I run Portugalist, and this question comes up more than almost any other. Usually from people who need an account for a residency visa (e.g. the D7 or Digital Nomad Visa). Occasionally from people buying property here.
So here’s what I’d actually do.
If you’re a non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizen — which includes Americans and Canadians — I’d take one of two routes:
- Use an online account-opening service. Currently from around €290. Two to four weeks, handled from home.
- Use a lawyer — if you’re already paying for a visa package, let them fold it in with everything else.
I wouldn’t fly to Portugal just to open an account unless one of these applies:
- I was already coming. Then it’s worth an attempt.
- I needed the account in two weeks or less and had no alternative. In person is the only same-day route.
- I was an EU citizen — or, at a push, British. EU citizens tend to be accepted fairly easily. And despite Brexit, so do many Brits.
For everyone else, the trip costs more than the service and you can still be turned down. I’ve known people to visit five banks in a week and get rejected at all five.
Open a Portuguese Bank Account For €290
Start earlier than you think you need to
One thing before the detail, because it’s the mistake I see most.
Your visa application needs a statement from a Portuguese account showing your savings. The account has to exist before the statement can. If it takes six weeks instead of two, everything else waits — and consulate appointments aren’t easy to move.
Most remote openings complete in two to four weeks. Allow up to two months anyway.
Compliance departments have tightened considerably on non-resident applications over the last few years, and ten weeks is not unheard of. Two months isn’t a pessimistic estimate. It’s a realistic one.
Things also go wrong in ways you wouldn’t predict. The most common problem isn’t the application — it’s getting logged in afterward. Portuguese banks send verification codes by text message, and those texts have a habit of never arriving at US cell phone numbers. You end up with an open account you can’t access, chasing a bank across a five-hour time difference. It gets resolved. It takes a couple of weeks it didn’t need to take.
Add August to that. Portugal largely stops working for a month, and if your file lands on a compliance officer’s desk on August 1st, it sits there.
Also: get your NIF number now if you don’t have one. You can’t open a bank account without it, and most services take at least a few days to get one.
Why it has to be a Portuguese bank
This trips people up, particularly Americans, who quite reasonably ask why a statement from a large US bank isn’t good enough.
It comes down to what the person reviewing your file trusts. A Portuguese bank operates under Portuguese and EU supervision, and its statements are in a format consulate and AIMA staff read every day. A statement from a foreign institution is something they have to take on faith, and they’d rather not.
There are exceptions to every rule here. I have seen people submit statements from American banks, from Wise, from all sorts of places, and get approved. But that’s the exception, and it usually comes down to a particular consulate or a particular case worker on a particular day. But a Portuguese account is the safest option, and it’s the one I’d go with.
Why you can’t just Open An Account online
You’ll find Portuguese banks advertising online account opening. Millennium bcp has a page for it. ActivoBank is built around it.
Try either and you’ll hit the same wall, in the same place: the form asks for a Cartão de Cidadão — the Portuguese citizen card or a Residency Authorization Card.
You don’t have either of these yet.
Confusingly, you may still be able to open an account in person at the same bank whose website just turned you away, because a human being at a desk can accept a passport where the form can’t. Whether that works depends on the branch, the day, and who you sit down with. More on that below.
The three routes, in more detail
1. An online account-opening service
Companies like Novomove and Anchorless open accounts remotely on your behalf. You send documents, they deal with the bank, and the account arrives in two to four weeks.
Here’s the part that explains why this works and walking into a branch often doesn’t. These companies have relationships with specific people inside the bank — staff who understand non-resident applications and process them routinely. Walk into a branch yourself and you get whoever’s on the desk. That person deals with local customers all day, may never have opened a non-resident account, and has no particular incentive to work out how.
You’re not paying for a form to be filled in. You’re paying for access to the one person in the building who knows what they’re doing.
Have your paperwork ready before you start.
Anti-money-laundering rules mean compliance departments scrutinize non-resident applications hard, and they’ll want to see where your money came from. Not just a balance — a history. Pay stubs, tax returns, pension statements, a property sale contract, whatever applies. Assembling it up front is the single biggest thing you can do to keep the process moving, because every request for another document adds a week.
2. A lawyer, usually as part of a visa package
If you’re already paying an immigration lawyer for your D7, D8, or Golden Visa, they’ll typically include the bank account.
It’s often slightly more expensive than handling this piece separately — but not always. Some lawyers charge about the same as an online service, and a few come in cheaper. It’s worth asking directly.
And if you’ve already opened an account separately, ask them to deduct it. Most will take the account-opening fee off their package price rather than charge you for work you’ve already done. Plenty of people don’t think to ask.
