Before you start

Passport and a valid New Zealand visa
Certified proof of your overseas address
A New Zealand address once you arrive
An IRD number, to set your resident withholding tax rate correctly

Step-by-step

1
Apply from overseas before you fly
ASB accepts applications through its app from abroad and can issue an account number within days. ANZ requires arrival within 90 days; Westpac accepts applications up to 180 days ahead. This is the highest-leverage pre-departure task available.
OnlineWho: You
2
Get documents certified before you leave
Certified copies of your passport, your visa and proof of your overseas residential address. Arranging certification mid-move, from a hotel in a new country, is considerably harder than doing it while you still have a solicitor or notary you know.
OnlineWho: You
3
Transfer your funds in early
The account accepts deposits before you arrive, so your money can be in the country and settled by the time you land — which matters when a Wellington landlord wants four weeks' bond and two weeks' rent in advance from an applicant they met yesterday.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Verify your identity at a branch in your first week
Until you do this in person the account is deposit-only. Book it early — this is what unlocks withdrawals and cards, and arriving expecting to draw cash on day one is a common and stressful surprise.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
5
Give the bank your IRD number
Without it, interest is taxed at the highest default resident withholding rate. It takes two minutes in the app once your IRD number arrives and people routinely forget for months.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Get used to paying by bank transfer
New Zealand runs heavily on direct bank transfers and EFTPOS rather than on cards and cash. Rent, bond, utilities and paying a tradesperson are all bank transfers here, and having the account working properly is what makes ordinary life function.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
New Zealand visa
Certified proof of overseas address
New Zealand address
IRD number

Things most newcomers don’t know

Open the account before you fly — this is the rare case where pre-arrival admin genuinely works.

All three major banks support it, and having settled funds in a New Zealand account on day one materially helps in the rental market. Wellington's rental competition is real, viewings are group viewings, and the applicant who can pay four weeks' bond plus two weeks in advance immediately is a stronger proposition than one waiting on an international transfer.

Source: ANZ, ASB and Westpac migrant banking programmes

A pre-arrival account is deposit-only until you show up in person.

You can fund it but not touch it. Arriving expecting to withdraw cash from it on day one is a common and stressful surprise, and it compounds if you have converted most of your money into it. Carry other means of payment until you have done the branch visit, and book that visit for your first week.

Source: Migrant banking programme terms

A missing IRD number costs you at the bank as well as on payroll.

Resident withholding tax defaults to the highest rate when the bank has no IRD number on file, which is quietly expensive on any real savings balance — and it is a separate problem from the 45% no-notification rate your employer must apply. Both are fixed by the same free application and a two-minute update, and people fix the payroll one and forget the bank one.

Source: Inland Revenue — resident withholding tax

Keep some cash and an offline plan, because this is an earthquake city.

New Zealand runs almost entirely on EFTPOS and bank transfer, and Wellington is a city where a significant event would plausibly take out power and telecommunications for days. Local emergency guidance is consistent on this point: hold some physical cash in your household emergency supplies, because card terminals do not work without power. It is the one piece of Wellington preparedness advice that is also a banking decision.

Source: Wellington Region Emergency Management Office guidance; community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a pre-arrival account allows withdrawals — it does not until you verify in person.
Not getting documents certified before leaving your home country.
Forgetting to add your IRD number and paying the top withholding rate on interest.
Converting all your money into a deposit-only account before you have verified at a branch.
Holding no cash at all in a city where a power outage means no card terminals.

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