How to Open a Bank Account in Greece as a Foreigner

You can open a bank account in Greece as a foreigner — the law is firmly on your side — but there is one hard gate that almost nobody warns you about: no Greek bank will open anything until you hold a Greek tax number, the AFM (Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου). Greece took in a net 54,135 new residents in 2024 — 132,149 arrivals against 78,014 departures, according to the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) — and nearly every one of them who wanted to get paid, rent a flat or pay a utility bill hit the same wall first. This guide walks you through the whole path, in order.

Once you have the AFM in hand, opening the account itself is a fairly mechanical sequence. Here is the whole procedure at a glance before we go through each part in detail.

Can a foreigner open a bank account in Greece?

Yes. Any foreigner can open a bank account in Greece, and anyone lawfully resident in the EU has a legal right to a basic payment account (βασικός λογαριασμός πληρωμών) that a bank must grant, or refuse in writing, within 10 working days (Law 4465/2017). The one non-negotiable prerequisite is a Greek tax number, the AFM.

The right is stronger than most newcomers realise. Under Article 16 of Law 4465/2017 — which transposed the EU Payment Accounts Directive (2014/92/EU) into Greek law — every credit institution must offer a basic payment account to anyone lawfully residing in the EU, and the protection reaches even people with no fixed address and asylum seekers. The bank has to decide within ten working days of a complete application and, if it says no, it must put the refusal in writing with reasons and tell you how to complain.

A bank can only turn down a basic account on narrow grounds: opening it would breach anti-money-laundering rules, or you already hold an equivalent basic account at another Greek institution. In other words, the default answer is yes — the friction is in the paperwork, not in the principle. The Hellenic Bank Association spells out the same rules for consumers on its own site.

Step one: get your Greek tax number (AFM)

The AFM (Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου) is mandatory before any Greek bank will open an account — the account is tied to the Greek tax system. You get it from AADE, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, either by video call through the myAADElive service or in person at a local tax office (ΔΟΥ).

Think of the AFM as the master key. It is a single number that links you to the Greek tax system, and no bank will move without it, so this is genuinely your first task — before you even pick a bank. You apply through AADE's online application for a tax number, then verify your identity in one of two ways: a video call on the myAADElive service, or a visit to your local tax office (ΔΟΥ).

Who you are changes how smooth this is. An EU citizen does not need a residence permit to get an AFM and can often walk out of a tax office with one the same day. A non-EU (third-country) national needs a valid residence permit — or an international-protection or asylum document — and may need a Greek tax representative (αντίκλητος). If you are still abroad, you file through a tax representative, or you may proceed without one by attaching a formal responsible declaration (υπεύθυνη δήλωση).

What documents do Greek banks require?

Banks in Greece typically ask for photo ID (passport or EU ID card), your AFM or a foreign tax number, proof of a Greek address, proof of income or source of funds, and a completed CRS tax-residence self-certification form. Any document in another language must be officially translated into Greek or English first.

The standard checklist a Greek bank works through looks like this:

• Identity: a valid passport, or an EU national ID card.
• Tax number: your Greek AFM — or a foreign tax identification number if your home country takes part in the CRS automatic exchange of tax information.
• Proof of address: a recent utility or phone bill, a lease filed with the tax office, or a municipal residence certificate.
• Proof of income or source of funds: a payslip, pension statement or similar.
• A CRS self-certification form: declaring where you are tax resident. Piraeus Bank, like the others, publishes this requirement as part of the automatic exchange of tax information.

For a non-EU citizen the list is more demanding. National Bank of Greece, for example, asks third-country nationals for a valid passport (or a special residence permit where a passport cannot be produced), proof of residence — a Greek residence permit if you live here, or an entry visa if you live abroad — and, where you have no Greek AFM and pay no tax in Greece, a tax residence certificate. One rule catches almost everyone out: every foreign-language document must be officially translated into Greek or English by an embassy, a certified Ministry of Foreign Affairs translator, or a licensed attorney. Untranslated originals are simply not accepted.

EU citizens vs non-EU nationals: what actually changes

EU citizens get the smoother path: no residence permit needed for an AFM, often same-day, and lighter document checks. Non-EU (third-country) nationals need a valid residence permit or visa, sometimes a tax representative, and usually a tax residence certificate — and banks treat them as higher-risk, so expect more documents and more questions.

