When you’re applying for a Non Lucrative Visa for Spain, do you need a Spanish Bank Account? When does it become important to have one?

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Do you need a Spanish bank account when you’re applying for your Non Lucrative Visa for Spain?
Will a UK bank account do?
At what point should you to get a Spanish account when you’re moving here, and why?
And which is the best Spanish bank account?

Let’s get straight to the answers.

Is having a Spanish bank account essential when you’re applying for a Visa like the Non Lucrative?

Not essential, no. 

Why not?

Well, when you’re only at the first stage of moving here, the consulates or BLS offices understand that, so they do accept your UK bank account as evidence of financial stability.

But do they need UK bank documents translated for the NLV?

Generally speaking, they don’t need your financial documents translating, but while your bank statements, P60, investment portfolios, and evidence of pensions or rental income may not need translating, it’s best to have a summary sheet or overview of your finances translated into Spanish to make it as clear as possible for the Spanish officials to understand your financial situation. Always look at your application and documents from their point of view. 

So when you say it’s not essential to have a Spanish bank account, might it be useful to have one anyway?

Well, most Spanish High Street banks allow you to download verifiable online statements, and that can make your NLV application just that little stronger. Set your banking app to download statements in Spanish. 

What about when you arrive in Spain and apply for residency?

Again, it’s not essential to have a Spanish account at that point for the same reasons, but I found it very useful to start looking around straightaway for the right bank.

Why?

Because when you need to start paying for things like taxes and bills, a lot of organisations prefer you to have a Spanish account with a Spanish IBAN.

Could I get an online account to save on bank charges?

Even if you have an online account with a Spanish IBAN, there are one or two places where their systems just aren’t set up to accept payments from online accounts, even though EU rules say they should. The taxman is one example.

What about when you’re renewing your NLV residency? Do you need a Spanish account for that?

It’s not absolutely essential, but it does make the process easier because Spanish banks can provide the specific financial documents you need, in Spanish, with digital codes for authentication. And you don’t normally get that with UK banks. 

So which is the best bank to use?

I had the best piece of advice when I moved here, so I’ll give it to you now. It’s the bank manager you should choose, not the bank.

Why’s that?

Because in most of the banks you can still get to talk face to face with your manager, and there will be times when that will prove invaluable. 

When?

Like when something goes wrong, or charges appear that you don’t understand. Managers also have some say about bank charges and they can waive them if they think it’s appropriate, so shop around, speak to a few managers and see what they offer. We set up a non-residents’ account as soon as we arrived so that we could put our savings there and start using the account.

Don’t you get loads of bank charges with non-residents’ accounts?

Normally yes, but because we’d found a good bank manager and chatted about our situation and established a rapport, he waived those charges. Then once we’d completed our residency we swapped over to a residents’ account. 

Sounds like a good plan then. How far away is your bank from where you live?

That’s a good question. Mine is in the village where I live, and I’d suggest using a bank that’s not too far away, especially if you have to pop in a few times in a week which sometimes happens. Oh, and always go early, there may be a queue so leave yourself plenty of time, you could be there a while if a few people in front of you have a complicated issue to resolve. There always seems to be lots of paperwork for even the simplest operations. Spanish bureaucracy eh!

Right, that’s good to know.

And remember most banks close at 2pm and they don’t open again later like some other businesses do. And your bank manager might try to sell you something else like insurance. They can be quite pushy and persuasive sometimes. That’s another reason to shop around for a good manager. If they do offer you something like insurance, always take time to think and compare quotes from other insurance providers. 

Okay. So it sounds like having a Spanish bank account soon after you arrive, or straight after you’ve finished the residency process, is the best idea. As long as you’ve shopped around and found the right manager.

That’s right. The timing could depend on where you’re planning to live. We spent just over a month looking for the right place to live and finding a long term rental property before we checked out the banks. There’s always a lot to organise in the first few months.

Oh, another thing, have the banks got apps in English?

Some of them do, yes, it’s worth checking that out when you’re choosing your manager.

Thank you. Anything else I need to know?

As with any Spanish bureaucracy, there’s always an ‘It Depends!’ and you might get some advice on local expat groups that’s useful to you. Just make sure the circumstances are exactly the same as yours and happened recently before you take it as the absolute truth, if such a thing exists. 

You’ve been very helpful.

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Article by Skatz