Counsellor, this is exactly my gripe. It's not that they can't (or won't) open accounts for non-US residents; they just decided to stop awarding referal bonuses, which I think is bait and switch, considering that last year they went out of their way to tell me I would be able to earn up to 50k Mileage Pl.us miles per year refering people.

And other brokerages don't seem to impose this silly restriction, except in the case of physically shipping the bonus (e.g., Citi f/i with their offer of a Mindspring Visor).

Time to clear out my e*trade accounts and move on with life...