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. Hunter Street in the CBD and Charlestown Square carry most of the branch network; Kotara and Jesmond are usually quicker for the same transaction.
In personWho: YouAbout 20–30 minutes
3
Consider the local mutual as well as a major
Newcastle Permanent is a Hunter institution with a real branch network across the region, and it is often more responsive on first mortgages than a national bank. If you expect to stay in the Hunter, it is worth an account alongside a major.
In personWho: You
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
Set up PayID before you start applying for rentals
Bond and first rent move by instant transfer. Newcastle's rental market has tightened considerably as people have moved up from Sydney, and being able to pay the same afternoon is a real advantage on a property with a queue behind it.
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 NSW licence or a Medicare card you do not yet have. Nobody reminds you — the process simply gets harder without announcing it.

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

Newcastle Permanent is a genuine local alternative, and merged rather than disappeared.

Founded in Newcastle in 1903, it merged with Greater Bank in 2023 to form Newcastle Greater Mutual Group and kept both brands and branch networks. In a region where the majors have been closing branches, a mutual that still staffs counters across the Hunter is a practical advantage rather than a sentimental one.

Source: community-reported, consistent with published merger and branch information

PayID and Osko settle in seconds, and Australia effectively has no cheque culture.

Register a mobile number or email as a PayID and money arrives instantly, any day. Bond payments, tradespeople and share-house costs all run on it. Arriving expecting cheques or a cash economy is unnecessary friction.

Source: Australian Payments Plus — New Payments Platform

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.
Leaving the TFN off the account and being withheld at the top rate on interest for months.
Turning up to a rental inspection without a way to transfer a bond the same day.

Some of this may be out of date.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

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