While I’ve covered most of the cheap and easy to open personal bank accounts in major countries worldwide, I’ve been meaning to write a similar article about business banking products that can be opened from anywhere.
I want to be a bit more liberal with the “banking” term this time around, since most low-cost business checking accounts that are easy to open remotely for a large number of people are offered by fintech companies, often without full banking licenses.
Below I have listed the ones I’ve can think of myself that are relevant for the Nomad Gate community, but since I mostly follow the EU and US banking market, I’d be grateful for any additional tips globally!
Provides fully insured bank account with German IBAN
Open to freelancers (not registered businesses) across all the 22 EEA countries where N26 operates
No/very low fees
You can’t have two N26 accounts in the EU, so you have to choose between either a personal or freelancer account. My personal recommendation would be to use N26 for your private banking, and use TransferWise, Revolut or Holvi for your business activity.
Popular bank in the Netherlands, which also offers corporate accounts in the Netherlands and Germany , as well as accounts for freelancers in a handful other EU countries
Business accounts are €9.90/month, plus transaction costs
Reasonably priced e-money account, based in Lithuania
While it probably wouldn’t be my first option, Paysera is still a viable option if your business needs an EUR account and does not qualify for any of the options above.
Claims to support over 180 countries, but that might no longer be the case. I’ve reached out to Paysera to get more information about where they now accept companies from.
Let me know if you know any other good options, or if you have any feedback about any of the ones I listed above!
What does it mean that N26 is only for Europea countries? Apart from the fact that only payments within Europe/SEPA are supported.
For those who’s born in Europe?
For those is currently, for 2 weeks, staying in Europe? And if not 2 weeks, but 1 month? If not 1 months, but 3 months?
For those who work in Europe but were born in some other country?
For those who live in Europe? How long is condired “live” vs “stay”? Where is the definite edge between “short term in Europe” and “live in Europe”? Does N26 itself give that strict definition?
I’m not from Europe, nor am in Europe currently. But my passport is on the list of supported countries. However, I still don’t get it what that list is all about.
On their website it says during registration “Country of residence” What residence, first of all? Permanent only? Or temporary as well?
It means that you need to be a resident of one of the European countries N26 support. If you try to sign up from a country they don’t support they will put you on the waitlist for that country.
If you want a personal account with them you can also sign up as a UK or US resident.
In practice you just need to have an address (temporarily) in the country you claim to be a resident, but ideally it should be your home base.
So not true. TW accepts businesses in almost all countries, it’s the most open platform available. It even accepts businesses in classic offshore jurisdictions (BVI, Belize, Seychelles, etc.) as long as the business is legit. There are only a few countries that are not accepted (e.g. Afghanistan, Cuba, Hong Kong).
Neat is not limited to HK registered businesses only. They will open accounts for businesses in many other countries, including classic offshore jurisdictions.
You misunderstood. The page you linked to lists the countries in which payments work (i.e. countries you can pay to or receive from). It’s NOT a list of acceptable countries for business account opening. Paysera does NOT accept classic offshore jurisdictions anymore. They have accepted these a few years back, but that’s no longer the case, regardless of the business type/category.
Yes, you’re right, of course! I mixed this up before hitting publish on my post. What I listed initially was the countries where you can get bank details. You can get a TW for Business account as long as your country/state isn’t listed here.
Thanks for the correction! The full list of supported countries is available here, and lists:
Australia
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Denmark
France
Germany
Hong Kong (we also accept sole proprietors registered in Hong Kong)
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
New Zealand
Singapore
Spain
United Kingdom
Gotcha! It has been a few years since I used them myself. From their pricing page it seems they accept classic IBC jurisdictions, but charge higher fees (€100 to open the account, then €10 monthly). Do you know of a list of supported countries that’s up to date? I already reached out to them but haven’t heard back yet.
Of course. What was trying to say is that their policy is that you need to be resident in one of their markets to open and keep your account. In practice you may very well get away with just having a (temporary) address in the EU.
Resident means legally resident, meaning you live there legally (it can be short-term or permanent). For some nationalities (especially if you open an account with a German address) they will actually enforce this by checking for a residence permit upon account opening—but for most nationalities this isn’t actually checked.
Again, that’s not in line with their policy, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work (depending on your nationality and what country you open the account in).
Will it work long-term? Again, it depends.
Are you mostly nomadic or only use the card while traveling? Then perhaps.
Are you using the card for day-to-day expenses for 6 months or more in a single location that’s not one of their markets? Then they will probably reach out and ask you to explain the situation and might close your account if you can’t come up with a satisfactory response.
Would I recommend it? That depends on your own personal risk tolerance, and how readily you can access good banking products where you’re actually based.
In general, I would be very careful not to rely exclusively on a single bank as your sole source of funds. Always keep enough funds in another bank account or e-wallet to get you by for a month or two in case of issues, or while you wait for them to process a potential account closure. That is an essential precaution in any case, but even more so when bending the rules of a particular bank.
Perhaps. I think that might be pushing it a bit, but say you’re on a 90 day Schengen visa and stay in a single place the whole time, then you might be more justified in arguing that you’re a temporary resident. At the end of the day it’s up to N26 to define, and I’m not sure if they have done that or not.
However, even in your 7 day example, you would also cease to be a resident after the 7 days, meaning N26 could then close your account. As mentioned, you also need to be a resident to keep your account. That is the official policy.
Again, what you’ll get away with in practice is a completely different thing.
Hi there, thank you for your constant help.
Just wanted to let you know you might want to consider Qonto, operating in some EU countries (couldn’t find how many, I’m sure about at least Italy, France, Germany).
I am very happy with the online interface and the app too.
Let me know what you think.
Cheers, Gert
This is a great list. I personaly use Transferwise for Business and it works great and can definitely recommend that! Our only problem is that our company is registered in Cyprus (Was registered there because we lived there for 3 years) and Cyprus is the only country within Europe where Transferwise doesnt support giving you USD banking details. And most of our clients (All in Africa) prefer to operate and pay in USD making it a bit tricky for us. Some of our clients is able to get their bank to conver the payment to EUR before sending it but not all and it gives them quite high cost. So would be great with a USD account solution somewhere. You know any? (Except PayPal which is super expensive as well)
Note that even if TW gave you a USD account you still wouldn’t be able to receive USD from Africa. TW only accepts incoming USD wires from a list of 48 countries, none of them in Africa.
Revolut for Business will open an account for Cyprus entities. They will provide you with a dedicated UK IBAN that can receive incoming wires in many currencies (without any conversions required), including USD.
UK LLP has to pay taxes on UK sourced income, US LLC with single owner are transparent (disregarded entities), if there is more than one, they have to pay normal corporation tax. In the UK, high-street banks need the director to be UK resident, so banks like Barclays will not give you an account. I have never used Revolut so I cannot comment, but it sounds interesting.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge . can i use N26 and Paysera ? , as i am a e-resident of estonia but originally from India and registered business with virtual office or what options an e-resident have other than transferwise?Thanks in advance…Wirewallet is asking 700euro to get me a euro account. i have agreed to pay before paying them i need your advice.
