Most people searching for how to get an EIN fall into one of two groups, and they need different answers. One group is outside the United States, forming an LLC to invoice American clients, and keeps hitting guidance that assumes a Social Security Number they do not have. The other is already in the US on a sponsored visa, thinking about contracting or a side business, and the EIN is the easy part of a question that is really about immigration law.
This covers both. The mechanics first — four application routes, three of which need no US tax number at all — and then the visa question, because for anyone on an employment-based visa that is the one that actually matters.
The visa question, before anything else
An EIN does not authorise you to work in the United States. The IRS issues tax identifiers; it does not check immigration status and does not care about it. Getting one tells you nothing about whether you are permitted to do the thing you are getting it for.
The restriction runs the other way. Several visa categories limit or prohibit active business management and self-employment. An H-1B, for instance, ties your work authorisation to a specific petitioning employer — which has real consequences for running a company on the side, and those consequences do not disappear because the IRS issued you a number without asking.
So the order is: confirm with a licensed immigration attorney what your category permits, then form the entity, then apply for the EIN. Doing it in the other order creates a paper trail of a company you may not have been permitted to operate. If you are outside the US with no visa in play, skip this and carry on — it does not apply to you.
What an EIN is
A nine-digit federal tax identifier, formatted XX-XXXXXXX, also called a Federal Tax Identification Number or FEIN. It does for a company what a Social Security Number does for a person: the reference on every filing, every wage report, every bank record.
The word "employer" misleads. You need one without having a single employee. Entities that typically require one:
- LLCs, including single-member LLCs owned by non-residents
- Corporations, both C and S
- Partnerships and multi-member LLCs
- Sole proprietors who hire, owe excise tax, or run a retirement plan
- Trusts, estates, non-profits
- Foreign entities with US tax obligations
Without one you cannot open a US business bank account, run payroll, or file most business returns.
Why it carries more weight than it did
Banks look harder. Expanded anti-money-laundering and beneficial-ownership rules mean account opening involves genuine scrutiny of who controls the entity. An EIN tied to a cleanly formed company with one unambiguous responsible party moves through. Any mismatch between the EIN record and your state formation documents stalls it, and the same record is pulled again when you apply for credit later.
The penalties are disproportionate. A foreign-owned US single-member LLC files Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120, even with no revenue. Missing it costs US$25,000, and a further US$25,000 per related party for each 30-day period once the IRS has issued its 90-day notice. A dormant company with no income carries the same exposure as a trading one.
Visa petitions want it. Investor and entrepreneur routes, the E-2 Treaty Investor category in particular, require evidence that a real compliant US entity exists. Immigration attorneys normally ask for the EIN confirmation early.
The four routes
The online application is instant, and the only one with a personal tax-number requirement. It is also the only one gated on geography — see below, because that gate catches more people than the tax-number one.
Fax takes roughly four business days and needs no US tax number. This is the workhorse for founders abroad.
The international phone line issues the number during the call, and exists only for applicants with no US residence or place of business. If you qualify for it, it is the fastest option available.
Post runs to about four weeks. Choose it only when the other two are genuinely out of reach.
Two things that circulate online are wrong. First, the online tool does not specifically demand an SSN or ITIN: the SS-4 instructions accept "a valid taxpayer identification number (SSN, EIN, or ITIN)", so if you already run one US entity, that entity's EIN qualifies you. Second, and more often missed — the binding restriction on the online route is where the business is, not who you are. Your principal place of business has to sit in the United States or a US territory. No personal tax number gets you past that.
Method 1: Online
The service is not open around the clock. IRS.gov currently lists weekday availability from 6:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. the following morning, Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sundays from 6:00 p.m. until midnight, all Eastern time. If you have read somewhere that it closes at 10 p.m. on weekdays, that figure is years out of date.
Work through it in this order. Locate the real application on IRS.gov — paid imitations rank well in search, and the IRS tells you outright not to pay. Pick your entity type. Work through the questions on structure, state of formation and who the responsible party is. Supply that person's SSN, ITIN or existing EIN. Submit, and the number appears immediately.
Then download the confirmation before you close the tab. Nothing arrives in the post on its own, and people do lose the number at this exact point.
Two limits shape how you should approach it. The session is abandoned after a quarter of an hour of inactivity with no way to pick it up again, and the IRS will not issue more than one EIN to the same responsible party within a single day. Assemble every detail before you open the form rather than looking things up as you go.
Method 2: Fax
The standard route for founders abroad, and entirely routine from the IRS's side. Form SS-4 is a free download.
The fields that cause problems:
- Line 1 — legal name exactly as it appears on the formation certificate. Not the trading name.
- Lines 4a–4b — mailing address. Foreign is fine; a registered agent's US address is fine.
- Line 7a — responsible party, a real individual. The IRS: "the responsible party must be an individual (that is, a natural person), not an entity," unless the applicant is a government body.
- Line 7b — their tax number. None and ineligible for one? Enter "foreign" or "N/A". The instructions say so explicitly. This one line is what makes the route work.
- Line 9a — reason. "Started a new business" or "Banking purpose" cover most situations.
- Line 12 — employees expected in twelve months. 0 if none.
Take the fax number from IRS.gov directly. There is a separate number for applicants outside the US, and the only substantive change in the December 2025 revision of the SS-4 instructions was to relocate the fax numbers and postal addresses — which means any guide written before then may be pointing at a line that no longer answers.
The reply comes back as your own form, stamped, in about four business days. It only comes back if you gave a return fax number, so check that field before sending. That stamped page is your proof of the EIN for years afterwards; treat it as a permanent record.