A lawyer is also the route if you want a specific bank. Online services will open you an account with a bank they work with; they generally won’t let you choose which one. Lawyers have wider relationships — Abanca, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, and Bison Bank all come up, depending on who they work with.
3. Coming to Portugal and opening in person
If you’re flying here specifically for this, add up the airfare, the accommodation, the meals, the car. You’ll spend more than the service costs, and you can still be turned down.
If you’re already coming, try it.
Just go in knowing two things: rejections are common, and even a yes can eat half a day, sometimes a full one. If you’re here on a short scouting trip, weigh that against the time you’d otherwise spend working out where you actually want to live or viewing rentals — those are the things you can’t do from another continent.
What documents you’ll need
Roughly the same list whichever route you take, and worth assembling before you start rather than in response to emails.
Always:
- Passport or national ID card. EU/EEA citizens can use a national ID; everyone else needs a passport.
- Your NIF. Non-negotiable. Get it first if you don’t have one.
- Proof of address. A utility bill, bank statement, or council tax document from where you currently live, usually issued within the last three months. Your home address is fine — you don’t need a Portuguese one.
- Your home country tax number. Social Security Number for Americans, SIN for Canadians, National Insurance number for Brits.
Usually, and increasingly:
- Proof of profession or income. Banks want to understand where your money comes from, and what they ask for depends on your situation:
- Employed — an employment contract, a recent pay stub, or a letter from your employer
- Self-employed or a business owner — business registration and recent tax returns
- Retired — a pension statement or award letter
- Not currently working — a declaration of your status plus evidence of whatever income or savings you’re living on
- Student — proof of enrollment, and usually evidence of who’s supporting you
This last category catches people out, particularly anyone between jobs or recently retired. “Unemployed” isn’t a problem in itself — banks open accounts for people without salaries all the time. Not being able to explain your income is the problem.
It ties back to the source-of-funds point above: the bank is building a picture of who you are financially. The more coherent that picture is when you hand it over, the faster this goes.
Worth having: a Portuguese phone number. Not always required to open the account, but Portuguese banks send security codes by text, and those messages are unreliable to US numbers. It’s hard to get a Portuguese sim card from abroad, but something to consider if you’re already coming to Portugal.
How long it takes
Turnaround varies more by nationality than by provider:
| Applicant | Typical timeline |
|---|---|
| US citizens | Usually 2–3 weeks |
| Canadian and other non-EU Western passports | Broadly similar, sometimes faster |
| UK citizens | Fastest — often at the quick end of 2–4 weeks |
| Most other nationalities | Frequently over a month |
Some nationalities face real obstacles regardless of route. Applicants from Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Nepal, Syria, and Iraq are commonly declined outright by both banks and services. It isn’t a judgment on the individual — it’s compliance departments applying blanket rules. If that’s you, talk to a lawyer before paying anyone, because some can find options that services can’t.
Applicants from other developing countries frequently struggle too, even where the nationality isn’t on anyone’s exclusion list.
What this is actually going to cost you
Worth being upfront, because the gap between doing this at home and doing it here surprises people.
Opening an account in your own country: free. Probably online. Possibly finished before your coffee.
Opening one in Portugal as a non-resident:
- €290 for a remote opening service (at the cheaper end)
- €250 deposit — this is yours, it stays in the account, it’s not a fee
- €5–€15 a month in account fees thereafter (you can downgrade from a premium bank account later on)
So call it €290 in real cost, plus a monthly fee you’ll almost certainly reduce later.
On that monthly fee: I’d pay it rather than chase the cheapest tier. The mid-range accounts at both main banks come with a dedicated English-speaking account manager, and when you’re new here and don’t yet know how anything works, having one person you can email is worth considerably more than the €10 a month it costs. You can strip the account back once you’re settled.
What happens once you’ve signed up
Roughly what the next few weeks look like:
1. You send your documents. The list is above. Scans, usually — and worth knowing that some banking managers won’t accept photos taken on a phone, only proper scans. Get this right first time and you’ll save a week.
2. The provider submits your file. This is where compliance either waves it through or comes back asking for more. The better your paperwork, the shorter this stage.
3. A video call, sometimes. Some banks want a short verification call. It’s brief and in English.
4. You send the opening deposit. Usually €250. See below on the best way to move money.
5. The account opens. You get your IBAN and your online banking logins. The debit card is either mailed to you or requested through the portal once you’re in.
Step five is where the text-message problem shows up, so don’t assume you’re finished the moment you get the email. You’re finished when you’ve logged in successfully.
Funding the account for your visa
Once the account is open, you need to put money in it.
How much?