The legal right to a basic account is the same for every lawful EU resident, but the road to it is not. As an EU citizen you skip the residence-permit hurdle for the AFM, and banks generally accept your EU ID and a proof of address without much drama. As a third-country national you are carrying a residence permit or entry visa through every step, you may need a Greek tax representative, and — because banks classify cross-border and non-resident customers as higher-risk by default — you should expect the fuller document set from the start. Bringing everything, translated, to the first appointment is the single best way to avoid a second and third visit.

Can you open a Greek bank account online?

Sometimes. Most foreigners without an AFM still have to open the account in person at a branch. But some banks offer remote onboarding — Eurobank lets qualifying permanent residents open an account from its app in about 15 minutes — and Greece's first ECB-licensed neobank, Snappi, offers fully digital opening for Greek tax residents.

The honest default is a branch visit: if you do not yet have an AFM, you are almost certainly opening the account in person. But the digital door is opening. Eurobank lets you open an account straight from its mobile app in roughly 15 minutes if you are a permanent resident of a country covered by the PRADO document system — though not if you hold two or more foreign residencies. And in 2025 Greece got its first ECB-licensed neobank, Snappi (a joint venture of the Piraeus Group and Natech): 100% digital onboarding in under five minutes, an instant Greek IBAN and virtual debit card, no monthly maintenance fee, deposits protected up to €100,000, and support for IRIS instant payments — though it was aimed at Greek tax residents first. Fintechs such as Revolut, Wise and N26 give you a usable euro IBAN even faster, but they are not a full substitute for a Greek high-street account when a landlord or employer specifically wants a domestic bank.

How much does a Greek bank account cost in 2026?

Most Greek banks now charge a small monthly maintenance fee on a standard account — around €0.80 at National Bank of Greece and Alpha Bank and €0.60 at Eurobank in 2026 — while the neobank Snappi charges nothing. A minimum opening deposit, often around €250 for non-residents, may also apply depending on the bank.

The fees are modest but no longer zero, and there has already been a legal fight over them. The table below sets out where the main banks stand in 2026. The gap that matters: a traditional branch account costs a euro or less a month, while the ECB-licensed neobank Snappi has undercut the lot with a free account — one reason the fee squeeze is not the whole story for a newcomer.

The court fight is worth knowing about. In May 2026 the Athens Multi-member Court of First Instance (decision 128/2026), acting on a suit by the consumer union EKPOIZO, barred National Bank of Greece from charging its €0.80 monthly fee to customers holding "Simple Savings" (Απλό Ταμιευτήριο) or "Simple Current" (Απλός Τρεχούμενος) accounts; the ruling was provisionally enforceable and NBG suspended the charge from 14 May 2026. On top of the monthly fee, budget for a minimum opening deposit — for non-residents this is often around €250, though whether it applies at all depends on the bank and the account type.

How long does opening a Greek bank account really take?

On paper, a basic account must be decided within 10 working days (Law 4465/2017). In practice, expect roughly 1–2 weeks as an EU citizen, 2–4 weeks as a non-EU resident, and 4–8 weeks for a non-resident golden-visa applicant — because banks apply heavy anti-money-laundering checks and treat foreigners as higher-risk by default.

Here is the tension at the heart of the whole process. The ten-working-day rule is real and enforceable, yet Greek banks apply the anti-money-laundering framework (Law 4557/2018, transposing the EU's 4th and 5th AML Directives) by over-collecting documents and treating cross-border and non-resident customers as high-risk from the outset. Legal analyses (the ICLG Anti-Money Laundering guide for 2025–2026, among others) describe how banks resolve the clash between AML caution and data-protection restraint by simply asking for more than the stated risk requires — which leaves a foreign applicant, often working in a second language, in an open-ended negotiation rather than filling in a quick form. The practical takeaway: a source-of-funds question is where applications stall, so have clear, translated evidence of where your money comes from ready before you start. The Bank of Greece supervises this AML regime, and it is not going to get lighter.

This article does not replace professional legal advice.

Have you ever wondered why an EU-wide right to a basic account in ten working days can still feel like a month-long negotiation on the ground — and whether Greece's new digital banks will finally close that gap?