, of which a passport number is one
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«the bank must obtain, at a minimum, the following information from the customer prior to opening an account: ( 1 ) Name; ( 2 ) Date of birth, for an individual; ( 3 ) Address, which shall be: ( i ) For an individual, a residential or business street address; ( ii ) For an individual who does not have a residential or business street address, an Army Post Office (APO) or Fleet Post Office (FPO) box number, or the residential or business street address of next of kin or of another contact individual; or ( iii ) For a person other than an individual (such as a corporation, partnership, or trust), a principal place of business, local office, or other physical location; and ( 4 ) Identification number, which shall be: ( i ) For a U.S. person, a taxpayer identification number; or ( ii ) For a non-U.S. person, one or more of the following: A taxpayer identification number; passport number and country of issuance; alien identification card number; or number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard.»The minimum information and the list of what a non-U.S. person may give as an identification number. The alternatives are the point: the rule never asks for a social security number.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The continuously updated edition of the federal regulations, with an API that renders a single section as HTML at an address naming the title, part and section. Each page states the date the text is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition: the annual Code of Federal Regulations and the daily Federal Register are. A regulation says nothing about the statute's own exceptions, and most of what a reader wants from federal immigration practice is in neither - it is in agency manuals and in state law.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This is the federal floor. A bank may ask for more as a matter of its own policy, and many do; the rule sets what it must obtain, not what it may.
Verification is a separate paragraph of the same rule and may be done through documents or other means, which is where practice varies most.
- consolidates31 CFR 1020.220, customer identification program for banks
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Office of the Federal Register
About this source
The continuously updated edition of the federal regulations, with an API that renders a single section as HTML at an address naming the title, part and section. Each page states the date the text is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition: the annual Code of Federal Regulations and the daily Federal Register are. A regulation says nothing about the statute's own exceptions, and most of what a reader wants from federal immigration practice is in neither - it is in agency manuals and in state law.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source