2018: Which Bank Account to open in Europe for nomad freelancer. No need to be an eResident of Estonia.
If you want to have business in Europe, it’s necessary to have European bank account. Inside of SEPA(Single European Payment Area), there is no fee difference when you send or withdraw your money from your account with IBAN.
IBAN: International Bank Account Number
BIC: Bank Identifier Code
With Estonian eResident you can have company and bank account in Estonia(in EU), but it costs some money to run your company such as virtual address fee, accounting etc. but you don’t have to.
Which bank to open?
There are new startups and everything is changing quickly. At this time in September 2018, I would recommend you following smart banks.
I recommend you to have all 3 banks because each bank has different functionality.
N26
N26 is a German startup bank in Berlin, and you can open an account if you are a resident of following 17 European countries.
Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
And even if you are not a resident of those countries, and even from outside of those countries, you could open an account (Sep. 2018).
N26
・free German account with your own real IBAN
・free MasterCard
・smartphone based service
・open an account in 8 minutes (they say and it’s true)
N26 is basically free but it costs in some situation. For example: withdrawal in foreign currency — 1.7%.
⇒ Pricing: UK, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe
⇒ read my article for detail
Revolut.com
Revolut is a London startup smart-bank. You can have UK account.
・free UK account
・multi currency account
・free MasterCard(virtual & physical)
・quick to open account(in an hour)
In July 2017 they raised $66 million and going to expand their services and preparing to come to Germany, so don’t worry about after Brexit.
TransferWise
TransferWise is one of the cheapest way of international money transfer. And they started so called borderless account.
・free account
・multi currency account in the country of the currency!
・no credit card
TransferWise has no bank license yet and cooperate with other banks. You can get your own IBAN and send/receive money but it’s not really your own and kind of subaccount of TransferWise. As a result, in account holder name you have to add 2 letters of “TW” for Euro account. But you can have UK account for GBP, US account for USD. It means your client doesn’t have to make international transfer!
Invoicing App: Zervant and Smallinvoice
I’m going to introduce you following 2 free invoicing apps.
Both apps have following:
・free
・cloud software
・supporting all currencies
・create estimate and invoice
・statistics & reports
・check overdue
■ Zervant
Zervant is a Finnish start up based in London. It’s completely free though not yet perfect.
I’m using this software as a resident in Germany, but it doesn’t show German legal terminology. You have to add footnote if it is needed to be accepted by tax office.
They raised $4 million and I hope it’s going to be developed further.
■ Smallinvoice
This software is designed for optimal use in Germany, whether VAT rates or terminology. So if you are freelance in Germany, it’s better to use this one.
■ which to use
Although smallinvoice has more functions and I’m in Germany, I use not smallinvoice but Zervant. Because it’s more simple and has beautiful interface DESIGN. It makes more fun for me and my staffs to work with Zervant. If they both have same design, I would use smallinvoice. Yes, design is very important factor.
Health Insurance in Germany
Health insurance is also needed. For the first apply for freelancer VISA, in the moment Travel Health Insurance like Care Expatriate is accepted. But it actually doesn’t fulfil the official criteria and could be tightened in the future. Care Expatriate used to be accepted by extension of freelancer VISA but it is often rejected now (Dec. 2019) . If you are going to stay up to 2 years, choose Care Economy.
⇒ Care Expatriate for Expat and Freelancer, max. 5 Years
⇒ Care Economy for Traveller, Freelancer, max. 2 Years
Freelance VISA in Berlin 2020
Because I’m in Germany I’m going to explain about actual VISA issuing situation in Berlin.
It became also a bit harder but still it’s possible to get VISA as a freelancer in Berlin.
From 2017 you have to have at least 2 clients in Germany to apply for VISA. It could be your future customer if you have contract or endorsement to prove it. So better to have contacts in advance.
*VISA issuing situation is all different from city to city.
