Stripe is one of the most popular payment processing services for online businesses. It accepts cards, handles payouts, and integrates with virtually every major platform. Like many US financial institutions, though, the address requirements can get confusing.
This guide explains exactly what type of address Stripe requires, and how non-US LLC owners can avoid rejection.
Opening a Stripe Account Outside the US
For non-residents who prefer to process payments through a US LLC, here’s what the company says about opening a Stripe account in another country:
To open a Stripe account in a country different from your primary business country, you need a legal entity, tax ID, physical location, phone number, government-issued ID, working website, and physical bank account in that country.
(Note that Stripe requires unregistered businesses to have at least one owner or representative physically located in the US. In practice, this makes it impossible for non-resident sole proprietors to open a US Stripe account without an LLC.)
When it comes to a “physical location,” Stripe only specifies that it must be a “physical location in that country where you can receive mail, not a P.O. box.”
Internet forums—including Stripe’s own support page and chatbot—provide contradictory answers on what constitutes an acceptable address. The truth depends on how, exactly, you intend to use Stripe’s service.
Stripe Payments Address Requirements
Stripe Payments is the company’s core product. This allows payments from your customers using cards, bank transfers, digital wallets, and more—over 125 payment methods in total.
For a US Stripe account used only for standard payment processing, you can use a virtual address as your business address. It does not need to be a physical address where you personally work or reside.
The requirement is:
- The address must be a US address (not international)
- It cannot be a PO Box
While a physical office address is the strongest option, virtual addresses obtained through Stripe Atlas (the company’s in-house LLC formation service) and other providers should work for opening US Stripe accounts.
The confusion comes from the fact that address requirements for other Stripe-provided services are much stricter, which we discuss in the next section.
Stripe Treasury and Issuing Address Requirements
Stripe Treasury is a service that lets you hold, manage, and move money using your Stripe account. It includes features like balance management, inbound/outbound transfers, and money movement between accounts. Stripe Issuing is Stripe’s company card product. It lets you create, manage, and distribute payment cards (physical or virtual) to your users, employees, or customers. Opal is a money management account with features such as money storage, ACH and wire transfers, and bill payments.
Address requirements for enabling Treasury, Issuing, and Opal features are much more stringent than Stripe Payments. Those specific products require a physical address that is not a virtual address service, mailbox service, or registered agent address.
This means Stripe Atlas and other address providers will not work for Stripe’s more advanced features. Additionally, Stripe says that it uses a “proprietary list of addresses associated with registered agents, mailbox services and virtual address services” to flag violators.
Proof of Address
For proof of business address verification, Stripe accepts the following documents (must include either your business name or the account owner’s name):
- Rental or lease agreement with signatures from both the owner/landlord and the tenant
- Utility bills (water, electricity, gas, internet)
- Tax returns (federal or state)
- Articles of Incorporation or other government-issued business documents
Document requirements:
- Must include either the name of your business or the name of the owner of the Stripe account
- Must include your business address
- Must be clear and large enough to read
- Must be complete (if information spans multiple pages, upload a PDF containing all relevant pages)
- Can be uploaded in .pdf format
- For rental/lease agreements: must include signatures from both parties
At Nomadpreneur, our virtual office lease service is built for exactly this use case. Our addresses are backed by a signed commercial lease agreement you can upload directly to Stripe.
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Remember that Stripe can request re-verification of your business address at any point. When it does, it will ask for documents that prove your business operates from that location. A CMRA address cannot produce those documents, which means an account that passed initial verification can be restricted or closed during a subsequent compliance review.
If you receive a re-verification request from Stripe, respond promptly. Stripe typically provides a response window of 30 days. Non-response results in account restriction.
Summary
Stripe’s address requirements aren’t one-size-fits-all—they depend on which product you’re using.
For standard Stripe Payments (accepting card and bank payments), a US virtual business address works fine, as long as it’s a real US street address and not a PO Box. This means services like Stripe Atlas or a virtual office lease can satisfy the requirement.
Stripe Treasury, Issuing, and Opal, however, are a different story. These money-movement and card-issuance features require a genuine physical address. Stripe explicitly excludes virtual offices, mailbox services, and registered agent addresses, and actively screens against known lists of these providers.
Whichever address you use, be ready to back it up. Stripe accepts documents like signed lease agreements, utility bills, tax returns, or formation documents as proof-of-address. A CMRA (commercial mail receiving agency) address typically can’t produce this kind of proof, which is why accounts built on one can pass initial checks but get flagged or restricted later. If Stripe requests re-verification, respond within its 30-day window, or risk having the account restricted.