This can be done.

You can open an account with TD Bank USA, by visiting TD Canada Trust's website for contact information. TD Bank USA offers a secured credit card to rebuild credit. This can be done without stepping foot into the USA. To comply with the Patriot Act (USA) you will most likely have to go to a Canadian TD branch to provide ID if you are not already a TD customer. www.tdcanadatrust.com, www.tdbank.com

Depending on your Canadian credit history, you also may be able to open a RBC Bank, USA account, and VISA card at any branch of RBC in Canada. You do not have to maintain a RBC account in Canada to have a RBC Bank, USA account, however it does make transferring funds and paying US bills easier. Info is available at RBC's US banks website at www.rbcbank.com, and www.rbcroyalbank.com.

Otherwise, if all else fails, you MAY be allowed to transfer a Capital One Canadian account to the US if you move back, I'd call to see if its possible, but personally, it would be a last resort. CapOne is known for misinformation, poor service, and unwilling to do anything outside of their desired parameters.

Good Luck.

HSBC would do this for you until very recently.

They have been charged, and are now closely scrutinized because of foreign money laundering.

I'm sure if they could, they still would - but the US government watching them under a microscope now.

I just moved to Montreal from the US and until i received my work visa and my Canadian Soc Security number i could not open the account. No way around it as far as i can tell. good luck!!!

ICICI Bank Canada?

Under the Bank Act, absolutely not.

Go back, with permanent residency you MUST have paperwork from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. With this, they must open an account, even if your second piece of ID is foreign. The problem is most likely you were in Toronto (which is technically a 'border' city if you travelled by boat, however don't have much exposure to opening an account for an American, had you applied in Fort Erie, Niagara Falls or Windsor, you wouldn't have been refused (same as commenter from Montreal) - you'll find in Canada if someone isn't familiar with a process or procedure, in most cases they'll say 'it can't be done' instead of looking into it further. Also in Canada, chequing/savings accounts cost money for banks to operate, (although its illegal for them to refuse) - if they don't see any further business prospects like loans or credit, they really don't want your business. Reps don't get 'sales' points for basic day-to-day transaction accounts, and if they can't sell you anything else, they'd rather say its not 'allowed' because there is nothing in it (incentive wise) for them.

My husband is Canadian and I am American. I still live in the US because I haven't gotten permanent residency for Canada yet. When I do, I will be moving there to live with my husband. He wanted to add me to his TD Canada Trust checking account, as many married couples prefer to do in both the US and Canada. Obviously, it would be good in an emergency for me to have access to my husband's bank account and vice versa. We made an appointment with my husband's branch bank and brought my US Passport, my Oregon Driver's license, and a certified copy of our marriage certificate. We were turned down because I didn't have any Canadian-issued identification. I need at least one of those. I cannot obtain any Canadian-issued identification until I am a legal resident of Canada. Here's what is required to open an account in Canada: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/newtocanada/products-services/bank-accounts.jsp

As you can see, you need at least 1 piece of ID that would prove that you are a Canadian citizen or legal Canadian resident. Husband and I are just keeping our fingers crossed that we have no emergencies between now and when I am a legal resident of Canada.

Get a drivers license. It's easy and you can keep your NY one too.

I am a retired banker from one of Canada's largest banks.

The answer to your question is... Absolutely not.

Most big Canadian Banks have foreign offices, such as in the US, New York, Miami, and Atlanta, who would not only handle a foreign corporate account opening, but can answer all your foreign banking questions.

Firstly, I'm really not sure about this. but beware of the IRS implications of doing so with regards to reporting foreign bank accounts.
Secondly, the Canadian bank would probably want information on directors and such. When I opened a Canadian account for a Canadian corporation, they wanted a copy of the Articles of Incorporation as well as some other info.
Call one up and ask!

Yes. You do not ever have to provide a SIN, or SSN in Canada for a bank account. You will have to physically go to a branch however, and like the U.S., you are best to go to a border city, where they are more versed on opening accounts for Americans. Call first however, as the rules constantly change. Such as Chase USA would open accounts for Canadian and Mexican non-residents, and recently changed this policy to Ontario residents, as the only non-residents who can open accounts at Chase (as of a few weeks ago - per Chase branch manager in MI).

