Hi,

Good to see there’s a site out there that deals with the multitude of questions around living in Spain as an expat.

I recently got married to a Spaniard and am a UK citizen (I have a home address there and work only for UK clients as a self-employed individual currently). I travel to and from Spain and the UK often, but now that I’m married, I’m starting to think we should open a joint-account and I should maybe base myself in Spain more permanently (even though it makes no sense from a tax perspective as all my income comes from the UK).

BBVA told me I couldn’t open up a joint account unless I’m a resident in Spain as I need a NIE. However, I’m reluctant to officially move to Spain as a resident as the deal for ‘autonomos’ is seriously crap and the bureaucracy in comparison to the UK system is a joke. So, I’m wondering if there are other banks out there that allow married couples of which only one is registered in Spain as a resident (my wife) to open a joint account so I can withdraw from ATM machines out there?

Any advice appreciated,

Osu

Hi Osu,

Opening a bank account without NIE and job contract can be tricky. I would recommend trying Banco Sabadell as it may not bother you a lot about this things. However I’m not sure if you can open a bank account as a resident. My friend used to have a bank account there (before he returned back home) and was happy with their services. He said the normally don’t ask many questions 😊

As an option to joint account I could recommend registering your wife as an authorized person (persona autorizada). She can have debit/credit card on her name, she would have same access rights to the account as you (deposit/withdraw/etc). Another benefit is that you don’t have to open a new account for this. This works for my family really well. And that would probably cost no extra money.