Having a domiciliary account will make life super easy for you as a freelancer, content creator, entrepreneur, or business person in Nigeria. In this detailed wikifreelancing guide, I’ll share everything you need to know about how the domiciliary account works and the requirements to open a domiciliary account.
From my own recent experience with different banks in Nigeria, I’ll explain to you how long it takes to open a domiciliary account, the two types of domiciliary accounts, and their limitations, so you know the one that best suits your fancy.
[ads]You may also wonder if it is possible to fund your domiciliary account with naira. Well, many people have asked, “How can I load funds or transfer naira to my dollar domiciliary account?” I’ll also cover in your favor later on in this post.
And that’s not all. I’ll also share some secrets on where and how best you can use your Domiciliary accounts to make more and more income.
What is Domiciliary Account?
A domiciliary account (also called a Dom account) is a type of current or savings account that allows you to do transactions with foreign currencies, such as dollars, pounds, or euros.
This means that you can use your domiciliary account to transfer money to another country or receive foreign currency from another country. Now, let’s see the requirements for opening a domiciliary account.
6 Major Requirements for Opening a Domiciliary Account
You need 6 major requirements when creating a domiciliary account, irrespective of the bank you choose to roll with. They are:
- $100 opening amount
- Two recent passports
- A valid ID card
- A recent NEPA bill
- 2 Reference letters
- BVN Number
1. $100 Opening amount
This is the most important requirement and the first your bank is likely to ask you to present. The $100 is the opening amount for opening a domiciliary account, no matter the type.
[ads]Keep in mind that you will provide the $100 in dollar currency and not in naira. This means that you need to go to your exchanger or Aboki to change your naira to $100. Banks don’t joke with this.
I remember when I went to open my first Dom account, I literary thought that the bank would do the exchange for me so I could pay in Naira. But that wasn’t the case. So, I had to go to Amawusa where I exchanged $100 at the rate of ₦57,000. But you should know that the economy influences the exchange rate.
However, the most important thing is that your bank will still credit this $100 opening amount to your account after creating your domiciliary account. Also, you can choose to withdraw it whenever you want.
Apart from the opening amount, there are other documents you’ll provide to your bank, as you can see below.
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2. Two recent passports
To open a domiciliary account with any Nigerian bank, you need to provide 2 passports of any background (red or white is mostly used). Your passports should be recent and clear.
3. A valid ID card
Your ID card is very paramount in opening any bank account in Nigeria. Here’s a list of ID cards that are acceptable to open a Nigerian Domiciliary account:
- An international passport
- A driving license
- Voters card
- National ID card (slip is accepted)
Any of these ID cards is accepted to open a domiciliary account. If you have the National ID card slip, you can go with it.
[ads]4. A NEPA bill
You cannot open a domiciliary account without a Nepa bill. This Nepa bill must be dated not more than 3 months ago. This means that the date on your Nepa bill should fall within the last 3 months.
It is important to understand that the address on your Nepa bill has a major role to play during your registration for a domiciliary account.
For example, if you are going with a Nepa Bill that you got from your friend or someone else, as long as it’s not the Nepa bill of your house, you should use the same residential address on your Nepa bill to fill out the form for the Domiciliary account at the bank. If not, they won’t accept it. This is for the column that requests your residential address.
However, this applies only to the banks that are strict about the Nepa bill thingy, like Access Bank, GTB, Zenith, etc. But some other banks may even provide a Nepa bill while you give them one or two. Whichever one, I know you’ve gotten the point.
5. Two reference letters
If you’re going for a current domiciliary account, you’ll surely provide 2 reference letters from users who have domiciliary or current accounts from any bank.
This means that you can either fill out the two reference forms from somebody who has a current or a domiciliary account. I’ll explain how you can get this faster to speed up your registration and the bank validation process in a sec.
Nevertheless, there is an exception to this. You don’t need to get any references if you choose to go with the savings Domiciliary account. You’ll get to know the demerits and limitations in a sec.
[ads]6. BVN Number
Your Bank Verification Number (BVN) is very necessary for opening any bank account in Nigeria. You can check your BVN number by dialing *565*0#. Make sure the sim on your phone is the one associated with your BVN, and they will charge you about ₦20.
If you’ve changed any of your data before the registration time, make sure you go with the affidavit to justify that.
Cryptocurrency form for domiciliary account
Almost all the banks will mandate you to fill out the cryptocurrency form during your registration for a domiciliary account. By signing on the form, you undertake not to use your Domiciliary account for transactions relating to cryptocurrency. This is a sanction given by the Federal Government during the Buhari Regime.
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How many days does it take to open a domiciliary account?
Having known all the requirements, you may ask, “how many days will it take me to open a Domiciliary account?“
The duration for opening your domiciliary account differs from one bank to another. However, it takes a maximum of one week to create and validate your account after filling out the form and providing all the requirements to the bank.
But, let me be more open to you. Two major factors can condition your bank to take more than 2 weeks to complete the verification process.
[ads]2 Factors that influence the duration of opening a Dom account
- The banks of your referees
- The type of domiciliary account you’re opening
1. The banks of your referees
While every bank will tell you they accept any domiciliary or current account user from any bank for reference, I recommend you get referees who operate with the same bank.
For example, if you’re opening a domiciliary account with Access Bank PLC, your validation process will be super easy when you get referees who use the same Access Bank instead of other banks. This is because it takes more than a week to verify and get a response from other banks in ensuring that your referees are eligible.
2. The type of domiciliary account you are opening
The type of domiciliary account you’re opening is another factor that influences the duration. If you’re going for the savings domiciliary account, it’ll take lesser time since you don’t need any reference letters. The current domiciliary account would take extra days to be completed.
Let’s explore more about the types of domiciliary accounts.