Unless its a registered retirement plan with funds older than a year before any claim towards it, no. you must be a resident to have a registered account, so long story short, no. No safe haven here. Now, you might want to look at a Canadian Bank branch in a Caribbean country. Still CDN dollar accounts, still a branch of CDN bank, but different laws. Scotia, Royal both have branches in most Caribbean countries. Cayman Island being most popular. The laws the Caribbean country rule, funds not covered by CDIC nor FDIC.

It's important to note that Canadian Funds, or any other foreign currencies are NOT insured by the FDIC if Everbank, r any other US bank is taken over for insolvency by the Comptroller of the Currency.

In Canada, US Dollar accounts are also not covered by the CDIC. However US funds held in a US bank, in the USA are insured by the FDIC for Canadians (non residents) as well as Canadian funds on deposit in a Canadian bank are insured by the CDIC for non-residents as well.

If you have a substantial amount of USD, a Canadian would be well advised to put these funds in a US bank to be FDIC insured, a VIS-a-VIS, an American with substantial CDN funds.

It's harder however to open a Canadian account for a non-resident, unlike a Canadian opening a US account as Canadians travel and invest more in the USA than any other non-resident, however he reverse is certainly not the case when it comes to Americans in Canada ( until very recently ).

A W8-BEN form must be filed, and renewed on a regular basis for any interest bearing account irregardless of the balance or interest earned.

When filing this form, be extremely careful - do not put your Canadian SIN number in the US SSN space. Yes, there are the exactly the same amount of numbers in a SIN as a SSN and it fits nicely in the boxes, however, it is a FELONY to do so.

A felony is generally considered to be a crime of "high seriousness", while a misdemeanor is not.
A person convicted in a court of law of a felony crime is known as a felon.
In the United States, where the felony/misdemeanor distinction is still widely applied, the federal government defines a felony as a crime punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year.
If punishable by exactly one year or less, it is classified as a misdemeanor.[1] The individual states may differ in this definition, using other categories as seriousness or context.

Again, it's illegal for a bank to require a SIN, SSN. Your answer was an opinion of one person, and not necessarily correct. In Canada when you call the border city local branch, you are really directed to a call centre, most likely far away from a border, or even in India, tell the operator you want to be either directly connected to the branch you want to deal with, or get them to call you. Ask for the operators first name and ID and a reference number for the call (this ensures that they do exactly what you ask, and don't blow you off, which happens more often than not when you reach a call centre - the reps are timed per call by the second, and won't do anything further to jeopardize their call stats).

September 1995 saw a few bank failures in Canada, like the Canadian Commercial Bank and Northland Bank, since then many smaller regional banks and trust companies have been swallowed up by the Big Six banks. Much of the same that happened here in '95 has been happening in the US since '08' where the big players like BOA, Citi, Chase, 5/3, PNC, TD, and Wells Fargo have been swallowing up the smaller regional banks forming their own 'Big Seven' forming a similar banking system to Canada, with even increased credit card interest rates, and fee laden accounts much like we've been used to for decades, helping capitalize these behemoths and making them more stable by you, the account holder lining their pocket with more and more fees added to your basic banking. If the US continues to emulate the Canadian system, soon you'll be paying $2 a month to get your bank statement, while earning .005% on your savings, 22% on your credit card, as you kiss your 30 year fixed 4% mortgage goodbye forever with a 5 year term, rate renewable mortgage to protect your bank from economic changes, with your exposure to risk of interest rate changes, and not your banks exposure to long-term risk. This is why Canadian banks are well capitalized to weather the economic storms.

There isn't any. Nor will their ever be. If foreign currencies were insured by nations that are more stable, there would be a run on the banks in areas not as stable (as you figured out) collapsing the whole economic system. This is why each country only insured their own currencies, in the banks they regulate.