Before you start

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

Step-by-step

1
Open the account online before you fly
All four majors accept pre-arrival applications. You get an account number immediately, so relocation funds or a first salary have a destination, but the account stays restricted until you verify identity in person.
OnlineWho: YouAccepted up to about 3 months before arrival by most banks
2
Verify in a branch after you land
Take the original passport into a branch. Originals only — scans and photocopies are refused. Robina Town Centre and Australia Fair at Southport carry the fullest branch network; Surfers Paradise is thin and busy with tourists.
In personWho: YouAbout 20–30 minutes
3
Activate the digital card straight away
Most banks push a card into Apple Pay or Google Pay as soon as verification completes, which is enough to tap onto a tram, pay a 50-cent Translink fare and buy groceries the same afternoon.
Mobile appWho: YouDigital immediately; plastic 3–10 days by post
4
Add your Tax File Number when it arrives
Supplying a TFN is not compulsory, but without one the bank withholds tax at the top marginal rate on interest. Thirty seconds in the app once the ATO letter turns up.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Get PayID working before you start applying for rentals
Bond and first rent are almost always moved by instant transfer, and a Gold Coast property can go from inspection to signed in under 48 hours. Having PayID registered and a card active is the difference between winning a property and being the applicant who could not pay on Monday morning.
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 needed to open the account

Things most newcomers don’t know

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

Banks accept that someone who landed last week cannot hold Australian documents, so for roughly the first six weeks a foreign passport counts as the full 100 points on its own. After that they ask for a Queensland licence or a Medicare card you do not yet have — and if you are on a temporary visa you are not even required to get the licence. Nobody reminds you; the process just gets harder.

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

PayID and Osko settle in seconds, which is exactly what a Gold Coast rental application needs.

Register a mobile number or email as a PayID and money arrives instantly, any day. In a market where good properties are gone within 48 hours of the inspection, being able to move a bond immediately is a competitive advantage rather than a convenience.

Source: Australian Payments Plus — New Payments Platform

Seasonal and casual income is normal here and lenders treat it differently.

Tourism, hospitality and construction dominate the local economy and a lot of local income is casual, seasonal or contract. Rental applications, credit cards and eventually mortgages all assess that income more conservatively than a salary. If your work is seasonal, keep clean, continuous bank records from day one — they are the evidence you will be asked for.

Source: community-reported

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

The TFN letter arrives by Australian post and nowhere else; the bank withholds at the top rate until you supply the TFN; every rental application wants an Australian account. Stable postal address, then account, then TFN, then feed the TFN back in. Any other sequence means repeating a step.

Source: ATO guidance combined with standard bank practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Presenting photocopies or a phone photo of the passport rather than the original.
Letting the new-arrival identity window lapse before getting to a branch.
Assuming the pre-arrival online account is fully usable on landing.
Trying to bank in Surfers Paradise, where the branch network is thin, instead of Southport or Robina.
Leaving the TFN off the account and being withheld at the top rate on interest for months.

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