Start a US LLC from Colombia — The 2026 Non-Resident Path

You can form a US LLC from Bogotá or Medellín without ever boarding a plane. The legal layer is settled — Florida's LLC statute imposes no citizenship or residency test Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act, and federal tax law treats non-resident aliens as ordinary owners of US business entities IRS Publication 519 — U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens. What trips Colombian founders up is the operational layer: a Miami street address that Sunbiz, the IRS, and US online banks each accept, plus the Colombian-side reporting through DIAN and the cambiario regime that most US-focused guides quietly ignore.

The work splits into two halves. The US half is a sequence: Florida articles of organization, then EIN via Form SS-4, then USPS Form 1583 notarized with your Colombian passport, then an online bank account. The Colombian half runs in parallel: declare the foreign investment to Banco de la República Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior), report foreign accounts to DIAN DIAN — Régimen cambiario (inversión extranjera, Colombia), and decide whether you also need a US ITIN IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) Program. Skip either half and the structure stalls — usually at the bank.

What changes for a Colombian founder vs. a local?

Three things change, and none of them is the LLC itself. Florida Chapter 605 governs the entity identically for a resident of Miami and a resident of Bogotá — same articles, same operating agreement, same annual report Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. What changes is the documentation chain that proves who you are and where you live.

A US resident hands the IRS a Social Security Number on the SS-4 application; you cannot. The IRS handles this by allowing the responsible-party field to be completed with the foreign passport details and a written "Foreign" entry where the SSN line sits IRS Form SS-4 Instructions — Application for Employer Identification Number. The published path for non-resident applicants is to fax or mail the SS-4 to the international EIN unit and wait four to eight weeks for the CP 575 confirmation letter IRS — How to Apply for an EIN (international applicants).

A US resident hands USPS a US-issued driver's license to notarize Form 1583; you hand them a Colombian passport — which is acceptable, provided the notary is licensed in the United States, the passport is presented in person or through a recognized remote online notarization service, and a second form of ID accompanies it USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. The notary requirement is non-waivable; a Colombian notario público cannot satisfy it, even with an apostille from the Cancillería Cancillería Colombia — Apostilla y Legalización en Línea.

A US resident does not file anything with DIAN about owning a US company; you do. Under Colombia's cambiario regime, the inversión colombiana en el exterior — the capital you contribute to your US LLC — must be registered with Banco de la República through Circular Reglamentaria DCIN-83 Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior). Foreign accounts holding the proceeds must be reported to DIAN on the annual return when balances cross the statutory thresholds DIAN — Régimen cambiario (inversión extranjera, Colombia).

How to sequence the US side, step by step

Run the US gates in this order and you will not need to backtrack.

1. File the articles of organization with Sunbiz. Florida's Division of Corporations accepts online filings through the Sunbiz portal; the Florida LLC Act sets the content requirements at member-managed or manager-managed, registered agent with a Florida street address, and a principal office address that becomes publicly searchable Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. The address you list is the one the world sees. Do not list your Bogotá apartment unless you are comfortable with that address appearing on every Sunbiz search of your company name.

2. Request the EIN from the IRS via Form SS-4. Fax the completed form to the international EIN unit in Philadelphia; the published response window is four to eight weeks IRS — How to Apply for an EIN (international applicants). Online EIN issuance requires a US SSN or ITIN for the responsible party, which most Colombian founders do not have on day one — so the fax route is the default IRS Form SS-4 Instructions — Application for Employer Identification Number.

3. Notarize Form 1583 with a US-commissioned notary. USPS will not activate a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency forwarding service for your LLC's address until the executed 1583 is on file USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. Remote online notarization platforms accept Colombian passports as primary photo ID when paired with a second identifying document; the cite for the form fields and acceptable ID list is in the USPS instructions themselves USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent.

4. Apply to an online bank for non-residents. The eligible online banks publish their own acceptance criteria — the consistent 2026 filters are CMRA classification of the address, beneficial-ownership disclosure under FinCEN's Corporate Transparency Act 31 USC §5336 — Corporate Transparency Act (Beneficial Ownership Reporting), and a W-8BEN-E from the LLC certifying foreign beneficial ownership IRS Form W-8BEN-E — Certificate of Status of Beneficial Owner (foreign entities). Brand selection is yours; the gating logic is the same across the category.

Each step depends on the prior one. The bank needs the EIN; the EIN application needs the LLC; the LLC's principal-office field needs a real address you control.

How to clear the Colombian-side reporting

Colombia is one of a handful of Latin American jurisdictions that actively regulates outbound investment under a cambiario regime, and that regulation does not pause because the destination entity is a single-member LLC.

The capital you wire to fund your US LLC is treated as an inversión colombiana en el exterior and must be registered with Banco de la República through one of the channels in Circular Reglamentaria DCIN-83 Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior). The registration is not a tax — it is a reporting obligation that becomes the basis for repatriating dividends, capital, or proceeds back through the Colombian financial system later. Skip the registration and the repatriation later becomes a separate compliance project.

