Before you start

NIE
Passport
Padrón certificate, for a resident account
Proof of income, employment or grant award

Step-by-step

1
Open a digital account in week one
Revolut, N26, Wise and the Spanish neobanks open on a passport and NIE within days, giving you a usable IBAN before a branch appointment is available. This covers your deposit and first rent payment, which Spanish landlords expect by transfer rather than cash.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 1
2
Ask for a cuenta de residente and bring the padrón
Once you are on the padrón you qualify as resident for banking purposes. The non-resident product carries higher fees and needs a certificado de no residente renewed at intervals, and banks will restrict the account if it lapses.
In personWho: You
3
Ask what the fee waiver requires if you have no Spanish salary
Spanish current accounts commonly charge maintenance fees waived on conditions — a domiciled salary, a minimum number of direct debits, sometimes card spend. A research grant, a scholarship or foreign remote income frequently satisfies none of them. Several banks have specific student and under-30 accounts that waive the fee outright, and asking for those by name is worth a hundred euros or more a year.
In personWho: You
4
Set up domiciliación for everything
Rent, utilities, the phone, the community fee and social security all expect to pull from an account by direct debit rather than be pushed to, and several providers price domiciled payment lower. Without a working Spanish IBAN you end up paying manually and late.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Get a certificado digital or Cl@ve early
The electronic identity credential lets you deal with the Agencia Tributaria, social security and the ayuntamiento online instead of chasing appointments. It is obtained with your TIE and one in-person verification, and nothing else removes as much friction from a first year in Spain.
OnlineWho: You
6
Understand the Modelo 720 obligation before your first filing
Spanish tax residents must declare foreign accounts, securities and property above a threshold in each of three categories, with a separate Modelo 721 for cryptoassets held abroad. These are information returns rather than taxes, with their own deadline.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

NIE
Passport
Padrón certificate, for a resident account
Employment contract, grant award letter or proof of income
Spanish mobile number

Things most newcomers don’t know

The fee waivers assume a payslip, and a lot of Granada does not have one.

Spanish banks charge account maintenance fees as standard and waive them if you domicile a salary and a set number of direct debits. A postdoctoral grant, an FPU or Erasmus stipend, a nine-month teaching contract or foreign remote income routinely fails those tests, so the account that looked free for a Spanish employee costs you every quarter. Named student and under-30 products waive the fee unconditionally and are underused by people who do not think of themselves as students.

Source: community-reported

The certificado digital does more for your first year than any bank product.

Almost every Spanish administrative process has an online path that requires an electronic identity credential, and the online path has no appointment queue. With a certificado digital or Cl@ve you file tax returns, pull padrón certificates, check social security records and handle DGT procedures from a laptop — in a city where September's appointment queue is the main obstacle to everything.

Source: Administración General del Estado

The resident/non-resident distinction is a recurring cost, not a formality.

A non-resident account carries higher fees and depends on a certificado de no residente that must be periodically renewed; if it lapses, banks can and do restrict the account. Once you are on the padrón you qualify as resident for banking purposes. People who opened the wrong account on arrival frequently never convert it and pay more for years without noticing.

Source: Banco de España

Spain still runs on cash more than northern Europe does, and Granada more than most.

Card acceptance is near-universal in shops and supermarkets, but the free-tapa bars, the Sunday market stalls, the smaller Albaicín businesses and a great many tradespeople still prefer cash, and some set card minimums. Carrying thirty or forty euros is normal here in a way it is not in Stockholm or London, and it is the small difference newcomers notice in their first week.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting a branch open a non-resident account when you qualify as a resident.
Accepting a fee-charging account when a student or under-30 product would waive it.
Delaying the certificado digital and queueing for appointments you did not need.
Missing the Modelo 720 or Modelo 721 in your first year as a tax resident.
Transferring large sums at a Spanish bank's retail exchange rate rather than through a specialist.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.