this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2026
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Moving away: close your bank account, you must live in the country to have a bank account here.

Moving to: you must open a bank account here, we don't accept foreign IBANs

Using a banking application: you must have US ~~tech~~ spyware on your phone, otherwise we don't consider it secure.

We need a European federation. I want to be able to move somewhere with my European bank account, get paid by European employer, pay with my European money using a European payment system without having to tell some other non-European country all about it.

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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I already have and am now more than a year into a process against a bank here with no end in sight. If I were to fight against all banks, it would take me a life time. There are many banks I have complained to but the most you can get most of the time is a tired "it's for security", "it's for compliance", "we do our best to serve our customers but we cannot serve the needs of everybody", and so on. Believe me when I say, it's far from "all" banks that follow the rule.

Here's an example from France "La Banque Postale"

Pour commencer, pouvez-vous nous confirmer que :

• Vous êtes majeur capable • Vous êtes résident fiscal français sans obligation fiscale dans un autre pays

which translate to

To begin, could you please confirm that:

  • You are a legal adult with full capacity
  • You are a French tax resident with no tax obligations in another country"

The next one in the search results was "Credit Agricole". To open a bank account, you need to enter your postal code and it only accepts French post codes.

Did the same with German banks, Spanish, even Slovak banks. If you're outside of the country, chances are you cannot open a bank account. That's the problem I have with being in the European Union and not in the European Federation or European Republic.

[–] VisionScout@lemmy.wtf 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

You are a French tax resident with no tax obligations in another country"

I assume this is the problem, right? You will only became a tax resident when you live 180 days in the country (check the number of days). This means that in the near future they will ask you to prove that you are tax resident.

If you check the documents to open an account you just need:

  • une pièce d'identité en cours de validité (Eng: a valid identity document)
  • un justificatif de domicile récent (Eng: proof of recent domicile)
  • les derniers justificatifs de revenus pourront vous être demandés. (Eng: You may be asked for the latest income receipts.)

https://www.labanquepostale.fr/particulier/comptes-et-cartes/ouvrir-un-compte/pieces-justificatives.html

I moved between EU countries and between EUR and non-EUR, and even because of business had to go to another country for opening an account (without even had lived there) and never had troubles.

Anyway as an immigrant/expat it's always better to do this kind of stuff in person, as the online templates are usually for the most common client - the natives.

The next one in the search results was “Credit Agricole”. To open a bank account, you need to enter your postal code

Off course, to where do you want for them to send the letters?

and it only accepts French post codes.

Again, go to the physical location and they will let you open. I have done that (not with those banks and not in france).