A residence permit grants the right to live somewhere. Actually living there requires a sequence of registrations, and they depend on each other in an order that is not obvious.
Doing them in the wrong order is the ordinary reason a straightforward move takes two months instead of two weeks.
| Step 1 | an address |
|---|---|
| Step 2 | address registration |
| Step 3 | a personal or tax number |
| Step 4 | bank, health, utilities, everything else |
Why the order matters
Most administrative systems are organised around a registered address, as described elsewhere in this material. That makes the address the root of the sequence:
- Address registration usually requires a lease or proof of accommodation
- A personal or tax number usually requires a registered address
- A bank account usually requires both
- Salary payment usually requires a bank account
- Health registration usually requires the personal number
- Utilities and telecoms usually require an account and an address
The chain has a well-known problem at the start: a lease may require a bank account, while the bank account requires a registered address.
Practical ways through it:
- Temporary accommodation that permits registration — some serviced apartments and landlords will provide the necessary confirmation
- Employer assistance — many employers have arrangements precisely because they have seen this before
- Banks that open accounts for newcomers with reduced requirements
- A short-term let to establish the first registration, then a longer one
Ask your employer or institution first. This is a problem they have solved for other arrivals, and they usually know which landlords and which banks work.
Address registration
Frequently the first legal obligation after arrival, and frequently subject to a deadline measured in days.
Points to establish before you arrive:
- Whether registration is required, and within how many days
- What proof of address is accepted
- Whether the landlord must sign something — many do not know or are reluctant, and this is worth raising before signing a lease
- Whether every family member registers separately
Getting the landlord question answered before committing to a property prevents a common and avoidable problem: a lease signed on a property whose owner will not provide the confirmation you need is a lease that does not solve your problem.
Health cover
Usually a condition of the permit as well as a practical necessity, so it should be arranged rather than left.
- Establish whether you join a public system through employment or contributions, or must hold private cover
- Check the start date — there may be a waiting period, and a gap on arrival is both a risk and a possible breach
- Register with a local doctor, which in many systems is the gateway to everything else
- Confirm dependants are covered, which is not always automatic
The second point deserves attention: as covered in the material on conditions, a gap in cover can matter at renewal even if nothing happened during it.
The rest of the sequence
- Driving — whether your licence is recognised, for how long, and what exchange requires. Deadlines apply and are easy to miss
- Schools — often allocated by catchment, so the address decision and the school decision are the same decision
- Tax registration, where separate from the personal number
- Vehicle registration and insurance if you bring or buy a vehicle
- Consular registration with your own country's mission, which takes minutes and matters in an emergency
The second is worth planning around rather than discovering. In systems where school places follow the address, choosing where to live is choosing where children go to school, and reversing that decision later means moving.
A practical arrival sequence
- Secure temporary accommodation that permits registration
- Register the address within the deadline
- Obtain the personal or tax number
- Open a bank account
- Complete employment registration
- Arrange health cover and register with a doctor
- Deal with driving, schools and utilities
- Move to permanent accommodation and re-register the address
Step eight is the one people forget. Moving house means repeating the address registration, and everything that flows from it — bank, health, tax, permit records — needs updating too.
As set out elsewhere in this material, an out-of-date registered address is one of the quieter ways a status comes under threat.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the order of registrations matter?
Because each depends on the previous one — address registration needs accommodation, the personal number needs the address, the bank account needs both, and salary needs the account.
How do you break the circular problem at the start?
Temporary accommodation that permits registration, employer assistance, or a bank that accepts newcomers — and asking your employer first, since they have solved it before.
What should be asked before signing a lease?
Whether the landlord will provide whatever confirmation address registration requires. A lease on a property whose owner will not do so does not solve the problem.
What do people forget after moving house?
Re-registering the address, and updating everything that flows from it — bank, health, tax and permit records. An out-of-date address quietly puts status at risk.
