Hello,
Can anyone tell me if I am allowed to open a bank account in Spain as a non-resident? I do not live or work in Spain, I just want to have a Euro bank account, with interest of course.

Hi abovino!

You might find the short, 2004 thread entitled " bank account " useful but possibly the information has changed since them.

Has any non-European opened a Spanish bank account in the last year or so?

It's my experience that it's very very difficult to do this as a non-European - and I don't think you'll find one which gives any interest.

I opened my first Spain-based bank account about 6 years ago but was only able to do it "easily" because I had a contact at the bank (that contact has since left the bank). That is to say, I had a friend whom had a good friend/contact at the bank whom already had a bank account there. I remember that "by rule" I had to go to the police commisary here in Madrid to request a kind of non-resident card which would take some time to receive. It was on Calle General Pardiñas (I think that was the one) and I'd arrived at about 11am by metro only to find what seemed to be a 2-mile long line full of other foreigners from every nation waiting in line to do who-knows-what. I waited for about 30-minutes and it barely moved so I left. Distraught, I returned to my Spanish friend to recount this experience and he took me directly to the bank to see his friend/contact there. That contacted consulted with her boss and he approved it on the spot. Wow. What luck. Sometimes things work like that. It's not WHAT you know but WHO you know.

I don't expect you to be so lucky but hopefully others will have more recent, more encouraging information for you to open a Spanish bank account.

Saludos, MadridMan

If you are lucky enough to find a bank, in addition to probably not earning interest, you will most likely be charged a fee for a savings account.

Absolutely. A monthly fee ranging from 3 - 8 Euros, depending on the account.

Saludos, MadridMan

as a non resident living here you can open a bank account (ie brit who has retired here but not yet registared) As for not living here when we opened our non resident account they keep sending all our corespondence to our old address in Germany.

If you only want a euro account try googling off shore banking.

I have one at BBVA, needed to be in person; then registered at the commissary office-police. fairly easy if you know the language;then take the form back to the bank to open the account;you dont need to wait for the registration in the mail:the commissary will stamp it for you and give a receipt you can use.
of course, I am European Union member:do not know if they have different rules for others.

We have one at Caja Duero. My husband is a spaniard, but we are both non-EU residents right now. We listed our US address and they even mail our statements here. We did not have to go to a police station for anything, but we did later have to send copies of our pay stubs to confirm our address, employment and residency that way.

yes SalaChic i understand; different banks require diff things. I was talking only of BBVA because i do have an account and visit Spain every year.
maybe the smaller banks have easier rules?

SalaChic, do you know what fees they charge...do you have just a simple cuenta corriente?