Countries where Stripe isn't available — and how to accept Stripe anyway

Stripe is unavailable in most of the world. As of 2026, Stripe directly supports roughly 46 countries — chiefly the United States, Canada, the UK, most of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, and a small group of Latin American and Gulf markets. Every other country is "unsupported": a business registered there cannot open a native Stripe account. Separately, countries under comprehensive US sanctions — Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine — are blocked entirely and cannot be served by any workaround.

That leaves billions of people in fast-growing economies — Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Egypt, Kenya, the Philippines, Indonesia and dozens more — unable to take Stripe payments locally. The proven, legal fix is to operate through a US company: form or buy a US LLC, get its EIN, and activate Stripe US. Jump to how that works →

No — Stripe is not available worldwide. It is one of the world's largest payment processors, but its native coverage is concentrated in high-income markets. A locally incorporated business in an unsupported country cannot complete Stripe onboarding, because Stripe asks for a registered business and bank account in a supported country during signup.

Stripe does keep adding countries — recent additions have included markets in Latin America, the Gulf and Southeast Asia — but expansion is slow and there is no public timeline for most regions. For founders in Africa, South Asia and much of the Middle East, "wait for Stripe to launch here" is not a viable business plan. Using a US LLC is the standard solution thousands of international founders already rely on.

Where Stripe IS supported (high level)

Supported regions in 2026 include North America (US, Canada, Mexico), most of the EU and EEA, the UK, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the UAE, and a growing set of Latin American countries such as Brazil. If your country is on this list, you generally don't need a US LLC just for Stripe — you can register locally.

Sanctioned countries cannot use Stripe at all — and a US LLC does not change that. Stripe is a US company and must follow US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions. Comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

This matters because sanctions follow the controlling person, not just the company's paperwork. If you are located in or operating from a comprehensively sanctioned country, forming a US LLC will not make Stripe lawful for you — Stripe screens beneficial owners and can close accounts that breach OFAC rules. The US LLC route described below is for founders in unsupported but non-sanctioned countries, which is the vast majority of the list above.

Form or buy a US LLC, get its EIN, and activate Stripe under the US business. Stripe is fully supported in the United States, so a US company with a US registered address and a federal tax ID (EIN) can open a Stripe account — regardless of where its owner lives. No US citizenship, residency, SSN or travel is required.

The steps

1. Get a US LLC. Either register a new LLC (we do this for $549) or — to skip the wait — buy a ready-made Wyoming LLC that already exists, for $1,000.
2. Get the EIN. Stripe asks for your EIN first. A new EIN application can take days to weeks for non-residents; a ready-made company already has its EIN issued, so this step is done.
3. Open Stripe (and US banking). Apply to Stripe with the LLC name, EIN and US address. Pair it with a US business account such as Mercury for payouts.
4. Start charging. Accept cards globally in USD, with Stripe payouts to your US business account.

$549 new LLC vs $1,000 ready-made with EIN

Either way you end up with a Wyoming LLC: no state income tax, no public owner register, and strong privacy. See the Wyoming LLC guide, or the full picture in buy a US LLC with EIN.