Can a non-US citizen who has never been to the US own equity in a company that is only incorporated in the US?
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12This comment reminds me that there is a scam in which the scammer tells the victim that he is a foreigner who wants to invest in the USA and that he needs the victims'help (for a profit) to do it. This is always a scam; you can check some questions at Personal Finance & Money.– SJuan76Oct 27, 2019 at 17:16
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1 Answer
Yes, non-US citizens can own equity in US companies. To be specific: You do not have to be a citizen or resident of the US to own securities in a company incorporated in the US.
answered Oct 27, 2019 at 13:44
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Though there may be limitations. I live in Canada and here you must have a minimum of 25% of shares being held by a Canadian resident or citizen. It seems reasonable the US has something simliar.– corsiKaOct 27, 2019 at 22:54
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3@corsiKa that seems a bit suspicious - for a publicly traded company, the % of shares held by various residents would change every day, and a Canadian public company traded on any major exchange can't prohibit all their stocks there to suddenly get traded to a nonresident (to be more precise, if they needed to prohibit that, then as far as I understand they wouldn't meet the conditions to be listed on that exchange); and of course most shares are not directly owned by citizens or residents of any country but by other institutions.– PeterisOct 27, 2019 at 23:20
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2@corsiKa for a simple counterexample, Walmart Canada is an Ontario-registered company that's wholly owned by Walmart USA, which is in turn mostly owned by USA residents (the Walton family) and definitely not 25% by Canadian residents/citizens.– PeterisOct 27, 2019 at 23:22
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1@Peteris the question didn't specify publicly traded. I was assuming privately held corporations.– corsiKaOct 28, 2019 at 1:38
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1@Peteris it could work, but that would effectively mandate that no more than 75% of the stock in any Canadian based company be publicly traded.– jwentingOct 28, 2019 at 4:54