Consulates expect to see a lump sum equal to at least twelve months of the Portuguese minimum wage for the main applicant. For couples or families, the following normally applies.
Always ask your immigration lawyer or relocation assistant how much they recommend.
| Single applicant | €11,040 | around $12,609 | around £9,465 | around CAD$17,746 |
| Couple | €16,560 | around $18,914 | around £14,197 | around CAD$26,619 |
| + each dependent child | €3,312 | around $3,783 | around £2,840 | around CAD$5,324 |
| + each dependent parent | €5,520 | around $6,305 | around £4,733 | around CAD$8,873 |
Getting the money there
You can wire it straight from your US bank. Nothing wrong with that, and some people prefer it — one institution, one paper trail, no third party.
Personally I’d use Wise. The exchange rate and fees on an international wire from a US bank to a euro account are usually worse than most people realize, and on €15,000 the difference is real money.
To be clear, that’s Wise as a way to move the money into your Portuguese account — not as a substitute for the account itself, which it isn’t. But it’s a preference, not a requirement. If you’d rather keep everything inside your own bank for peace of mind, that’s a perfectly reasonable call.
Whichever you use, make sure the transfer is traceable and comes from an account in your own name. Money arriving from a third party is exactly what triggers compliance questions.
Is the money locked up?
No. This is the question I get asked most about funding, and the answer is that it’s your account and your money. The bank doesn’t freeze it. You can spend it, move it, or use it for living costs.
And yes — if your visa is refused, you can get your money out. The account is yours regardless of what the consulate decides.
The only real constraint is timing: the balance needs to be there, and to have been there for a little while, when you produce the statement for your application.
Millennium bcp or Novo Banco?
These are the two banks nearly every remote service uses, so in practice this is the only bank choice most readers face.
Worth noting: a number of providers have moved from Novo Banco to Millennium bcp over the past year or so. Those relationships don’t usually change, so when several shift in the same direction, it tells you something about which bank is easier to work with on non-resident accounts. Millennium is now the default for most remote openings.
Millennium bcp is the larger of the two — roughly 695 branches — and has the longer continuous history. Its Prestige tier includes a dedicated account manager.
Novo Banco has around 350 branches. It was created in 2014 out of the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo, so it’s a younger institution than its size suggests. Its Golden Key accounts also come with dedicated managers.
Both will satisfy your visa requirement. Both offer mortgages, insurance, and credit cards once you’re established.
If you’re moving somewhere rural
This is the one situation where the choice genuinely matters, and it’s worth thinking about before you open anything.
Banking in Portugal is still a face-to-face business.
Not everything can be done in the app. Mortgages, credit cards, disputes, anything unusual — you’ll end up in a branch, talking to a person, probably more than once. That’s fine in Lisbon. It’s a different proposition in the interior, the Azores, or Madeira, where your bank may be the only one in town or a forty-minute drive away.
If you’re headed somewhere remote, look at which banks actually have branches there before you commit. Millennium has the widest coverage across the country, with Novo Banco next. Local and regional banks are worth a look too — in smaller places, the branch you can walk into beats the app you can’t get support for.
What about Atlântico Europa?
It comes up, so it’s worth addressing.
Banco Atlântico Europa was popular with people opening remotely around 2020 and 2021, when the alternatives had largely shut down. It still works for some people.
Since then, though, we’ve heard consistently about openings dragging on for months and emails going unanswered. If you’re starting a year or more ahead of your move and have time to spare, you could try it. If you have a visa appointment on the calendar, I wouldn’t. Use a paid service and remove the variable.
Opening in person: what actually happens
If you’re coming anyway, here’s what to expect.
We’ve seen people successfully open accounts as non-residents at Millennium bcp, Novo Banco, Santander, Abanca, and Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
We’ve also seen people visit all five and get rejected at every one.
There’s no reliable pattern. It depends on the bank, the branch, and sometimes the individual across the desk. Two people with near-identical paperwork can walk into the same institution and get opposite answers.
What does shift the odds:
- Nationality matters, unfairly. EU and EEA citizens have the easiest time. British applicants generally do fine. Americans struggle, largely because US reporting requirements — FATCA in particular — make American customers more expensive and more work to onboard. Canadians tend to have a smoother time than Americans, without that specific layer, though it’s still harder than an EU passport.
- Try more branches, not just more banks. A rejection at one branch is not a rejection by that bank. This is the most underused advice here.
- Make an appointment. Many branches require one.
- Bank hours are short. Typically 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays only.
- Bring everything. The full list is above. Bring originals, not photocopies, and bring more than you think you need.
- Budget the time. Even a yes can take half a day.
