Registration, banking and utilities in Lyon

Validate the visa within three months

A VLS-TS, the long-stay visa that acts as a residence permit, must be validated within three months of arrival, online at the ANEF portal at administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr. Until you do, you are irregular and cannot re-cross a Schengen border. The tax payable on validation rose on 1 May 2026 to €300 at the standard rate and €100 for students, seasonal workers, family reunification and job-seekers, so any figure below €300 you read elsewhere is out of date. First residence-permit applications, renewals and documents de circulation now start on the same portal, and the Préfecture du Rhône publishes what it still handles at a counter, so check rhone.gouv.fr before travelling to one.

• Residence-permit taxes rose on the same date: first issue €350 standard and €150 reduced, renewal €250 and €100, a duplicate €350 and €150.
• A naturalisation application went from €55 to €255.
• Keep the confirmation of any application, because it evidences your position while it is processed.

The bank account

A bank needs current photo ID, a proof of address and a specimen signature. Opening the account is free, though monthly running fees may apply, and it is declared to the Ficoba register. If you have no stable housing yet, an attestation d'élection de domicile serves as the proof of address. A bank may refuse to open an account without giving a reason, and if that happens you invoke the droit au compte through the Banque de France, which designates a bank obliged to open a basic account for you.

• Accepted ID: a national identity card, a passport, an EU residence card or another titre de séjour.
• Accepted proof of address: a tax notice, a rent receipt or a utility bill.
• Ask for several printed RIBs. Rent, salary, utilities and health reimbursements all run through it.
• Closing an account is free and takes at most 30 days.

Utilities, and Lyon's public water

Electricity and gas are contracted directly with a supplier of your choice, using the official comparator of suppliers serving your commune, and you separately notify the old supplier to close the previous account. Water in Lyon is not a private concession: Eau du Grand Lyon, the metropolitan public operator, bills households directly and separately from the rent. New arrivals subscribe online through the agence at agence.eaudugrandlyon.com or on 09 69 39 69 99, and the office is at 55 rue de la Soie, 69100 Villeurbanne. A tarification solidaire et environnementale has applied since 1 January 2025.

• One online change-of-address declaration pushes the new address to the tax office, social security, the energy supplier, the employment agency and CAF at once.
• La Poste mail redirection is a separate service and you pay for it.
• Check internet availability at the address before you count on it.
• Eau du Grand Lyon phone hours: Monday to Friday 08:00 to 19:00, Saturday 08:00 to 12:30.

The tax number and the annual declaration

If the tax office has not written to you with credentials, you cannot simply create an online account. You contact your local Service des Impôts des Particuliers, in person or by post, with ID and a proof of address so that a file is created, and the numéro fiscal follows from that. Once you have one, online filing is compulsory if your home has internet access, with paper forms reserved for people who cannot file online. The calendar is fixed and annual: the 2026 campaign for 2025 income has closed, so someone arriving in Lyon now makes their first French declaration in the campaign that opens in April 2027.

The driving licence

A non-EU licence must be exchanged within one year of acquiring normal residence in France, and only if the issuing country has a reciprocity agreement, which a Service-Public simulator will tell you. An EU or EEA licence stays valid here and has to be exchanged only in defined cases: it expires, it is lost, stolen or damaged, you add a category, or you commit an offence that costs points. A licence not in French needs an official legalised or apostilled translation, or one by an approved translator in France, and the application goes through ANTS. Exchange became chargeable on 12 May 2026 at €40 by electronic stamp. You may keep driving on the foreign licence while the request is processed, and once the original is deposited you can download an attestation valid for four months.

In order

1. 1Validate the VLS-TS on the ANEF portal within three months of arrival and pay the tax.
2. 2Sign the lease and keep every quittance de loyer, because the rent receipt is your standard proof of address.
3. 3Open a French bank account with ID, the proof of address and a specimen signature, and ask for several RIBs.
4. 4Contract electricity and gas in your own name from the date of the état des lieux, and close the previous account.
5. 5Subscribe to Eau du Grand Lyon, since water is billed to you directly and not through the rent.
6. 6File the single online change-of-address declaration so the tax office, social security, the energy supplier, the employment agency and CAF all get it.
7. 7Get a numéro fiscal, in person at your Service des Impôts des Particuliers if no credentials arrive by post.
8. 8Exchange the driving licence inside the window that applies to you.
9. 9Check rhone.gouv.fr before travelling to any préfecture counter, because residence procedures now begin on ANEF.