UK bank account for non-EU national

[the_lone_wolf]

Hi all,

Bit of a strange question but I'm sure if anybody knows the answer it'll be in the Finance section on PH...

My girlfriend is Croatian, I'm British. Been together a year or so now, met in the south of France working on yachts and are planning to go back this summer (just been offered a good job)

Now, after this year we plan to settle in the UK, so I'm happy to have my wages paid into my regular UK bank account. Things are slightly different for the GF, her bank have different accounts for people who want to pay in foreign currency or use the internet to manage the account, so we need to set up a new account anyway.

My thought was to set one up in the UK so that the money is in GBP, it's managed via the internet and pretty much ready to go once we return and settle permanently in England. Setting up an account in the UK is incredibly easy compared to setting one up in France or Croatia

So, which banks will open an account for a non-EU national, offer internet banking and, if possible, give a reasonable interest rate on any savings (assuming we work until late in the year, earnings will be ~€30k each)

Would there be any mileage in approaching my bank (of many years) and asking them what they could do?

Edited by the_lone_wolf on Wednesday 1st February 22:50

[richtea78]

Im not sure from your post but are you going to be back in the UK when you open it as I think most banks want to see a UK residential address.Certainly when I was doing account openings but that was 15 years ago

They will also want to see a lot of ID now, passport, proof of address etc.

Im virtually definite they wont open an account by any other medium than a face to face chat and be prepared to provide lots of evidence of where the money came from

Its now much harder to open a bank account because of all the financial crime stuff that has to be done.

[the_lone_wolf]

Yeah, I figured if there was an easy way it would be advertised on their websites more obviously...

We're currently in the UK until March so actually going and speaking to banks isn't an issue, and we're using my parent's house as a UK based for post and stuff

Got plenty of ID and paperwork, passport, ID card etc, but none of it tying to a UK address

I think the proper answer is to speak to the banks and see what they say...

[richtea78]

I would, if you are looking to open an account with a reasonable sum of money they will do everything they can to get it for you as most banks give the staff a bonus for it

I think the proof of address is going to be a show stopper though personally.

[the_lone_wolf]

Yep, the more I look the more it seems it could be a bit of a ballache

Will give my two banks a shot, who knows, might get lucky, will report back if anything works...

[jeff m2]

Channel Islands will take your money;D
Try Standard Chartered.

Onshore I have a Barclays, that was opened as a non resident, they happily post my statements here. (here, being the US)