The two types of Domiciliary accounts are:
- Savings Domiciliary account
- Current Domiciliary account
These two types are all perfect, depending on what you want to do with the Domiciliary account. The major difference between the savings and current domiciliary account is the amount limit they can take at a go.
[ads]The savings domiciliary account can’t take $2000 and above at once. This means that you can only receive payments or load funds lower than $2000 at a go if you’re using a savings domiciliary account.
Let me clarify more about this. This does not mean that your Savings domiciliary account cannot take more than $2000. The savings domiciliary account has no limit on the total amount of money you can have there. But, you cannot load or receive $2000 and above at once. Therefore, you can decide to load $1500 * unlimited times as long as it’s not up to $2000.
On the other hand, the current domiciliary account can take any amount of dollars at once and has no limit on the amount it can contain. So, with the current domiciliary account, you have no limit to how much you can receive, load, or send.
The advantages of the savings domiciliary account
- No reference letter is needed
- Takes lesser time to open
- Best for small businesses
One major advantage of opening a savings domiciliary account, which is most people prefer to go with it, is you don’t need any reference letter.
So, if you’re unable to get reference letters, you can open a savings domiciliary account without a reference. And you can still upgrade it to a current domiciliary account when you get reference letters in the future.
[ads]But if you can get the references, you can go for the current domiciliary account, which can take any amount at a go. That’s the major limitation.
Again, the savings domiciliary account takes lesser time to create since there is no validation of your referees or reference letters. And most individuals and small businesses prefer to go with this type of domiciliary account.
» MORE: Two Best Ways To Buy Dollars or USDT with Naira
How and where to use your domiciliary account
Chances are, you’re a YouTuber, freelancer, blogger, or probably an entrepreneur. Therefore, if you’re monetizing your content with Google AdSense, you’ll surely need a Domiciliary account to receive your payment. I’ve created a detailed guide on how you can link your Domiciliary account to your AdSense and withdraw your funds without any issues.
Apart from content creators, every freelancer should have a domiciliary account. This is because most freelancers receive their funds via Payoneer, which is a dollar account. And when they withdraw to their local bank account, which is not Domiciliary, they get cheated by the conversion rate.
But, with the domiciliary account, you can withdraw your funds from Payoneer to Domiciliary and then withdraw the dollar and exchange it with the black market guys to enjoy the more considerable exchange rate.
[ads]And if you don’t have a domiciliary account but still want to withdraw your Payoneer funds at a good exchange rate via the black market guys, feel free to contact the freelancing experts to help you out. I’ve tested and trusted them for their reliable services.
Again, if you’re also into dollar arbitrage, you need a Dom account to make the most out of your game.
And as an entrepreneur, you can fund your domiciliary account with foreign currencies such as dollars, pounds, or euros and use it to do foreign transactions. You can also use your domiciliary account to transfer or receive foreign currencies to or from another country.
» MORE: How To Buy Dollars With Naira And Deposit Into Your Domiciliary Account
How do I load fund my domiciliary account?
You have understood how a domiciliary account works, the requirements, different types, and how you can open it. It’s time to get the hang of how to fund your domiciliary account.
Every user asks, “how do I load funds on my domiciliary account?” Well, the answer is super simple, but you just need to pay more attention to this. There’s no way you can directly transfer naira to your dollar Dom account. This is because the banks don’t want to lose. But there are some indirect ways to fund your domiciliary account.
[ads]However, the easiest way to fund your domiciliary account is by using your Payoneer. This is the process of linking your Domiciliary account to your Payoneer and withdrawing your dollars. I have created a simple guide on how to link your Domiciliary account to your Payoneer and get verified without issues. If you’re a freelancer, you should be familiar with Payoneer and how it works.
But the problem is you can’t fund your Payoneer account directly because Payoneer only accepts payments or transfers from reputable companies and marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork. But you can receive payments from somebody who’s using Payoneer.
» MORE: How to Create a Fiverr Seller Account from Scratch
Before now, we load funds on our Payoneer accounts easily using Transferwise and other platforms. And this is how it works.
How to transfer naira to Payoneer from Transferwise
- Transfer your naira to your Transferwise account using your naira card.
- Then transfer the dollar on your Tranferwise to Payoneer.
- Finally, withdraw it to your Dom account, and then cash it out in dollar currency.
This seems to be a long process, but it made many millionaires. Currently, they have stopped accepting cards from Nigeria. And this is why we are exploring more platforms that will work out even better. And I’ll provide more articles on the platforms that work perfectly. If you frequent this site or subscribe to wiki freelancing YouTube, you’ll never miss the opportunity and take advantage of it.
How to withdraw your dollars from a domiciliary account
There are two major ways to withdraw your money from your domiciliary account.
[ads]- By withdrawing from the dollar ATMs
- By withdrawing the dollars from the bank
Going to the dollar ATMs to withdraw your dollars is easier and less stressful, but you can hardly see a functional dollar ATM in Nigeria. You may see dollar ATMs in a few places in Abuja and Lagos.
On the other hand, you can withdraw your dollars from the bank. This is the most preferred in the absence of dollar ATMs. If you are looking to convert the dollar to naira, please don’t do it with the bank, as the conversation rate is pitiable.
To enjoy a considerable exchange rate, consider going to the black market, reliable bureau de change, black market, etc., to change your dollars to naira. One more thing, keep making more income!
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Very helpful. Can I get a credit card for the Dom account and does it have any limit?
Dear Julie, you can get a credit card for your Domiciliary account.
And for the limits, I’m not sure if you mean the limits you can receive or send with the Domiciliary account or the limit of payment you can make with it.
However, with the current type of Dom account, there’s no limit to the amount you can send or receive.
And generally, there’s no limit when using the Credit card to make online payments. Good luck!