I checked it out myself (was too lazy for that earlier) and the limit is $500 per month, though the restricton can be lifted if you supply your SSN or Credit/Debit card numbers.
Another option would be to make an australain account and then buy a virtual credit card to verify it. Then you have a very limit and your verified although you will only be able to spend your money on paypal and you wouldn't be able to request and cheques.
Bad bad idea, I tried that a while ago. The Australian account got stuck with $200 which I couldn't move unless I supplied details of the fake information, I had put when making the account. Long story short, don't do it.
Ouch, sorry you got stuck with that. it worked fine for the short period of time that I did it but considering that could happen I wouldn't put large amounts of money in it.