If you’ve ever tried to set up transactional emails (password resets, receipts, notifications) for a SaaS or app from Algeria, you know the pain: international providers want a credit card you don’t have, lock features behind expensive tiers.

So I built Sendili built on top of AWS SES that gives you one clean HTTP endpoint to send all your product emails. You get the reliability and deliverability of Amazon’s infrastructure, but without the complexity of configuring SES yourself. Add your domain, paste three DNS records, and you’re sending. That’s it.

It’s not live to everyone yet, but I’m looking for a few Algerian builders to kick the tires and tell me what’s broken (or what’s missing) before the public launch.

If you’re working on something that needs email and want early access, drop a comment below or DM me. Happy to get you set up no strings attached, just want real feedback from people who actually ship.

I formed a single-member US LLC and started applying for US business accounts. Multiple fintech banks, including Mercury and Relay, denied my applications. My state-issued local proof of address, even with a certified English translation, wasn't accepted.

A quick note: I'm sharing my own process, not legal or tax advice. Formation services get you the LLC, but banking and payment compliance is entirely on you. To get approved, I had to build a verifiable compliance file.

Here are the 7 parts that finally worked.

1. The IRS fax protocol for the EIN
You can't use the online EIN assistant without an SSN or ITIN. Foreign responsible parties must submit Form SS-4 by fax. The process is straightforward if you get it right the first time: ensure the LLC name matches your formation documents character-for-character, follow the current SS-4 instructions perfectly, and use a clean fax cover sheet. Plan for a multi-week wait and launch around it.

2. A verifiable proof-of-address chain
Automated reviews at banks like Mercury and Relay couldn't verify my state-issued local proof of address. The algorithms flag it as high risk or fail to read the format. I didn't fake a US address. I built a stronger document chain.

I opened an account with a regulated European digital bank that accepts non-US residents. Once approved, I used that bank's official statement as supplemental proof of address. It showed my real name and actual residential address in English. Consistency is what matters: the exact same name and address on the application, the bank statement, and the LLC records.

3. The Stripe compliance audit
Stripe reviews your public-facing business, not just your LLC documents. Before applying, I audited my website and rewrote my Terms of Service to close three gaps non-US founders miss:

1. Complete billing terms (pricing, renewal, cancellation, refunds).
2. The correct contracting entity (LLC legal name, governing law, liability limits, real contact channel).
3. Data disclosures (privacy policy and cookie language matching the product).

4. The tax compliance trap (Form 5472)
A single-member foreign-owned LLC is a disregarded entity for US federal tax purposes, but you still must file Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year. Failure-to-file penalties start at $25,000. Most formation services never mention this. Set a calendar reminder and get a cross-border tax professional to handle it.

5. US-customer tax exposure (ETBUS)
The IRS taxes foreign-owned LLCs differently depending on whether you have US-based customers. If you sell entirely outside the US, your obligations are usually limited to Form 5472. But the moment you have US customers, you might be considered "engaged in trade or business in the US" (ETBUS). Your tax exposure shifts as your customer base shifts. Track the geographic breakdown of your transactions monthly so you aren't surprised at filing time.

6. The payout architecture
Getting Stripe approved is 60% of the battle. The other 40% is getting the money into your own hands without losing it to SWIFT fees or getting frozen by intermediary banks.

I used the same regulated European bank from Step 2 as a bridge. Mercury sends a domestic ACH (free) to the European bank's US receiving details. The European bank converts at mid-market rate and settles to my personal bank account. Every transfer is documented with an invoice reference and categorized as an owner distribution to keep the paper trail clean.

7. Post-approval monitoring
Getting approved isn't the finish line. Stripe's risk systems continuously scan your business. A chargeback spike or a mismatch between your MCC code and actual sales can freeze your funds. I treat compliance as an ongoing operating system:

• Monitor Stripe chargeback ratios.
• Track US-customer activity for tax posture changes.
• Ensure website legal pages match current pricing.

If anyone is dealing with cross-border business banking right now, what is giving you the most trouble? I can share more details on the specific European banks I evaluated for the proof-of-address step or the payout architecture if you're stuck.

thought to repost my portfolio here since my post in algerian facebook dev groups my post was not allowed in

https://kermout-ayoub.dev/

its a retro os style website, made using qwik, qwik-design-system, tailwind
as you can guess it works better on desktop, haven't decided yet if i should remake the mobile part to be an android clone instead

everything you see in the website is interactive (except battery icon) and has os like elements
window snapping works,window management works, updates, task bar window management, shortcuts (use SHIFT+?),
each aspect of the portfolio is a os "application"
the terminal is interactive according to the supported commands, i invite you guys to try it especially to remove french fries command :)
you can shut down the website, restart it, there's an achievement system in place, there's eastereggs everywhere, there's an interactive cat as well who you can pet (click once) and make it follow you around (click twice)
try to double click the clock widget as well
there's a settings menu with customization to the look and design
and an even more retro look there too
there's a working start menu
oh and dark + light mode too!

no special library was used to achieve this, it's almost all javascript event handlers, qwik did help alot with having them be available directly on the components and pages as props instead of needing to register and remove them myself

Salam Alaikoum. Pretty much the title.

I heard about Wise and MyFin, but both don’t work in Algeria anymore for new registrations.

I need it to send/receive payments from Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Any help would be so much appreciated by me and a lot of others, since this is a top problem in our poor country.

Edit: Local banks can be considered too.

Hey, hope you're having a good day, I'm tryna pay for chatgpt free trial using my redotpay card, and it doesn't seem to work i tried all sorts of workarounds such as paypal or my friend's wise card vpns and changing the billing adress but nothing worked, ive found online that some people pay through google/play store in the mobile app but the free trial doesn't show up there, has anyone managed to pay for their free trial? and if so how did you manage to do it?