I looked into setting up a Delaware parent holding for my Startup Chile startup as I wanted to use Stripe.

What stopped me was the need for an American social security number.

To be clear: This is what the Stripe signup required, I can only assume they need it for all the merchant account magic they do.

It really depends on your investment strategy. That's the real problem with actually moving the company to the US. At the time this post was written we didn't have any investment, so it probably wouldn't have killed us to set up a Delaware C corp. But when you're pre-revenue (which we were), that's a big challenge in itself.

He can find a us lawyer on elance to set him up and advise him on all this. Get a us tax record etc. He will want to talk to a us tax specialist too. I know both if he wants referrals

Whatever you do, don't set up an LLC if you plan to take investment. Delaware C corp is what you need.