Once the US LLC has a bank account in your name, DIAN expects the account on your annual personal return when balances exceed the thresholds the agency publishes each year for foreign accounts and assets DIAN — Régimen cambiario (inversión extranjera, Colombia). The DIAN guidance is independent of whether the LLC has US tax liability — it is about your Colombian-side disclosure of foreign assets and accounts.

If the LLC will receive US-source income crossing the threshold for IRS information returns, you may also want an ITIN under the IRS's CAA program for personal returns or treaty claims IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) Program. The CAA path lets a Certified Acceptance Agent verify your Colombian passport without mailing the original to the IRS — the friction that stops most non-resident applicants IRS ITIN FAQ — Acceptance Agents for Non-Residents.

For the full mechanics of the address gate that sits at the center of every step above, see our non-resident LLC guide — it explains what counts as a verifiable Miami commercial address and why CMRA classification matters at the bank.

Common errors that send the application back

Three errors account for most of the rejections we see from Colombian founders.

Using a residential Colombian address on the SS-4. The IRS accepts a foreign mailing address on the responsible-party block, but the entity itself needs a US address that matches the Sunbiz principal-office filing IRS Form SS-4 Instructions — Application for Employer Identification Number. Mismatched addresses across the SS-4, the Sunbiz filing, and the Form 1583 generate downstream issues at the bank.

Treating the Colombian apostille as a substitute for US notarization. The apostille from the Cancillería certifies the foreign-public-document chain for use abroad Cancillería Colombia — Apostilla y Legalización en Línea — it does not give a Colombian notario the authority to notarize a USPS Form 1583, which requires a notary commissioned by a US state USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. The two procedures answer different legal questions.

Skipping the cambiario registration on the funding wire. The wire goes through the Colombian banking system, where the obligation attaches — the bank reports the outbound flow regardless Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior). Registering at the time of the wire is the cheap path; reconstructing two years later when you want to repatriate is the expensive one.

Summary

A Colombian founder can form a US LLC, get an EIN, and open a US online bank account without traveling — the legal layer is settled and the operational layer is a sequence, not a maze. The piece that distinguishes the Colombian path from the generic non-resident path is the cambiario regime: register the outbound investment with Banco de la República through DCIN-83 Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior), report foreign accounts to DIAN when balances cross the thresholds DIAN — Régimen cambiario (inversión extranjera, Colombia), and decide whether you want an ITIN through the IRS's Acceptance Agent program IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) Program.

FAQ

Do I need to travel to the US to form a Florida LLC as a Colombian founder?

No. The Florida LLC Act does not require members, managers, or organizers to be physically present in the state Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act, and the IRS issues EINs to non-resident applicants by fax through its international EIN unit IRS — How to Apply for an EIN (international applicants). The notarization of Form 1583 is satisfied by a US-commissioned notary, which most founders complete remotely through an online notarization platform USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent.

Can I use my Colombian passport instead of an SSN to get an EIN?

Yes, on the SS-4 application the responsible-party line accepts the entry "Foreign" in the SSN field, with the passport details provided in the supporting documentation IRS Form SS-4 Instructions — Application for Employer Identification Number. The fax route to the IRS international EIN unit is the published path for non-resident applicants without an SSN or ITIN IRS — How to Apply for an EIN (international applicants).

Do I have to declare my US LLC to DIAN or Banco de la República?

Yes — both. The capital contributed to the LLC is an inversión colombiana en el exterior that must be registered with Banco de la República under Circular DCIN-83 Banco de la República — Circular DCIN-83 (inversión colombiana en el exterior), and foreign accounts holding the LLC's funds must be reported to DIAN on the annual return when balances exceed the published thresholds DIAN — Régimen cambiario (inversión extranjera, Colombia).

Will an apostille from the Cancillería work for the Form 1583 notarization?

No. The Cancillería apostille certifies Colombian public documents for use abroad Cancillería Colombia — Apostilla y Legalización en Línea — it does not grant a Colombian notary authority to execute a USPS form that requires a US-commissioned notary USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. The two procedures cover different acts.

Do I need an ITIN to file US taxes for the LLC?

Sometimes. A single-member LLC with no US-effectively-connected income may not generate a personal US filing obligation for you, but if it does, the IRS's Certified Acceptance Agent program is the path most non-resident owners use to obtain an ITIN without mailing their original passport to Austin IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) Program IRS ITIN FAQ — Acceptance Agents for Non-Residents.

Need a Miami address?

If you want a verifiable Miami commercial address that USPS accepts on Form 1583, the IRS accepts on your SS-4, and online banks for non-residents accept on your LLC application, our Brickell suite is set up for exactly this path — see the pricing page for the three plans or contact us by WhatsApp or email and we will walk through your sequence before you file anything.

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Last updated: May 2026