Hello A good friend of mine who lives in Mexico would like to invest in the US stock market, preferably via US Mutual Funds or ETF's. He is not a US Citizen. He can travel to USA (he has immigration papers for this) and open up a US bank account if need be. Is this possible? What does he need to do? Thanks
Just open an account with any of the brokers and wire them the money. They'll want some details (photocopied passports etc) as part of the process but its no big thing.
No need to come to USA. US will take money from just about anywhere and everyone with exception of perhaps a few places like Iran, Korea and some known drug types. All you need is to fill out the brokers' online application, wire the dough and you're ready to play. Most brokers will need 2-3 kinds of ID proving who the person is and where he/she resides. Other than that US is very easy to put your money in. And profits are tax-free to foreigners to boot!