You Have a Legal Right to a Bank Account in the EU — How to Use It
By the NorwegianSpark Editorial Team · Written with AI assistance.
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One of the most common experiences of moving countries is being told, at a bank counter, that an account is not possible because you are foreign. Inside the European Union that statement is usually wrong — and knowing precisely why is worth more than any comparison table.
There is an EU-wide entitlement to a basic payment account. It is not a hardship product or a charity scheme. It is an ordinary current account with a card, and it is enforceable.
The entitlement, and how broadly it is drawn
The source is Directive 2014/92/EU, which gives the right to consumers legally resident in the Union — expressly including third-country nationals and people with no fixed address — prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of residence, and requires that such accounts be offered free of charge or for a reasonable fee.
Read the qualifying test carefully, because this is the part almost nobody knows: it is legal residence in the Union, not legal residence in the particular country where you are standing. A legally resident non-national of one Member State asking for an account in another is inside the category, not outside it.
The Member States then implement it, and the details differ in ways worth knowing before you walk in.
| Spain | Poland | |
|---|---|---|
| Instrument | Royal Decree-Law 19/2017 | Payment Services Act (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 623) |
| Maximum fee | €3 per month | Free for domestic transactions |
| Free allowance | — | 5 transfers + 5 external-ATM withdrawals per month |
| Decision deadline | Not specified in the same terms | 10 business days |
| Tying permitted? | No | Expressly prohibited |
Spain
Royal Decree-Law 19/2017 extends the right to persons legally resident in the EU, to asylum seekers, to people without a residence permit whose expulsion is legally or factually impossible, and to clients with no fixed address.
The listed services are broader than the label implies: account opening, use and closure; cash deposits; cash withdrawals at ATMs across the EU; debit or prepaid card operations including online payments; and transfers and standing orders — with no quantity limit.
The maximum fee is €3 a month under Orden ECE/228/2019, and the account is free for holders in situations of vulnerability or at risk of financial exclusion for two years from recognition, extendable by two more.
Refusal is limited to three grounds: anti-money-laundering documentation failure, national security or public order, or already holding an equivalent account in Spain.
Poland
Poland's Payment Services Act obliges any provider offering consumer payment accounts to offer a basic payment account, and hedges it about with protections that are unusually concrete:
- It cannot be conditioned on buying another product or on declaring a minimum inflow.
- The provider must conclude the contract or refuse within 10 business days.
- It is free of charge for domestic payment transactions.
- Fees are permitted only beyond five transfers and five withdrawals at other providers' ATMs per month.
And the termination provision confirms the point about residence: a bank may terminate where the consumer is not legally resident in the territory of a Member State. Again — a Member State, not Poland.
What it is not
It is not credit. There is no overdraft, no credit card and no borrowing attached. It is also not the account with the cashback, the travel insurance and the airport lounge pass; banks are not obliged to give you their best product, only a working one.
What it gets you is the thing that actually blocks life abroad: an IBAN to receive a salary, a card that works, direct debits for rent and utilities, and cash access. In Poland it also gets you into the domestic payment system, which matters more there than most places — BLIK is delivered through participating banks' own apps and is, on the National Bank of Poland's assessment, the most frequently chosen payment method in Polish e-commerce.
How to actually invoke it
Most refusals are not decisions to deny you the statutory account. They are a branch employee applying the onboarding script for the bank's standard product, which genuinely may require residency, a local tax number, or a document you do not have. The two conversations are different, and merging them is why so many people walk away believing the door is shut.
A workable sequence:
- Name the product. Ask specifically for the basic payment account — cuenta de pago básica in Spain, podstawowy rachunek płatniczy in Poland. Asking for "an account" gets you the standard script.
- Bring identification that is actually on the legal list. In Spain, Royal Decree 304/2014 accepts a residence card, a foreigner identity card, a passport, or for EU and EEA citizens their home-country official identity document. A NIE is not a statutory precondition for identification, whatever a given bank's policy says. Note that several Spanish banks will not accept the paper NIE assignment slip and want the card or the EU registration certificate.
- Get the refusal in writing, with the ground. The lawful grounds are a short, closed list. A written refusal either names one of them or fails to.
- Escalate to the right body. In Spain that is Banco de España's Complaints Service, which supervises institutions' own customer-service departments. In Poland, note that the financial supervisor KNF acts ex officio rather than on a customer's motion — a complaint to KNF is not itself a basis for supervisory action in your individual case, so individual redress runs through the Financial Ombudsman and consumer-protection route instead. Knowing which door to knock on saves weeks.
