Opening bank account whilst on EU Family Permit

Hello forum,

My mother has arrived in Britain on EU Family Permit. We are applying for a GP registration, national insurance number, and importantly, bank account. She lives with us in the house, which belongs to the housing association and whereby my wife's mother is the lead tenant (secure tenancy) and we are co-tenants.

From your experience, what banks are more approachiable for opening the most basic bank accounts?

Any advice will be very, very appreciated.

Thank you

The family permit is only valid for 6 months (a "visa" facilitating entry to UK, not a residency document), during which time she needs to apply for PSS.
It may be better to get that application done before opening a bank account. Here's an example of a bank's ID requirements: https://www.lloydsbank.com/legal/proof-of-identity.html (i'm not endorsing this bank - just for illustration).

OK,I think that it may be of interest to some.

The simplest way is to register with a GP. Because EUFP applicants come to the UK to join their EU family members, the GP registration form basically asks for the copy of their non-EU passport (ID+EU Family Permit), whilst residence documents (proof of address, basically) can be provided by their EU sponsor. This is what we were told by BSO and submitted the application this week. Bank (Halifax) then advised that their passport with EU FP and a letter from the GP confirming address will suffice.

Fingers crossed.

If Halifax fails, Natwest allows you to use an online bill as proof of address and passport as proof of identity. I did this for a friend of mine recently, I added her name on the electricity bill and we opened her account in a few days. Good luck!

contorted_svy wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:16 pm

If Halifax fails, Natwest allows you to use an online bill as proof of address and passport as proof of identity. I did this for a friend of mine recently, I added her name on the electricity bill and we opened her account in a few days. Good luck!

Thank you for this suggestion! We would try energy bill in her name if it comes to this.