Who must declare, and by when
Any person who establishes their usual place of residence in a Luxembourg commune must declare it to the population office, known as the Bureau de la population or Biergeramt, of the local municipal administration. This is a legal obligation under Article 21 of the amended Law of 19 June 2013 on the identification of natural persons. It applies regardless of nationality. The formal name for the procedure is the déclaration d'arrivée, the declaration of arrival.
The deadline depends on your status. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, and anyone moving between two Luxembourg communes, must file the declaration within 8 days of occupying the new residence. Third-country nationals, meaning non-EU citizens who are not family members of an EU citizen, must declare their arrival within 3 days of entering the country. That is a much tighter window, so it is worth preparing the documents before you arrive.
- EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: within 8 days of moving in.
- Moving between two Luxembourg communes: within 8 days.
- Third-country nationals (non-EU, not an EU citizen's family member): within 3 days of entering the country.
Which documents to bring
Every person registering must present a currently valid identity document. EU citizens bring a valid national ID card or passport. Third-country nationals bring a valid passport and, where applicable, the required visa or residence permit or card and the original authorisation to stay.
You must also attach a document that proves the reality of your usual residence at the address. The commune accepts an extract from your rental or lease contract, known as the contrat de bail, a notarial deed of sale, or the written agreement of the owner or occupant of the accommodation. In Luxembourg City, the Bierger-Center also accepts a recent electricity or water bill issued within the past 3 months, or a recent fixed-line telephone bill from the past 3 months, in your own name.
- Valid ID card or passport (EU) or valid passport plus visa/permit/authorisation (third-country).
- Proof of residence: lease extract, notarial deed of sale, or the owner's or occupant's written agreement.
- In Luxembourg City only: a recent electricity, water or fixed-line phone bill from the past 3 months, in your name.
Registering when you live in a flatshare
If you share a flat and are neither the owner nor named on a lease you can produce yourself, the standard route is a proof-of-accommodation certificate, called a certificat d'hébergement or attestation d'hébergement. It must be completed and signed by the owner, or by the tenant who is hosting you. This is the normal document for a flatmate registering at the address of the person who holds the lease.
Many communes provide a downloadable template for this certificate. At Differdange, for example, the accommodation certificate is for people who neither own nor personally rent the dwelling, and the commune supplies a form to be duly completed and signed by the owner. Ask your commune, or check its website, for the local version before your appointment.
How to file it, and what it costs
You can make the declaration in person at the communal administration, or online through MyGuichet.lu. The online version, the déclaration de changement de résidence habituelle, requires authentication with a LuxTrust product, the Luxembourg eID card, or an eIDAS-recognised electronic identity.
The declaration may be made by the person concerned or by an authorised representative, such as a spouse or a designated agent, so not every household member necessarily has to appear. In practice, communes commonly still ask that all registering adults present their own ID. The declaration of arrival itself carries no fee.
What you receive: the certificate of residence
Once you are registered, you can request a certificate of residence, the certificat de résidence. It attests your legal domicile, meaning the address at which you are recorded in the National Register of Natural Persons, the RNPP. It is the everyday proof-of-address document that banks, employers and administrations ask for. It can also be used to justify practical entitlements, such as the statutory extraordinary leave an employee is granted for a house move.
Generating the certificate online in your private space on MyGuichet.lu is free of charge. Requesting the same certificate at the commune counter may incur a chancellery tax, the taxe de chancellerie, which varies by commune. It is typically around 2 euros in Luxembourg City, 3 euros in some communes such as Wiltz, and 0 euros in others such as Helperknapp, so it is worth checking your own commune's fee. There are two versions: the standard certificate, showing your own data and address, and the extended certificat de résidence élargi, which additionally lists the data of children, a spouse or a registered partner sharing the same residence.
Luxembourg City: the Bierger-Center
In Luxembourg City the declaration is handled at the Bierger-Center, at 44 place Guillaume II, entrance 2 rue Notre-Dame, L-2090 Luxembourg. It is open Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 17:00. You can reach it on +352 4796-2200 or at bierger-center@vdl.lu.
The Bierger-Center is a one-stop shop. Beyond the declaration of arrival, change of address and departure, it handles identity cards and biometric passports, certificate requests including residence and civil-status certificates, voter registration for non-Luxembourg nationals, dog registration and the Chèque-Service Accueil childcare voucher scheme. When you move within the city, bring, in addition to your ID and proof of residence, your registration certificate if you are an EU citizen, your family-member card if you are a third-country family member of an EU citizen, and your residential parking permit if you own a car and are changing district.
Why the registration matters
Registration at the commune feeds the RNPP, the central register that assigns each person a unique national identification number, the matricule. That number is required for much of the rest of Luxembourg admin. In practice it is generally needed before you can be affiliated to the CCSS and CNS mandatory health insurance, be formally employed, register for tax, or enrol children in the local school district, so registering early tends to clear the way for everything else.
Being on the register also drives your daily life: post delivered to a recognised legal address, correct tax registration and tax class, local services such as water and waste collection, and school district assignment. It is the record from which your certificate of residence is produced. For foreign residents it can also open a concrete civic right, registration on the electoral roll to vote in communal elections without being a Luxembourg citizen. Separately, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who plan to stay longer than 3 months must, in addition to the arrival declaration, obtain a registration certificate from the commune within 3 months of arrival.
A short checklist before you go
The declaration is straightforward once your papers are in order. The two things people most often miss are the deadline and the proof of residence when they do not hold the lease themselves.
- Confirm your deadline: 8 days (EU/EEA/Swiss, or moving between communes) or 3 days (third-country nationals).
- Bring a valid ID for every registering adult.
- Bring proof of residence, or, in a flatshare, a signed accommodation certificate from the owner or lease-holder.
- After registering, request your certificate of residence, free online via MyGuichet.lu.
- If you are an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen staying over 3 months, obtain your registration certificate within 3 months.