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

Can a Mexican founder open a US LLC and a US online bank account without flying to Miami? Yes — the legal layer is settled. Federal tax law treats non-resident aliens as ordinary owners of US business entities IRS Publication 519 — U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, and Florida's LLC statute imposes no citizenship or residency test Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. The operational layer is where most attempts stall: a Miami street address Sunbiz, the IRS, and online banks all accept, plus the Mexican-side residencia-fiscal analysis that decides whether the LLC's income flows back to the SAT.

"LLC Miami" is one of the most-searched business terms in Mexico because the demand is concrete — USD invoicing, a US bank relationship, and limited-liability separation from a Mexican personal balance sheet. The path has four US gates and one Mexican gate, sequenced together. Skip the Mexican-side analysis and you discover, two years in, that the SAT considers the LLC a tax resident of Mexico because management sits in Polanco Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México). Skip the US-side notarization and the bank application stalls until you fix it USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent.

What changes for a Mexican 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 Guadalajara — same articles, same operating agreement, same annual report Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. What changes is the identity chain that proves who you are, where you live, and which country claims your tax residency.

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

A US resident hands USPS a US-issued ID to notarize Form 1583; you hand a Mexican passport. That is acceptable, provided the notary is commissioned by a US state, the passport is presented in person or through a recognized 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 Mexican notario público cannot satisfy it, even with an SRE apostille SRE México — Apostilla de documentos públicos.

A US resident does not need to ask whether their personal tax residency follows the LLC; you do. Article 9 of the Código Fiscal de la Federación defines Mexican tax residency by reference to your habitual home, your center of vital interests, and — for entities — the place of effective management Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México). A single-member LLC you run from a kitchen in Mexico City can be treated by the SAT as a Mexican tax resident regardless of its Florida incorporation. The exposure is separate from the US side and does not disappear because the entity is registered abroad SAT México — Residencia fiscal de personas físicas (guía Art. 9 CFF).

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; Chapter 605 sets the content at member-managed or manager-managed, a registered agent with a Florida street address, and a publicly searchable principal-office address Florida Statutes Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act. The address you list is the one the world sees — do not list your CDMX apartment if you do not want it surfacing in every Sunbiz search.

2. Request the EIN from the IRS via Form SS-4. Fax the form to the international EIN unit; the published window is four to eight weeks IRS — How to Apply for an EIN (international applicants). Online issuance requires a US SSN or ITIN for the responsible party, which most Mexican founders lack on day one — fax is the default IRS Form SS-4 Instructions — Application for Employer Identification Number. The CP 575 letter is what every bank asks for before opening the account.

3. Notarize Form 1583 with a US-commissioned notary. USPS will not activate CMRA forwarding for your LLC's address until the executed Form 1583 is on file USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. Online notarization platforms accept Mexican passports as primary photo ID with a second identifying document; the form fields and acceptable-ID list are 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 handle the Mexican-side residencia-fiscal question

Mexico's tax authority does not relinquish you because you incorporated abroad. Article 9 CFF treats you as a Mexican tax resident if your home is in Mexico, with carve-outs and tests that turn on where your center of vital interests sits and where you spend most of the year Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México).

For the LLC itself, the SAT's analysis is about effective management. A single-member LLC with no US employees and all decisions made from CDMX or Monterrey can be treated as a Mexican tax resident by the SAT regardless of where it filed its articles SAT México — Residencia fiscal de personas físicas (guía Art. 9 CFF). The consequence is that the LLC's worldwide income may be reportable in Mexico, not just its US-source income on the US side.

This is not a reason to avoid forming the LLC — it is a reason to plan the structure with a Mexican tax professional before you file the articles. The two common positions are (a) the LLC is a US tax resident with US-source income only and the founder reports distributions on Mexican personal returns, or (b) the LLC is treated as effectively managed from Mexico and the SAT path is more involved. The correct position depends on facts that vary by founder.

If the LLC will receive US-source income triggering IRS information returns, an ITIN obtained through the IRS's Certified Acceptance Agent program is the cleanest way to file your US returns or treaty claims without mailing your original passport to Austin IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) Program IRS ITIN FAQ — Acceptance Agents for Non-Residents.

For the address gate at the center of every step above, see our non-resident LLC guide — it covers what counts as a verifiable Miami 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 Mexican founders.

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

Treating the SRE apostille as a substitute for US notarization. The apostille certifies the Mexican-public-document chain for use abroad SRE México — Apostilla de documentos públicos — it does not give a Mexican notario authority to notarize a USPS form requiring a US-commissioned notary USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent. Two different procedures.

Ignoring the SAT residencia-fiscal question. Forming in Florida does not move your personal tax residency out of Mexico, and does not automatically move the LLC's tax residency to the US either — Article 9 CFF turns on facts about where you live and where the entity is effectively managed Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México). Handling it at formation is cheap; after an audit, expensive.

Summary

A Mexican founder can form a US LLC, obtain an EIN, and open a US online bank account without traveling — the legal layer is settled and the operational layer is a sequence. The piece that distinguishes the Mexican path from the generic non-resident path is the SAT residencia-fiscal analysis under Article 9 CFF Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México): plan the structure with a Mexican tax professional before you file articles in Sunbiz, and the rest of the sequence — EIN, Form 1583, online bank — runs cleanly through the same US gates every non-resident faces.

FAQ

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

No. The Florida LLC Act does not require members, managers, or organizers to be physically present 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). Form 1583 notarization is satisfied by a US-commissioned notary, completed remotely through an online platform USPS Form 1583 — Application for Delivery of Mail Through Agent.

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

Yes. On the SS-4 the responsible-party line accepts the entry "Foreign" in the SSN field, with the passport details 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).

Does forming a US LLC move my tax residency to the United States?

No. Mexican tax residency under Article 9 CFF turns on where your habitual home is and where your center of vital interests sits — not on where you incorporated an entity Código Fiscal de la Federación (CFF) — Art. 9 (residencia fiscal en México). The LLC itself can also be treated as a Mexican tax resident by the SAT if it is effectively managed from Mexico, which is a separate analysis that should happen with a Mexican tax professional before formation SAT México — Residencia fiscal de personas físicas (guía Art. 9 CFF).

Will an SRE apostille work for the Form 1583 notarization?

No. The SRE apostille certifies Mexican public documents for use abroad SRE México — Apostilla de documentos públicos — it does not grant a Mexican notario the 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 answer different legal questions.

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 the 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, our Brickell suite is set up for this path — see the pricing page or contact us by WhatsApp or email and we will walk through your sequence before you file.

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Last updated: May 2026