Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi
Question
Hi, I have a NIE and need a Spanish IBAN number. What bank can “a US citizen with a Spanish NIE” open online account from the US? Preferably the zero fees online account?
The hurdle is a lot of Spanish banks have a tick-box that says “do you have US citizenship/residency/tax/born in US” (foreign banks don’t like dealing with US clients because the US has strict banking laws/tax that ask overseas banks for too much private data). For example, the BBVA App says I need show docs that I will renounce US citizenship or get denied.
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Start the Moving to Spain Hub →I tried opening these online and had a roadblock: BBVA, Bankia, Bankinter, ING, N26, Santander… any other suggestions?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“I went to three Sabadell banks. Two denied me and the last one eventually let me open one with my USA passport. But i needed to use a friend’s address and number.”
“BBVA sends that but you should try calling and talking to them, I got an email like that once when making acct and they told me to disregard it”
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Explore Cities →“Deutsche opened our account in Valencia with just our passports but, we were physically in the bank. I don’t know about on line. This was early 2019.”
“Once you have your NIE card (TIE), you can open an account online with N26 . It has a Spanish IBAN, and you only need to take pictures of your NIE card. There’s no fees.”
“Go with ING it is no fee if you have min 500 with monthly direct income or 2K without monthly direct income. It is simple! I am a US citizen and was asked to write my SSN on the paper. It is fine by me because the purpose is showing those money are clean.”
“I believe this blog post may be helpful, check it out! https://spainguru.es/2021/09/11/alternatives-to-a-traditional-spanish-bank-account-and-money-transfer-services-account/“
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