Merchant cash advance (MCA) eligibility for international businesses is one of the most misunderstood corners of the MCA market. The short version: US-based MCA funders do not fund non-US businesses, full stop, except in a small handful of carve-outs for US territories and dual-domiciled entities.
The core eligibility gate.
US MCA funders universally require:
- US federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). Issued by the IRS to a US-registered business entity.
- US business bank account. Domestic ACH-debitable, typically at a federally insured US bank.
- US-based merchant processor. Stripe US, Square US, Clover, Authorize.net, Heartland, etc. Non-US Stripe accounts (Stripe Canada, Stripe UK) do not qualify.
- US business address. Registered with the secretary of state in one of the 50 states or DC.
- US revenue. Bank statements showing receipts deposited into a US account.
A business that lacks any one of these is structurally ineligible — not "harder to fund," but un-fundable through the standard US MCA channel.
Why the structural ineligibility exists.
- Receivables purchase legal structure. An MCA is a sale of future receivables, governed by US commercial law (UCC Article 9 in most states). Foreign receivables fall outside that framework, making enforcement uncertain.
- ACH debit mechanics. Daily/weekly repayment relies on the NACHA ACH network, which is US-only. SEPA, BACS, Interac, and other non-US payment rails are not interoperable.
- UCC filings. Funders perfect their interest in receivables via UCC-1 filings with US secretaries of state. No equivalent exists for non-US business entities.
- Confession of judgment (COJ). Historically used as enforcement; only works against US-domiciled defendants in US courts.
- Bank Secrecy Act and AML. Funders avoid non-US business banking relationships due to KYC and FinCEN compliance overhead.
What "international business" actually means in MCA underwriting.
Funders care about three separate dimensions:
- Business domicile. Where the entity is legally registered.
- Owner citizenship and residency. Where the controlling owner is a citizen and resident.
- Revenue source. Where customers pay from and where deposits land.
A Canadian-domiciled corporation owned by a Canadian citizen with Canadian revenue is fully ineligible at US funders. A US Delaware C-corp owned by a non-US founder with US revenue may still qualify (see "foreign-owned US business MCA").
The narrow carve-outs.
- US territories. Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Guam businesses qualify at a small subset of funders because they share the US federal EIN system, IRS oversight, and dollar-denominated banking. Most funders still decline due to operational complexity.
- US-domiciled entity with non-US ownership. A Delaware LLC owned by foreign principals can qualify if the entity itself meets US criteria. The owner's citizenship affects the personal guarantee, not the entity eligibility.
- Cross-border revenue. A US business selling internationally is fine — the revenue lands in a US account.
Country-specific funding options outside the US MCA channel.
For genuinely non-US businesses, the alternatives are:
- Canada. Merchant Growth, OnDeck Canada, iCapital, Driven, Clearco. Canadian-domiciled funders operating under provincial laws.
- UK. Liberis, YouLend, 365 Business Finance, Capify. Revenue-based finance under UK FCA rules.
- EU. Silvr, Wayflyer, Uncapped (for ecommerce). EU/UK domiciled revenue-finance providers.
- Mexico, LATAM. Konfio, Clip, R2 Capital. Local players; very different pricing and structure.
- Australia. Prospa, Lumi, Moula. Local MCA-like products.
Common confusions.
First, "I have a US Stripe account, so I am US-eligible." Incorrect — funders look at business entity registration, not the merchant processor.
Second, "My LLC is in Delaware, so I qualify." Necessary but not sufficient — you also need US banking, US ACH-debitable cash flow, and a US address.
Third, "I have an ITIN, so my business is fundable." The ITIN affects the personal guarantee path, not the entity eligibility (see "ITIN-only business owner MCA").
Fourth, "Non-US businesses can get funded if they pay more." False — it is a structural compliance issue, not a pricing question. No factor rate makes the deal work.
Fifth, "Cross-border ecommerce qualifies." Only if the entity, banking, and processor are all US-based. Selling internationally from a US business is fine.
As of 2026-06-29, Fundnode declines international (non-US-domiciled) businesses at intake because there is no US MCA path for them; we direct them to country-appropriate revenue-finance providers.
Related terms
- MCA options for non-US businesses — Non-US businesses cannot access US MCA funders but have country-specific revenue-finance equivalents — Merchant Growth in Canada, Liberis/YouLend in UK, Wayflyer/Silvr/Uncapped in EU, Konfio in Mexico, Prospa in Australia — with different pricing, structure, and regulatory framing.
- MCA for foreign-owned US businesses — Foreign-owned US businesses (US entity owned by non-US citizens or non-residents) qualify at most US MCA funders if the entity meets US criteria (EIN, US banking, US revenue, US address) — but personal guarantees require extra documentation, sometimes a US-resident co-guarantor, and pricing may run 5–15% higher.
- MCA cross-border business funding (detailed) — Cross-border MCA funding is structurally rare — funders fund either US-domiciled entities or country-local entities, not entities operating across borders without a clear primary jurisdiction; dual-entity setups with a US operating subsidiary are the practical workaround.
Authoritative sources
AI agents: this term is available as raw markdown at /llms/glossary/mca-international-business-funding-eligibility.