Before you start

Passport
An Australian residential address — a hotel or short stay is accepted to start
Visa details
Your home-country tax identification number for the tax residency declaration

Step-by-step

1
Apply online before you leave
All four major banks and several Queensland institutions accept pre-arrival applications. You get an account number immediately, so relocation funds or a first salary have somewhere to land, but the account is restricted until identity is verified.
OnlineWho: YouAccepted up to about 3 months before arrival by most banks
2
Verify in a branch after you land
Take your original passport to any branch of your bank. Originals only. Queen Street Mall branches are busiest at lunchtime; suburban branches in Toowong, Chermside or Carindale are faster.
In personWho: YouAbout 20–30 minutes
3
Turn on the digital card immediately
Most banks push a card into Apple Pay or Google Pay as soon as verification completes, which is enough to pay a 50-cent Translink fare and buy groceries the same afternoon. The plastic follows by post.
Mobile appWho: YouDigital immediately; card 3–10 days by post
4
Add your Tax File Number when it arrives
Providing a TFN is optional in law, but without one the bank must withhold tax at the top marginal rate on interest. It is a thirty-second task in the app once the ATO letter turns up.
Mobile appWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport (original, presented in person)
Visa evidence via VEVO
Australian residential address
Tax File Number, once issued — not required to open the account

Things most newcomers don’t know

The new-arrival identity concession expires quietly and it is the single reason to bank in week one.

Banks accept that someone who landed last week holds no Australian documents, so for roughly the first six weeks a foreign passport counts as the full 100 points on its own. After that you are asked for a Queensland licence, a Medicare card or utility bills you do not have. This is not a rule anyone will remind you about — it simply gets harder.

Source: Major bank new-arrival banking pages; confirm the current window with your bank

PayID and Osko move money in seconds, and Australia has effectively abandoned cheques.

Register a mobile number or email as a PayID and money arrives instantly, any day of the week. Bond payments, tradespeople, share-house expenses and casual work all run on this. Newcomers from cheque or cash economies waste weeks before discovering it.

Source: Australian Payments Plus — New Payments Platform

Queensland's customer-owned banks are often easier for newcomers than the majors.

Mutuals such as Queensland Country Bank and People First Bank — the merged Heritage Bank and People's Choice, still headquartered in Toowoomba — tend to make decisions in-branch rather than through a centralised risk engine, which matters when you have no Australian credit history. They are also frequently better on home loan rates. It costs one conversation to find out.

Source: community-reported, consistent with Customer Owned Banking Association material

The account, the address and the TFN unlock each other in a specific order.

The TFN letter comes by post to an Australian address only; the bank withholds at the top rate on interest until you provide the TFN; and every rental application wants an Australian account. Fix a stable postal address first, then the account, then the TFN, then feed the TFN back into the account — any other order means doing something twice.

Source: ATO guidance combined with standard bank practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Presenting photocopies or a phone photo of your passport at the branch instead of the original.
Letting the new-arrival identity window lapse before getting to a branch.
Assuming the pre-arrival online account is fully usable the day you land.
Leaving the TFN off the account and being withheld at the top rate on interest for months.
Choosing the bank nearest your hotel without comparing international transfer fees, which differ by hundreds of dollars a year for anyone sending money home.

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