⚠️ Avoid the most common delay
Before you apply, add a governing law statement and your business location (city, state, ZIP) to your website. Both must name the same state. See How to get your website ready to apply for more detail.
Before you start
Airwallex is the payment partner behind agency-level service fees, invoicing, and billing in Tern. Before clients can pay you, Airwallex must verify your business. This is a one-time setup that takes about 10 minutes, followed by a review on the Airwallex side.
Tern does not control the Airwallex application. We have written this guide so you know what to expect at each step and how to answer in a way that gets you approved quickly.
Have these ready:
Your legal business name and business type (see the note on LLCs below)
Your EIN or SSN, depending on how your business is registered
Your business address and phone number
Your business website URL
A government-issued photo ID for the owner or an authorized representative
A rough estimate of how much you expect to process in service fees each month
A website that meets Airwallex's requirements (see How to get your website ready before you apply).
What to expect:
Airwallex may email you after you submit asking for more information. This is also normal.
Approval has taken up to 5 business days for early agencies. You cannot collect service fees through your agency until Airwallex approves you.
Step-by-step: register with Airwallex
Open Service fees in Tern. Go to Back Office > Service fees. In the card titled Collect service fees through your agency, click Set up. Tern will open the Airwallex onboarding flow in a new tab.
Choose your business type. Select the type that matches your legal registration.
Single-member LLC: select Company, not Sole Proprietor. This is different from your W-9, where the IRS has you check Sole Proprietor. Airwallex classifies by legal entity, so an LLC is a company.
Sole proprietor with no LLC: select Sole Proprietor / Individual.
Enter your business details. Legal name, EIN or SSN, address, phone, and website. Use the website URL that is live today. Airwallex checks that it loads and that it describes your business.
Select your industry. Choose Travel (or the closest travel agency option). Airwallex will show a warning that it may not be able to work with some companies in your industry. Ignore this warning and continue. Tern is specifically underwritten with Airwallex for travel agencies.
Describe how you will use the account. Airwallex asks for a short description of your business and the account's purpose. Write two or three full sentences. See the next section for what to include.
Enter your expected volume. Give an honest estimate of your monthly service-fee volume in US dollars. Airwallex uses this for risk review. If you are not sure, estimate the number of fees you charge per month times your typical fee amount.
Verify your identity. Upload a photo ID for the business owner or authorized representative. Airwallex may ask for a selfie or a second document.
Submit. Airwallex will show Verifying your account. Back in Tern, the Service fees card will change to Pending Airwallex approval. There is nothing more for you to do until Airwallex emails you.
Card types. During setup Airwallex may display only Visa and Mastercard. Do not be alarmed. Clients will be able to pay by the card types supported on the Tern payment page. Visa and Mastercard are currently live and Amex, Diners Club, Discover, and JCB are coming soon.
How to answer the Airwallex questions
Most delays come from short or vague answers.
What to write in the "how will you use this account" note. Cover these four points in plain language:
Who you are: a travel agency (or host agency) that plans and books travel for leisure or corporate clients.
What the payment is: planning or service fees you charge clients for your time and expertise, separate from the cost of the trip itself.
Who pays and how: your own clients, by card, through an invoice sent from Tern.
Rough volume: how many fees per month and the typical amount.
Example you can adapt:
We are a travel agency that plans and books vacations for leisure clients. This account will collect planning and service fees that we charge clients directly for our advisory work. Fees are not payments for airfare, hotels, or other travel suppliers. Clients pay by card through invoices sent from our agency platform, Tern. We expect roughly 20 to 40 fees per month at $100 to $500 each.
How to get your website ready before you apply
Airwallex reviews your website before approving your account. Card schemes like Visa and Mastercard require some of these details, such as where your business is located and which state’s laws apply. Adding them before you apply can help avoid delays.
Your legal business name as registered (for example, “Sunshine Travel, LLC”), not only your brand name.
A Terms & Conditions page linked from your site.
A governing law statement in your Terms & Conditions that names the state where your business is established and operates. Writing “United States law” is not enough. For example: “These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan.” Agencies outside the US name their country. Check with your attorney if you’re unsure what your terms should say. This is the most common reason applications are held up. Airwallex will not approve your account without it.
Your business location in your footer, on your Contact page, or in your Terms & Conditions. Your full physical business address is best. Home-based agencies that can’t publish a street address can list city, state, and ZIP code instead (for example, “Detroit, MI 48201”). Either way, the state must match the state in your governing law statement. P.O. boxes and virtual office addresses are not accepted.
A location that is consistent with the business address on your Airwallex application. If you show only city, state, and ZIP on your website, they should match the full address you enter in the application.
For more detail, see Airwallex's Card Scheme Standards and Best Practices for Governing Law Disclosure.
Common questions
Question | Answer |
I am a single-member LLC. Am I a company or a sole proprietor? | Company. Airwallex goes by your legal entity, not your tax filing. Your W-9 says sole proprietor, but your LLC is a company for this form. |
Airwallex says my website doesn’t meet “Merchant Location and Governing Law” requirements. What do I do? | Airwallex needs two things on your website:
|
It only showed Visa and Mastercard. Is that all my clients can use? | Setup shows a short list. Your clients will see the full set of card types supported on the Tern payment page as they become available. Amex, Diners Club, Discover, and JCB are coming soon. |
The "check status" button disappeared and I have no email. Did it submit? | Yes. The button disappears when your application is in review. Watch for an email from Airwallex, and check your spam folder. |
Do I need a website? | Yes. Airwallex checks that the URL loads, describes a travel business, and meets the requirements in How to get your website ready before you apply. A simple site is fine. |
Do my agents need to do this too? | No. Only the agency registers with Airwallex. You then give each agent permission to run service fees in Team settings. Agents you do not enable can keep collecting fees their current way, such as through their own Stripe account. |
I run my agency from home and can’t publish my home address. What should I do? | List your city, state, and ZIP code on your website instead of your street address, for example in your footer or Terms & Conditions. Make sure the state matches your governing law statement. You’ll still enter your full business address in the Airwallex application. |
After you submit
Airwallex reviews your application and may come back with questions before it approves you. Here is what the next few days can look like.
Expect at least one "request for information" email. Airwallex often asks a follow-up question even when your application is complete. The most common one is how much you intend to process. Reply with the same description and volume you gave in the application.
Approval timing. Early agencies have seen 1 to 3 business days. Some applications stall in Airwallex's internal review. If you have not heard anything after 3 business days, contact [email protected] and I will escalate with Airwallex directly. We have a standing channel with their team.
When you are approved. The Service fees card in Tern will show that your account is active. You can then:
Give agents permission to run service fees in Team settings. Only agents you enable will see the option. Others keep their current process.
Issue a service fee on a trip. The client pays by card through the Tern payment page.
Watch funds land in your agency wallet. Airwallex settles daily, and Tern creates a pre-reconciled statement of settled fees for you to review, approve, and pay out to agents on your normal payout cycle.
Withdraw funds from your wallet to your bank account whenever you choose.