How a Vietnamese Company Can Establish Operations in the U.S.

Most Vietnamese companies that reach out to us have already searched "how to open an LLC in the U.S." The answer to that question takes an afternoon. It's also not the question that actually matters. The real question is: what does our business need to be able to do in the United States, and in what order do we need to set things up to get there?

Start with the business model, not the entity

Before choosing an entity type, decide how you actually intend to do business. Will you sell through a distributor and never hold U.S. inventory? Will you warehouse product and sell directly? Will you eventually hire U.S. staff? Each answer changes what you need — and sometimes changes whether you need a U.S. entity at all, at least initially.

The typical sequence

• Business model and go-to-market decision
• Entity structure decision, made with a qualified attorney
• Entity formation and EIN registration
• Banking setup — often the slowest step, and worth starting early
• Accounting and tax setup with a qualified CPA
• Operational decisions — location, warehousing, first vendors
• Compliance requirements specific to your product or industry
• Distribution and customer-facing launch

Banking in particular tends to surprise people. U.S. banks have their own documentation and verification requirements for foreign-owned entities, and the process can take longer than the entity formation itself. Planning for this early avoids weeks of delay later.

Where a coordinator helps

None of these steps are individually complicated. What trips companies up is sequencing — starting banking before the entity structure is finalized, or committing to a location before understanding distribution needs. A roadmap that sequences these decisions, and connects you to the right attorney, CPA and banking contacts at the right time, is usually what turns a stalled project into a moving one.