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I worked for a company based in the United States as part of a non-commercial activity (I mean the income is not taxable to the IRS and thus I can’t get an itin or ssn in order to open a bank account). I need to receive several ach vouchers from them.

I’m currently in France and I have no plan to get a visa to come to the United States in the current decade.

The company only pays through regular ACH voucher over usps: they use an automated system. It’s not possible to negotiate anything on the payment method. I can’t even ask to merge the vouchers in order to pay less in fees.

It’s a reputable company. It used to be a Hewlett Packard subsidiary for more than 10 years and they acted like this too when they were still part of hp.

On the other hand, I need to relay the voucher to a swift transfer in usd with my name as sender with swift details to an account with an iban number.

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    Could you explain what a USD voucher is? Ive never heard of one and a quick google does nothing – Vality Dec 14 '18 at 19:30
  • @Vality I meant ᴀᴄʜ vouchers in ᴜꜱᴅ indeed. Which means vouchers without ɪʙᴀɴ numbers nor ꜱᴡɪꜰᴛ. – user2284570 Dec 16 '18 at 12:45
  • Oh, I see. I will note however, you don't actually need an SSN to open a bank account. I currently do have one but long before I did I was able to open a Wells Fargo account with just my (foreign) passport info. – Vality Dec 16 '18 at 19:11
  • @Vality that’s the second part of the question : an affordable bank. And not only Well Fargo is expensive but they paid a $1000000000 fine for customer fees abuse. I fear a ꜱꜱɴ is better help in that case. The alternative is to explore the full list of the ꜰᴅɪᴄ by going on each website in order to see rates. – user2284570 Dec 17 '18 at 20:06
  • Please don't misunderstand, I wasn't suggesting you use Wells Fargo, I stopped using them a long time ago myself. I am merely saying your suggestion that you must have an SSN or ITIN to have a bank account is incorrect, and was backing up my statement by mentioning a specific account I was able to open. I wont go into the bank I use now as I feel like that would be advertising. But there are several who are cheap and good. – Vality Dec 17 '18 at 20:08
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I can’t get an itin or ssn in order to open a bank account

You don't need an SSN or an ITIN to open a bank account. Several commenters on this post share their experiences doing so at specific banks. That said, it seems like most of them also had to open these accounts in person, which you said you're not willing to do.

If you have a trusted friend in the USA, you could sign the checks over to them to cash into their own accounts and then transfer to you.

Other than that, unless any of your conditions change, I think you're stuck paying your bank's fees.

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  • Do you realize there’s more than 2000$ for coming into the ᴜꜱᴀ from where I live (not to mention this wouldn’t be work time) ? I also know such persons which can help me but they won’t offer me to pay for their income tax. When you bring a ᴀᴄʜ check at a French bank they will tell you it’s Ok, and 5 months later that they are still working at validating the cheque and 8 to 12 months later than you never deposited such type of paper so a United States bank account is required. And it appears Wells Fargo now require to come at branch. Though I recognize this can’t work with Swiss Franc. – user2284570 Jan 5 '19 at 15:13
  • So I’m not stuck at paying fees, but I’m stuck at getting robbered. – user2284570 Jan 5 '19 at 15:14
  • The more I think about this, the more it seems like a problem between you and the payer. If they're not willing to pay you in a way that's convenient for you, maybe they're not worth working for. – Cody Jan 10 '19 at 19:07
  • I have a similar problem with Google so I don’t think it’s about working with. I saw hundreds banks which offers fee free wire transfers and no fees on international debit card transactions like simple.com equitybank and UnitedNationsFCU and bank.bank and Charles Schwab Bank. So having a cheap bank is easy if you live in the United States as none of those banks accept non resident aliens without a ꜱꜱɴ and without coming at a branch. as I explained everything would had been simple if Hillary Clinton got elected instead of Donald Trump. I could do like most undocumented latinos did. – user2284570 Jan 10 '19 at 19:18
  • those payment practices (of requiring a payment method instead of paypal or Western Union) also preclude 2016 presidential election. So this wasn’t a problem before. A bank comparator for undocumented foreigners would be something great to create. Through there’s might be a possibility in my case : money.stackexchange.com/q/103700 – user2284570 Jan 10 '19 at 19:22

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