Getting paid in euros when you do not have a European bank account yet

One of the most awkward moments of moving to Europe is this one. You have the offer, you need to sign, and HR asks for "your account number". You do not have a local bank yet, or the one you opened has been stuck in verification for two weeks.

The real question is simpler than it looks.

What your employer actually needs

To pay a euro salary, a company needs exactly three things. Your full name as it appears on your ID. An IBAN in your name. And depending on the case, the institution's BIC or SWIFT.

That is it. It does not need a bank in a particular country, or an office in your city. It needs a valid euro IBAN where you are the holder.

The rule almost nobody knows

Within the SEPA area there is a European rule prohibiting the rejection of an IBAN over its country of issue. It is called IBAN discrimination. If a company accepts euro payments, it cannot require the account to be in its own country.

Now, honestly: the problem is almost never a formal refusal. It is that the payroll system has a field validating only local IBANs, or the person in admin has never seen an IBAN that did not start with ES. Two things help a lot:

• Give the IBAN in electronic format, no spaces, in writing by email. Never dictated over the phone.
• State in writing that it is a euro SEPA IBAN and that the account is in your name.

Mistake number one is the name

If you take one thing from this article, take this.

On euro payments the beneficiary name is checked against the IBAN holder. Since October 2025 that verification has been mandatory for payment providers in the euro area. The aim is to cut impersonation fraud, and it works well. The side effect is that tiny mismatches stop payments:

Give your full name, exactly, with accents, in the same order as on your ID. And check the contract shows it the same way. It is a minute of work that saves you weeks of back and forth. What happens when this triggers is in your account is under review.

Mistake number two is using someone else's account

It is tempting. Your cousin already has an account, get paid there and settle up later. Do not do it.

An account receiving someone else's salary produces exactly the pattern prevention systems flag: money arriving in a name that is not the holder's. Best case, a review. Worst case, your cousin's account is blocked with their money inside, and a fairly ugly family conversation.

And there is something deeper. It leaves you with no traceable record of your own income, and that record is precisely what will be asked of you later for a lease, a loan or a residence renewal.

Mistake number three is not thinking about the money once it lands

You get paid in euros. Great. Now what?

If you are spending it in euros, there is no conversion and no exchange cost. If you are sending part home, that is where the exchange rate appears and with it the real difference between providers, so read the mistakes that cost you money before it becomes a habit. And if you are saving in euros, what matters is being able to evidence the source if you are ever asked. Keep your payslips, all of them.

The real timelines

A standard SEPA euro transfer credits by the next business day at the latest from when the company sends it. SEPA instant arrives in seconds and works 24/7 when both institutions support it. And an international transfer outside SEPA is a different rail, with different timings and costs, explained in SEPA, SWIFT and why transfers take different times.

If your salary arrives late, it is usually not the rail. It is the day the company sent it. Always ask for the receipt with date and time.

If admin digs in

Send the IBAN in writing, no spaces, stating it is euro SEPA and in your name. Offer a certificate of account ownership, which usually settles it on the spot. If they still insist on a local IBAN, mention the prohibition on IBAN discrimination within SEPA in writing, and in most cases the matter closes there.

And if it still does not move, solve it in parallel. Do not hold up signing the contract over this: payment details can be updated later.

One last practical detail, because it is where half of people stumble: if you need to verify your identity to open an account, do it in good light, no direct flash, with the whole document inside the frame. Most rejections are photo problems, not document problems.

If something gets stuck, write to us from support.