Before you start

A residence permit (посвідка) — a tourist stamp will get you very little
A РНОКПП tax number, or acceptance that nine zeros go in its place and your options narrow
A Ukrainian mobile number, because everything is confirmed by SMS and app push
A registered place of residence, which several banks ask to see

Step-by-step

1
Get the tax number first
Do not attempt this in the other order. The РНОКПП turns you from an awkward non-resident file into an ordinary customer. The Zaporizhzhia oblast tax office publishes the current addresses and hours of its taxpayer service centres — check them rather than assuming.
In personWho: You, at ДПС in Zaporizhzhia oblastDays
2
Favour a bank you can run entirely from an app
monobank is card-only and lives in an app; PrivatBank's Privat24 covers almost everything remotely and PrivatBank still has the widest surviving branch and ATM network. Both survive a branch closing or going dark far better than a bank that wants you at a counter. Keep an international-group bank only if a donor or employer needs documentation it produces.
Mobile appWho: YouAn hour of comparison
3
Open the account
Bring the passport, the residence permit, the РНОКПП and a Ukrainian phone number. The NBU has permitted opening with a digital passport through Diia, which some banks support and others still want physical documents for — check before travelling to a branch. Expect AML questions about the source of your funds and answer them with documents rather than explanations.
In personWho: You, at a branch or in-appSame day at a branch; minutes in-app where the bank supports remote onboardingCurrent accounts and basic cards are typically free or a small monthly fee
4
Learn the FX limits before you need them
Under the NBU's wartime regime, non-cash purchases of foreign currency without a supporting obligation are capped at the equivalent of ₴50,000 a month; cash withdrawals from an account at the equivalent of ₴100,000 a day; abroad, ATM withdrawals from a hryvnia card at the equivalent of ₴12,500 per seven calendar days and cashless spending at the equivalent of ₴100,000 a month; and card-based P2P transfers from Ukraine abroad on a hryvnia card were reduced to the equivalent of ₴30,000 a month. Treat every one as a moving number and check the NBU's liberalization page.
OnlineWho: YouTwenty minutes that saves a bad surprise
5
Keep a cash reserve, and keep it at home
Not a lifestyle tip. Outages take card terminals and ATMs down together, and this is an industrial city on a targeted grid. Two or three thousand hryvnia in small notes is the standard local arrangement, and it is also what makes the difference on a day when the transport ticketing goes down with everything else.
In personWho: YouOne withdrawal

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence permit (посвідка на тимчасове or постійне проживання)
РНОКПП tax number card or extract
Ukrainian mobile number
Proof of registered place of residence, and for larger balances, source-of-funds documentation

Things most newcomers don’t know

Choose the bank by how little it needs you to visit a building.

In a front-line oblast capital, branch availability is not a given. A bank you can fully operate from an app is one fewer thing that stops working on a bad week, and the NBU's digital-passport rule makes that genuinely achievable.

Source: НБУ / community-reported

If your income is grant- or project-funded, ask your finance officer before you open anything.

Almost everyone with a foreign income in Zaporizhzhia is on international project or NGO terms. Grant funds, per diems and reimbursements carry documentation expectations that a personal account is a bad place to discover them.

Source: community-reported

From 1 May 2026 a non-resident can legitimately convert and send abroad the Ukrainian salary they were paid.

Before that easing a foreign employee paid in hryvnia had no clean route out and was pushed towards the ₴30,000 monthly card-transfer cap.

Source: НБУ, April 2026

Nine zeros is what a bank writes where your tax number should be.

It is the tell that you are being onboarded as a non-resident individual, and it narrows what the bank will let you do. Get the РНОКПП and go back.

Source: НБУ / bank identification rules

Common mistakes to avoid

Trying to open an account before the residence permit and tax number are in hand.
Assuming the FX caps are stable. The NBU has both eased and tightened them repeatedly since 2022.
Routing project or grant money through a personal account without asking your finance officer.
Letting the residence permit lapse and being surprised when outgoing payments stop.
Relying entirely on cards. Outages take the terminals and the ATMs together.

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

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