Method 3: International phone
+1 267-941-1099, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday. Not toll-free.
This channel is open only to people with no legal residence and no principal place of business in the United States. The asymmetry is deliberate, and the SS-4 instructions state it flatly: "The IRS no longer issues EINs by telephone for domestic taxpayers. Only international applicants can receive an EIN by telephone." A US-based founder cannot use this line even if they want to.
Have Form SS-4 filled in before you dial — the agent reads through it with you rather than taking details freehand. The number is given to you verbally on the call, and a written confirmation follows by fax or post. Because the line keeps Eastern hours, callers in West Africa are looking at late morning, and anyone in East Africa, the Gulf or South Asia at mid-afternoon to evening local time.
Method 4: Post
About four weeks — not the four to six commonly quoted. Last resort only.
Getting one with no SSN
The requirement belongs to the online tool alone. Fax, phone and post all accept a responsible party with no US personal tax number via that line 7b entry.
ITIN first? No. EIN first is normal. You will probably need an ITIN later, because a foreign owner with US-source income has personal filing obligations, and that is a separate Form W-7 application — roughly 7 weeks, or 9 to 11 weeks in filing season or from abroad.
Form the entity first. The application asks for a formation date, so the company must legally exist before you apply. Applying first and reconciling later is how EIN records end up not matching state filings, which is exactly what stalls bank applications.
Three worked examples
Illustrative only.
A developer in Nairobi, no US tax number. Forms a Wyoming LLC to invoice US clients directly rather than through a marketplace. Completes SS-4, enters "foreign" on line 7b, faxes it with his own fax number for the reply. Stamped form back in four business days, used to open an online business account. Applies for an ITIN afterwards to report the income. Government cost: nothing.
A sponsored employee considering contracting on the side. Speaks to an immigration attorney first and discovers her visa category does not permit the self-employment she had in mind. The EIN question becomes irrelevant — which is the cheapest possible outcome, reached in one conversation rather than after forming a company.
A couple preparing an investor petition. Form a Delaware C-Corp as the vehicle. Their attorney needs the EIN inside two weeks, so they use the international phone line and have it the same day.
After the number arrives
Open the bank account. EIN plus formation documents is the usual minimum. Online-first business banking is generally more accessible to non-residents than branch networks.
Map the filings. State annual reports and franchise taxes differ enormously between Delaware, Wyoming, California and everywhere else.
Identify your federal return. Foreign-owned single-member LLC: Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120. C-Corp: Form 1120 proper. Given the US$25,000 penalty on the first, this is where an accountant with real foreign-ownership experience earns their fee.
Insurance once trading. General liability for most businesses, workers' compensation anywhere you have employees — a state requirement, not federal.
State tax registration separately. The EIN is federal only. Sales tax, state income tax and employer accounts are all separate.
Seven mistakes
- Using the online tool without a US tax number or US place of business. Fax or phone instead.
- Naming a company as responsible party. Must be a natural person.
- Mistyping the entity name. Copy it character for character from the formation certificate.
- Applying before formation completes. The form asks for the date.
- Losing the confirmation. Scan it immediately, store it twice.
- Paying a service that implies the fee is governmental. It is free from the IRS by every route.
- Applying twice for one entity. Call the Business and Specialty Tax Line to check status instead.
EIN, ITIN and SSN
Three numbers, three jobs, and people conflate them constantly. The EIN belongs to the company and exists for federal tax purposes. The SSN belongs to a person, and only to citizens and those with work authorisation. The ITIN also belongs to a person, and exists precisely for the people an SSN excludes — someone with a US tax filing obligation who cannot get an SSN.
If you are already working in the US on a sponsored visa, you will have an SSN already, and the ITIN question never arises. If you are abroad, the usual sequence is EIN for the business and then an ITIN for yourself, with an SSN only entering the picture if work authorisation follows later.
Do you need a filing service?
For a single-member LLC with one clear responsible party, no. SS-4 is two pages.
Paying someone makes sense in four situations: ownership that runs through several layers or through a foreign company; an application on behalf of a trust or an estate; no realistic way to send an international fax; or real doubt about how the entity should be taxed. That last one deserves emphasis, because the SS-4 asks questions whose answers follow from the classification decision — so settle partnership versus S-Corp versus C-Corp with an accountant first, and fill the form in afterwards.
Where you do pay, pay a regulated professional: a CPA, an enrolled agent, or a lawyer. Document-filing outfits are not regulated and carry no liability for getting your tax classification wrong.
Edge cases
Reuse an old EIN for a new company? No. One per entity, non-transferable.
Changing structure? Some conversions need a new EIN, some do not. Check rather than assume.
IRS says one already exists? Call the Business and Specialty Tax Line; they can look it up from your entity details.
Checklist
Before applying:
- Visa position confirmed with an immigration attorney, if you are in the US on a visa
- Entity legally formed in its state
- Legal name matching formation documents exactly
- Responsible party identified, with their tax number if they have one
- Mailing address confirmed
- Route chosen for your situation
- Current fax or phone number verified on IRS.gov
Afterwards:
- Confirmation saved in two places
- Bank account opened
- State registrations done
- Federal filing obligations confirmed with an accountant — 1120, 1065, 5472 or Schedule C
- State compliance dates diarised
Written to explain how the EIN process works, not to advise you on your own situation — nothing here is tax, legal or immigration advice. Processing times and procedures move, so check the current position at IRS.gov before you file anything. Where your own circumstances are involved, that is a conversation for a CPA or enrolled agent, and for an immigration attorney if a visa is part of the picture.