Portuguese Bank Account

Open your Portugal bank account easily and remotely online. No apostille or power of attorney required.

Get your Portuguese bank account easily from almost anywhere in the world. It takes just 5-10 business days* to open an account with one of the best banks in Portugal, with no notarization, certification, apostille, or power of attorney required.

 

Your account may be a single or joint account. It includes a debit card and credit card with no annual charge, an app where you can manage your account in English, online banking in English, and a low maintenance fee of under €10 per month.

 

Whether you need your bank account to apply for a visa or to pay rent for your new Portuguese home, StartAbroad can help.

* in most cases. Some clients from certain nationalities, with certain professions, or with certain names may be placed under a longer review period by the bank. Please see the FAQ below for more information on clients who are likely to experience a longer review period.

How It Works

Book online

Book online for just $325 and get started immediately

 

Send your documents

We’ll provide a list of documents to send directly to the bank

Get your bank account

Your account will be opened, in most cases in under 10 business days. You will receive your IBAN, get access to your online account, and you’ll be sent a debit and credit card via international mail.

Fund your account

Transfer €1000 to your account within 5 business days. Once you live in Portugal, you can reduce this amount.

Need Your NIF?

You will need a Portuguese tax identification number, or Número de Identificaçao Fiscal (NIF), to apply for your Portuguese bank account. We can help with that too!

Frequently asked questions

You will need to provide all of the below in scanned PDF, in a small file size (under 1MB per file), and will need to send all via email directly to the bank:

  • Passport
  • Proof of address (tax return, utility bill, driver’s license, or bank statement)
  • 3 most recent months of statements proving financial assets
  • NIF
  • (USA only) signed W9
  • Proof of income (employer letter, proof of business ownership, or most recent 3 months of paystubs or retirement income)
  • Latest tax return
  • Portugal lease agreement, if you have one
  • Portugal visa, if you have one

 

You will also need to send the following written information:

  • Personal information: marital status, name of father and mother, educational degrees, profession, employment status, telephone, and email
  • Expected number and amounts of transactions and bank of origin for any transfers

Some nationalities, professions, and names are likely to trigger a compliance procedure by the bank, which may result in a longer wait time before your account can be opened. In particular, nationals of South American and Asian countries (including Turkey) may need to clear the compliance procedure. Anyone working in the banking industry may need to clear compliance. There are also some names and surnames which could trigger the compliance procedure.

 

If you must go through the compliance procedure, the timeline to open an account is likely to take several weeks, although it is variable. If you have any questions about this, please send an email to [email protected].

The minimum initial deposit amount does change occasionally due to bank policy. If it is less than €1000 we will let you know upon booking. It will not be more than €1000. You need to make the initial deposit within 5 business days or your account will be closed and the process will need to be re-started.

You need to send all required documents in PDF form and all scanned documents must be clear and easy to read, on a white background. You should submit all documents to the bank at the same time.

 

Preparing your documents well and submitting all of them at the same time will save time and lead to a faster approval.

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