Sorry to hear about your surprising and disturbing news. I am a futures trader as well, but have only just celebrated my 1 year anniversary of activity in futures markets. However as I recently changed brokerages I made some discoveries that might be of some service to you.
The first thing that I would strongly recommend is that you look into the specific requirements for, and proof of, "official country of residence" required by , say, 5 brokers whose services are most attractive to you. Find out how they look at the issue and ask if they've helped clients manage this 'problem' before. You're looking for general attitude towards Non-US clients and willingness to work with you to make it happen.
Keep good notes on all of this in your research and especially any phone calls, skype, chat., you may find previous notes very helpful when you are actually negotiating an account. You always have to make sure that the people with whom you do business know that you have excellent knowledge of, and meaningful interactions with, their competitors.
I was a PFGBest customer for one year, and had money on account with them when they went bankrupt and US govt froze all customer accounts. Some will get nothing back, some others under $0.25 per dollar invested, I was able to get 100% of my money back. I'd be happy to have an email exchange on this with you, and help where I can. I'm not an expert but I have had serious dealings with some US futures brokerages and could possibly help you get this sorted out. I'm willing to try anyway.
The only reason I'm a successful trader is because other people made the effort, the kind you don't see much anymore, to really Shepard me through all of this -- often when it wasn't easy for them or their first choice on odd occasions. But that is how we get where we're going and manage to still feel good about ourselves -- which is not something everyone in this business can claim.
If you haven't sorted it out yet, give a buzz via email or message here on T2W. I will be writing for hours if I keep going... I have a nasty habit of that.... so I'll just leave it at the offer to help. I hope you get going again... I know what it's like... I actually thought I'd lost all of my money for the first week after PFG collapse; 10 grand... ... Your issue is serious too and very stressful and can feel depressing. You can get through it by staying calm and positive, ask people for help, anybody here will be good about I think. Lots of choices, you're not in such a bad spot that we can't get you out!
Shoot me an email and we can 'talk' it over. PS, it seems to me that Interactive Brokers might be what you are looking for. I'm with them now and having positive experience. I was warned off of them because their data is cherry picked (they pull out 2/3 data points to make it travel faster over cheaper servers thus saving money) I use Kinetick data, on Ninja trader, and have it set up to switch to Interactive Brokers data if Kinetick quits on me. They are rock bottom price-wise.... 1/3 of PFG's cost to me. and maintain that by not passing margin call to you from the exchange, rather they liquidate immediately without notice to you. They're up front abut that right away and it minimizes risk very effectively. They are low service business model... but us self-directed traders dont need the service anyway... so why pay for it? They have great news/research platform that has totally taken over my morning routine, it's free with account. I am very happy... but dont let me tell you what you should do.
All the best bud.
