🇫🇷 Paris · Paperwork

Registration, banking and utilities in Paris

France runs on documents that reference other documents: the bank needs an address, the address needs a lease, the lease needs a bank account.

Get started in Paris

The thing people get wrongThe loop is real but it has a standard exit. A signed lease and an employer attestation will open a French bank account, and the RIB from that account is what unlocks rent, utilities, salary and social security. Break the loop at the bank, not at the landlord.

Indicative figures

  • Validate the VLS-TSWithin 3 months of arrivalOnline on ANEF. €300 standard, €100 reduced, since 1 May 2026.
  • First residence card€350 standard, €150 reducedRenewal €250 and €100.
  • Language for a multi-year cardA2 French plus a civic examSince 1 January 2026. B1 for a carte de résident.
  • Opening a bank accountFreeA refusal can be overridden through the Banque de France's droit au compte.

Checked . Ranges, not quotes — your Insider confirms the current numbers in Paris before you commit to anything.

Banking and the RIB

A French account produces the RIB — the account identity document — and French life runs on it: rent by virement, utilities by prélèvement, salary paid in, refunds from the health system paid out. Traditional banks want identification, proof of address and often an appointment; online banks are faster but occasionally refused by landlords and by some administrations. Do not underestimate how many forms will ask you to attach a RIB.

  • Bring passport, residence document, lease or attestation d'hébergement, and employment contract.
  • Ask for several printed RIBs; you will be handing them out for months.
  • Prélèvement automatique is how bills are paid — set it up rather than paying manually.

Social security and the numéro fiscal

If you work in France, your employer declares you and the process produces a numéro de sécurité sociale, which is the key to the health system and appears on the carte Vitale. Separately, the tax administration issues a numéro fiscal once you are in the system, and income tax is now withheld at source through the prélèvement à la source, though residents still file an annual declaration. Both numbers take time to arrive and both are asked for constantly.

  • The numéro de sécurité sociale is provisional at first and becomes definitive once your file is complete.
  • Your espace on impots.gouv.fr is where the numéro fiscal and your declarations live.
  • If you have no numéro fiscal yet, your Service des Impôts des Particuliers creates the file; online filing is then compulsory where you have internet access.

Utilities, internet and the everyday

Electricity is a contract in your own name with EDF or any alternative supplier, arranged for the day of the état des lieux with a meter reading. Internet installation in older Paris buildings can genuinely take several weeks and sometimes requires the syndic's cooperation, so order it the day you sign the lease. The taxe d'habitation no longer applies to main residences and the TV licence was abolished in 2022, so a tenant pays no occupancy tax on the flat they live in.

  • Set up electricity with a meter reading dated to the état des lieux.
  • Order fibre the day you sign; the technician appointment, not the paperwork, is the delay.
  • Keep every quittance de loyer — the monthly rent receipt is a standard proof of address.

Status, residence and where to check

EU citizens need no residence document at all. Non-EU arrivals on a long-stay visa that acts as a residence permit, the VLS-TS, must validate it online on the ANEF portal within three months of arrival, and since 1 May 2026 the tax is €300, or €100 for students and other reduced-rate categories. Renewals and first residence cards also start on ANEF; in Paris the file is then handled by the Préfecture de Police. Since 1 January 2026 a first multi-year card requires A2-level French and a passed civic exam, a carte de résident B1, and naturalisation B2. Confirm current requirements with the Préfecture de Police, the ANEF portal or a qualified immigration lawyer rather than with a forum.

  • Validate the VLS-TS within three months; until you do, you cannot leave and re-enter the Schengen area.
  • A first residence card costs €350 (€150 reduced) and a renewal €250 (€100 reduced) since 1 May 2026.
  • Apply for the next card two to four months before the current one expires, and keep the attestation of any application — it evidences your position while it is processed.
  • Translations of foreign civil documents usually need to be by a traducteur assermenté.

In order

  1. Open a French bank account and collect several RIBs.
  2. Sign the lease and keep the quittances de loyer from month one.
  3. Register with the health system through your employer and follow up on the numéro de sécurité sociale.
  4. Apply for the carte Vitale once the number is issued.
  5. Set up electricity and internet in your own name.
  6. Declare a médecin traitant with Assurance Maladie.
  7. Apply to CAF for APL if eligible.
  8. Non-EU: validate the VLS-TS on ANEF within three months and diary the renewal two to four months before expiry.