Documentation requirement for foreign individual

Shopify Discussion
1

Hello,

I recently set up my Shopify store and received my first order. I received an email requesting for document from me.
I used to live in the US for 17 years but recently moved away from US. I still have SSN but am not a citizen or resident anymore.

However, I still have a valid SSN but no valid US ID anymore.

My question is can I just submit my SSN and continue with my Shopify store? Or what should I do?

Thanks

2

Hi @ccchuang5

Congratulations on making your first sale! That’s a big milestone for any new store and something to be proud of.

I understand that your account is under review and that there is a request for some additional information about your business. The first thing I want to note is that this is totally normal and the main purpose is to ensure that the payment gateway you are using is suitable for your business needs.

If you are seeing a prompt in your store admin to submit documentation, then you are most likely using Shopify Payments as your payment gateway. Is your store’s address located in the USA or another country? If it is located in the USA (or a country you yourself do not live in) you will be asked to provide some documents to confirm your US business presence.

Assuming that your store has Shopify Payments for the USA enabled on it, I’ll include below the information that is required for a business to be considered for using Shopify Payments. Please note that this decision is handled by a team separate from my own and that providing this documentation to them does not guarantee that you will be considered eligible for Shopify Payments.

  • Government issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, etc. - non-US ID may be accepted)
  • A Tax ID in the United States: EIN if the merchant is LLC/Corp or SSN if merchant is Sole Proprietor
  • Business registration document (Registered in the US with the government)
  • Proof that the business is actually operating from the US. This can include tracking showing they are shipping from the US or proof of a physical US address (not a forwarding address)
  • A USD checking account, opened with a real US banking institution, located on US soil. Virtual banks and currency services will not work for this, it has to be a real US bank

The address you provide in your store admin under Settings > General should be your legally registered business address. If you do not have all the documents available, please submit what you can and provide a note on the reasons why you are unable to submit the rest of the documents. From there, our business operation team will reach out to let you know if there are any other options available for you.

-Shay