One for British readers: some people have had success at the Millennium bcp office at 63 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4N 4UA. Others have had success with Banco Santander Totta at 77 Piccadilly, London, W1J 8AY.
What if you get rejected?
It happens, and it’s rarely personal. Here’s the order I’d work through.
If you were turned down in a branch: try another branch of the same bank before you try another bank. Decisions are made locally, and a no in one office genuinely doesn’t mean a no from the institution. After that, work down the list — Millennium, Novo Banco, Santander, Abanca, Caixa Geral.
If you were turned down by an online service: ask why. If it’s a documentation issue, it’s fixable. If it’s a nationality policy, another service using the same bank will almost certainly say the same thing — so try a provider that works with a different bank instead.
If you’re from an excluded country: this is the point to speak to an immigration lawyer rather than another service. Lawyers have relationships that services don’t, and some can place clients that automated compliance screens reject outright. It costs more. It also works more often.
If nothing works remotely: coming to Portugal in person becomes the realistic option, with the caveats above. Bring more documentation than you think you need, book appointments in advance, and give yourself several days rather than one.
If your account isn’t ready in time
If your consulate appointment is approaching and the account still isn’t open, don’t cancel anything yet.
Consulates and VFS centers know about these delays — they see them constantly. A lawyer can issue a formal declaration for your appointment confirming that the account application has been submitted and is actively being processed, and in practice that’s usually accepted.
Treat it as a safety net, not a plan. It depends on the consulate and the case worker, and it’s not something you’d want to be relying on by choice. But if you’re in that position, it exists, and it’s worth a call to a lawyer before you assume the appointment is lost.
Wise, Revolut, and N26
All three are useful once you’re here — currency transfers, everyday spending, holding multiple currencies. None replaces a Portuguese bank account for a visa application.
- Wise isn’t a Portuguese bank account, and a Wise statement won’t reliably satisfy a consulate. It’s a good way to move money into one, though.
- Revolut now holds a Portuguese banking license and issues Portuguese IBANs — but only to customers legally resident in Portugal. As a non-resident you can’t open the local Portuguese account, which is the one you need. It becomes a good option after you move.
- N26 isn’t an option here at all.
If you’re buying property rather than moving
Most of this article assumes a visa application, but the second group who ask me about this are buyers.
The short version: you’ll want a Portuguese account, and the process for opening one is identical. What differs is the timing pressure and the amounts. You’ll need the account for the deposit, the completion payment, property taxes, and afterward for utilities and condominium fees — and if you’re financing, the mortgage will be with a Portuguese bank in any case.
If a purchase is already in motion, start the account earlier rather than later. Completion dates move, and an account that isn’t open yet is a bad reason to lose a property.
Once you’re a resident
Everything relaxes. You can switch banks, open an ActivoBank account for free banking, or downgrade to a conta de serviços mínimos bancários — the legally capped basic account, a little over €5 a year in 2026. Note that this generally requires you not to hold another current account. Banco de Portugal explains the rules here.
A word on expectations, though, because this is where Americans and Canadians tend to get frustrated.
Things move more slowly here. Partly because it’s Portugal, and partly because you’re new. A credit card is the clearest example: you’re unlikely to be offered a meaningful limit right away, and you’ll need to build a history with your bank first. Not a credit score — Portugal doesn’t have a FICO equivalent, and your American or Canadian score means nothing here. What counts is time, a salary or pension landing in the account, and a relationship with a branch that knows you.
That relationship is worth building deliberately, particularly if you’re going to want a mortgage. It’s another reason to be with a bank whose branch you can actually get to.
One local note: many Portuguese bank exclusively with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the state-owned bank, on the reasoning that a government-backed institution is the safest place to be if there’s another crisis. Whether or not that persuades you, it tells you something about how people here think about banks.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a NIF first? In almost all cases, yes. A bank may occasionally issue a temporary NIF, but don’t count on it. Many services can arrange both together at a bundled rate, or you can get your NIF separately first — which I’d do regardless.
Do I need a Portuguese address? No. Non-residents can open accounts using a foreign address. That’s what these services exist for.
Are my deposits protected? Yes — up to €100,000 per depositor, per institution, through the Fundo de Garantia de Depósitos. That protection applies whether or not you’re resident in Portugal. On a joint account the limit applies to each holder separately, so a couple is covered up to €200,000. Same standard as the rest of the EU. You can check the current rules at the Fundo de Garantia de Depósitos.
Why do I need a Portuguese account beyond the visa? Multibanco. Portugal’s payment network handles utility bills, taxes, transport, and subscriptions through reference numbers paid via your bank or a Multibanco terminal. Living here without a local account is possible and thoroughly inconvenient.
Thinking about Moving to Portugal?