How to handle the odd transaction in USD, despite only having a GBP bank account

[Jean-David Beyer]

On 03/11/2017 05:20 PM, Mark Robinson wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 2:10 PM, Jean-David Beyer
> <jeandavid8 at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> In USA, due to fear of money laundering and other political nonsense,
>> you cannot open a bank account at a US bank unless you are a legal
>> resident of the state in question and can prove it with photo ID issued
>> by a government agency
> 
> That's not true.  You can open a bank account at a real bank (not a
> credit union) with just a passport.  In fact, there are banks which
> specialize in opening accounts for people who are not in the US at
> all.  The requirement is that they "Know your customer", so they have
> to know who you are, what you do, etc but as long as they can satisfy
> themselves you are who you say you are then they'll open an account
> for you.
> 

Not here in New Jersey. At at least at two banks that I have used.
My sister, who lives in Canada, has business transactions where it would
be a lot easier to write U.S. dollar checks and receive them. She could
not open a bank account in either New York State, or New Jersey. A
passport is valid id but it does not prove state of residence. Actually,
the Social Security Administration does not accept the date of birth
from a US passport. They will accept only a birth certificate for that.

What you say is reasonable, but reasonable is not what low-level
bureaucrats go by. They must satisfy the rules given them by their
supervision, and the supervision is not very reasonable. Every one must
cover his @$$; no thinking allowed.

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