Dual British/Irish Nationality

Seanybhoy68

I hold dual British and Irish nationalities. 

The reason I obtained my Irish passport is I plan to retire to Spain in the coming years. 

I want to know if its permissable to open up an Irish Bank account if I live in the UK?

I'd appreciate comments from anyone else who has done this. 

mika_dm

Banks usually require a stable domicile in the country where you want to open an account. So, I presume an Irish Bank would like to see an Irish address of your to be able to open an account with them.

Daliah

Ability to open, and sometimes to hold, a bank account usually depends on residency, not nationality.

If you are a UK resident and want a Euro account, look no further than Starling Bank or Fineco Bank. Watch out for charges / negative interest rates if you hold larger amounts of Euros.

Seanybhoy68

Yeah already hold a Starling account mate. 

Molehusband

Seanybhoy68 said:

I hold dual British and Irish nationalities. 

The reason I obtained my Irish passport is I plan to retire to Spain in the coming years. 

I want to know if its permissable to open up an Irish Bank account if I live in the UK?

I'd appreciate comments from anyone else who has done this. 

I can't speak for someone living in UK opening a bank account in Ireland, but some years ago in pre EU days (and living in UK) I went to Finland (where I had never been before) for a few days to attend a business meeting. As I was walking through the streets during a break I had a bit of cash I thought worth depositing for safety. I found a bank called Kansallis-Osake-Pankki which I had never heard of before. I popped inside and, although I couldn't speak the local language, nor had a Finnish passport, I asked to open a bank account using my UK address. A staff member translated all the forms for me and they opened my account immediately and I deposited money. I operated the account for several years with all statements being sent to my UK address. I never returned to Finland but incurred no problem at all managing it from home. HMRC were aware and didn't raise any queries.

Unless things have changed dramatically, my experience suggests you should be OK. If any problem arises, maybe try opening an account with a bank in Finland. 😊

yksi

I think you might now have problems. OP bank, the one you mentioned above, took steps to close my account in 2017 as soon as I was no longer registered as living in Finland, citing EU regulations. British banks began closing accounts of non-resident customers after Brexit too.

I don't know how the "opening a bank account" procedure works in Ireland but start by googling "what do I need to open a bank account in Ireland" as you will surely find bank websites which spell out the requirements in detail.

Final note, is there any reason you actually need one, as opposed to a virtual bank? Revolut, which does seamless currency conversions for no fee at the xe.com exchange rate, arranges you an IBAN so you effectively have a bank account which can accept Euros directly.

Thrugelmir

Link

https://aib.ie/our-products/savings-and-deposits/non-resident-personal-identification-requirements

Daliah

yksi said:

Final note, is there any reason you actually need one, as opposed to a virtual bank? Revolut, which does seamless currency conversions for no fee at the xe.com exchange rate, arranges you an IBAN so you effectively have a bank account which can accept Euros directly.

Revolut is as yet not a bank in the UK. In any case, the OP already has a Starling account, so has everything he needs for Euro transactions, complete with FSCS protection and a decent CS (neither of which Revolut has).

Rich2808

Why would you need an Irish bank account when you are living in the UK and are planning to move to Spain.

You can hold a UK based euro account - and then open one in Spain once you move there. 

Sorry - why do you need an Irish bank account unless you are going to move to the Republic?

If you really need an Irish account as a non resident without a regular local income you could try AIB but it may not be easy and might require a trip there to open it in person.

Aidanmc

Seanybhoy68 said:

I hold dual British and Irish nationalities. 

The reason I obtained my Irish passport is I plan to retire to Spain in the coming years. 

I want to know if its permissable to open up an Irish Bank account if I live in the UK?

I'd appreciate comments from anyone else who has done this. 

I opened an account with Permanent TSB a few years ago, no problem opening a non resident account. No need to visit a branch.

Don't know if its still the same though.

Fineco bank is also an option https://finecobank.co.uk/public/

You can hold euro, GBP and other currencies, and do foreign exchange also.

Also, https://www.bankofireland.com/help-centre/faq/open-non-resident-account/

PaulW922

Yes you should be able to do that. I had an (Irish) Ulster Bank account until very recently but I closed it a the bank is withdrawing from the republic.

British citizens have the same rights to live and work in Ireland as they did pre-Brexit so Irish bank accounts tend to be more easily available. However as others have said there are potentially easier options available such as Starling, or a prepaid card account like Transferwise (which you can use like a Euro account)