PRINT
Case No. IA-2013-300350-1
The Honorable Keith Ellison
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Ellison:
This responds to your letter dated January 30, 2013, to the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), seeking guidance on certain prohibitions contained in the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 560 (the "ITSR"). Specifically, you seek clarification as to whether a U.S. financial institution is authorized to open and operate bank accounts on behalf of Iranian college students residing in the United States pursuant to lawfully issued visas.
Section 560.204 of The ITSR prohibits the exportation, re-exportation, sale or supply of any goods, technology or services, directly or indirectly, from the United States or by a U.S. person, wherever located, to Iran or the Government of Iran. ITSR, § 560.204. Additionally, the ITSR generally prohibit U.S. persons,...
Click the appropriate link below for access to this file.
Click the appropriate link below for access to this file.
1) Read in conjunction with Case No. IA-2019-364065-1, where the analysis below applies, but to all types of persons on visas described in 560.505 (not just students).
OFAC considers the students in the U.S. to be "ordinarily resident" in Iran such that, without some other source of information, any services provided to them in the form of opening and maintaining accounts would constitute exports of services "to Iran" (560.204/560.410).
2) Here, OFAC finds the source of authority for the opening and operation of the bank accounts for students to be the combination of 560.505(a) and 560.405. The notion that opening a bank account for a person would be a transaction deemed to be within the scope of the "ordinarily incident" interpretive provision appears novel, at least on the basis of the guidance available to...