RetireJapan

tl;dr: Apparently you CAN officially set up a new Fidelity account as a US citizen living in Japan; HOWEVER, you must physically submit the paperwork at a Fidelity office in the US.

Longer version: I've been looking into setting up some new investments from here in Japan and would like to do it on the up and up. I do have a US address connected with my driver's license, bank account, and voting, but I'd rather not have to "fudge" the truth about address and residence. I called Vanguard, Schwab, etc., and they all said, "Nope."

The first Fidelity rep said, "Yes." Follow up call to a second rep clarified that it had to be a paper application sent in the mail. So, I sent in the paper app with a check. Waited. Got an email saying, "Nope." Called a third rep and said, "WTF?" He said, "Let me look into it... Yes, but (see above)."

Hopefully, I can go home this summer if Japan gets the vaccine thing together.

Yeah, that seems to be the best work around. If you want an IRA, I think you also need to create that when you’re there too (I had trouble from here but contributing to an existing one is easy). And if you want mutual funds, buy there. However, stocks, bonds and ETFs are all purchasable from here.

I hope you can get there soon to finish the setup. If it’s not one thing, it’s another it seems but there is a way to work through the system.