Outside the EU, the ground shifts
This entitlement is a creature of EU law, and it stops at the EU's edge. The contrast is instructive if you are choosing between destinations.
In Mexico there is no equivalent right. Identification rules set under Article 115 of the Ley de Instituciones de Crédito establish what a foreign national must present — a passport, a document from the Instituto Nacional de Migración accrediting migratory status, and proof of address — but the decision to open an account remains commercial. Issuer practice varies accordingly: Scotiabank México publishes migration tiers running from visitor through temporary to permanent resident, accepts visitor status for opening an account, and asks separately for proof of income where credit is involved.
So in the EU you can insist and cite the instrument. Outside it you are negotiating, and your leverage is documentation, local income and choosing the right bank rather than the nearest one.
The gap before the account, and how to bridge it
Even at ten business days, there is a window between arriving and banking — and if your onboarding stalls on a document, it stretches. Meanwhile rent is due and income is arriving in the wrong currency.
A Wise multi-currency account holds and converts across currencies at a disclosed mark-up, which covers receiving income in one currency and spending in another while your local account is pending. Airwallex does the same for business income across several countries. Our multi-currency account versus travel credit card comparison sets out where each approach fits, and how to set up a Wise multi-currency card covers the setup.
The honest framing: these are stored-balance products, not bank accounts and not credit. They will not build a local credit record, they do not carry the statutory protections described above, and in Poland they will not get you BLIK. Use one to stop the gap costing you money — not as a reason to skip the local account you are entitled to.
The Bottom Line
If you are legally resident anywhere in the EU, a basic payment account is an entitlement in every Member State, and the qualifying test is EU residence rather than residence in that particular country. It comes with a functioning card, EU-wide ATM access, transfers and direct debits; in Spain it costs no more than €3 a month and in Poland it is free for domestic use within generous limits.
Ask for it by name, identify yourself with a document that is actually on the statutory list, and if you are refused, get the ground in writing and check it against the closed list of lawful reasons. Being foreign is not on that list.
And keep the two questions apart. Getting an account in the EU is a matter of law. Getting credit is a matter of local income and a local file you do not yet have — a slower problem, and a different one.
This is information, not financial advice, and not legal advice on an individual case. Implementing rules, fee caps and bank procedures change between Member States and over time. Confirm current terms with the institution and the relevant national regulator.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who exactly has the right to a basic payment account in the EU?
Directive 2014/92/EU gives the right to consumers legally resident in the Union, and it says so in deliberately broad terms — the category expressly includes third-country nationals and people with no fixed address. It also prohibits discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of residence. Spain's implementing legislation spells the same breadth out: Royal Decree-Law 19/2017 extends the right to persons legally resident in the EU, asylum seekers, people without a residence permit whose expulsion is legally or factually impossible, and clients with no fixed address. The key point most people miss is that the qualifying test is legal residence somewhere in the Union — not residence in the specific country where you are asking for the account.
What does a basic payment account actually include?
More than the name suggests. Under Spain's implementing rules the account covers opening, use and closure, cash deposits, cash withdrawals at ATMs anywhere in the EU, debit or prepaid card operations including online payments, and transfers and standing orders — with no quantity limit on those services. Poland's version is free of charge for domestic payment transactions, with fees permitted only beyond five transfers a month and five withdrawals a month at other providers' ATMs. What it does not include is credit. There is no overdraft, no credit card and no borrowing attached to it. It is a functioning current account with a card, which is what you need to receive a salary, pay rent and live normally.
Can a bank refuse me a basic payment account?
Only on narrow grounds, and being foreign is not one of them. Spain's Royal Decree-Law 19/2017 limits refusal to three situations: failure of anti-money-laundering documentation, national security or public order concerns, or the applicant already holding an equivalent account in Spain. Poland's Payment Services Act works the same way, with refusal grounds tied to anti-money-laundering, sanctions and supervisory warning-list matters, plus already holding an equivalent account. Poland additionally requires the provider to conclude the contract or refuse within 10 business days, and forbids conditioning the account on buying another product or declaring a minimum inflow. If you are refused, ask for the reason in writing and check it against that list.
Does this right exist outside the EU?
Not in this form. The entitlement comes from an EU directive, so it exists across the Member States and not beyond them. In Mexico, for instance, there is no equivalent statutory right to an account: identification rules under Article 115 of the Ley de Instituciones de Crédito set out what documents a foreign national must present — passport, a migration document from the Instituto Nacional de Migración, and proof of address — but whether to open the account remains the bank's commercial decision. That difference is worth planning around. In the EU you can insist; outside it you are negotiating, and your leverage is documentation and local income.