How can a non-US citizen, due to arrive to USA on an F1, open a US bank account prior to arrival?

To open any bank accounts in the US, you must appear in person and have two forms of photo identification. Your passport with its student visa will be one, probably your school photo ID for the other. Student checking accounts will be available at banks around your college/university, and fees will be lower for a student account than for regular checking, possibly free.

Do NOT attempt to enter the US carrying large amounts of cash! First, it's just plain foolish to carry lots of cash when traveling. But large amounts of cash are "suspicious," require government reporting, etc. You probably should not carry more than US$1,000 in cash. You should have at least $200 for taxis, restaurant meals, etc, to manage a couple of days.

Better: use your credit card or debit card from your home bank for cash needs, transfer enough to open the bank account (usual minimum to open an account is $100), then wire transfer from your home bank to your US bank. Your school, some student housing complexes, university book store, WalMart (for shopping for essentials like sheets, towels & everything else you need to "set up housekeeping"), etc, usually all take MasterCard & Visa credit and debit cards. Other credit/debit cards vary widely in their acceptability. Discover, JCB, of course American Express, are probably best known and in the second tier of most widely used cards in US after MC & Visa.

You are probably better off using one of the "big banks" if you will be transferring money from home periodically. Small US banks are LOCAL banks and know diddly about international banking, foreign exchange, international wire transfers, etc. Chase has no retail banking outside of the US despite having offices in numerous countries, but at least they can handle international banking, wire transfers, etc. Bank of America & Citibank are the two biggest in the US, and have the widest array of foreign offices, too. So if you bank in your country with one of them, or your wires go through them, you should be okay. Unfortunately, BofA & Citi are crappy banks in the US and smaller customers hate them for just cause.

Be careful where you bank in the US. The "list" of "impaired" (i.e. liable to go under) banks now numbers 775, but that list is NOT published! Check ratings (several services, so google "bank ratings"), and avoid small local banks with very few (or no) branches.

Once you get your US checking account set up, you can get either MC or V debit card (you can't get credit card in US - non-resident, and no credit records). Load up the US bank's checking account from home, then pay your expenses via checks or debit card & get cash as you go.

Hi,

I believe you cannot do it from overseas, you must do it in the USA.

It depends where you are going to study, I would go with what the majority of the students are using, usually they do not charge a monthly fee.

I would say that you open both a checking and a savings account, since the savings account might give you interest (but it is so so little), the checking you will need it for payments (gas, water, electricity, internet, etc).

You will need (probably) about 50 dollars and your passport to open the account.

** Edit:

As far as I know, you can´t open an account from overseas. What I know I did and my friends here did, was to bring my credit/debit card from home and take money from the automatic teller or pay with a credit card.

Another friend brought travelers checks, but then found a hard time to cash them.

Another one brought cash, about a 1,000 and ended up spending it too soon.

Considering the fact that you are an F1 student you can NOT open a savings account or any other interest bearing (paying) account. (unless there are certain mitigating circumstances)You can have one in your home country however!

You can open a non-interest bearing account (usually a checking account) once you arrive in the US using your passport.

Most banks will waive the fee if you are a student and/or keep a certain minimum amount in the account.