Originally Posted by hfly

A SSN is NOT a legal requirement for opening a bank account in the US. A taxpayer ID number is required as stated above, however for a variety of reasons this may be different for even a US citizen, not just a foreign national. Obtaining one takes all of five minutes from a SS office and are not a problem. Many bank workers just do not want the hassle of dealing with foreigners as they just do not know how, on the other hand many will accept a new account being opened with 000-00-0000 in the SSN box.