How do you register your address in Switzerland in 2026?

Use the Einwohnerkontrolle or contrôle des habitants, meaning the residents' registration office. Switzerland normally requires you to report arrival within 14 days of moving. A foreign national taking Swiss employment must also complete the required registration before starting work.

The counter is municipality-specific. A Zurich city resident uses a city district office, while Geneva handles foreign arrivals through its cantonal population and migration office. A canton is one of Switzerland's 26 regional governments. The local website tells you whether to attend, post documents, or file online and what fee applies.

Bring a valid passport or accepted identity card, the arrival form, and proof that you occupy the address. The office may accept a signed lease. For a sublet or hosted stay, it may instead require written confirmation from the landlord or main tenant, their identity copy, and the main lease. Geneva's official process illustrates why a lease alone is not a universal Swiss checklist.

Take your employment contract or evidence for study, self-employment, family reunion, or living without work. EU/EFTA means the European Union and European Free Trade Association route under Swiss free-movement rules. EU/EFTA workers normally present identity and written employment evidence. A third-country national, meaning someone outside EU/EFTA, should bring the visa, entry authorisation, or cantonal decision obtained for the approved route.

Civil-status records can matter because the municipality records the household, not only the leaseholder. Ask whether it needs birth, marriage, divorce, custody, or family certificates, and whether foreign records need legalisation or translation. Each spouse, partner, and child moving with you must be declared. Do not assume one adult's form automatically registers the family.

The municipality records your arrival and passes the immigration part of a foreign national's file into the cantonal process. Depending on your status and canton, registration can also establish the address used for tax at source, health-insurance enforcement, school contact, and other official mail.

If you move from one Swiss municipality to another, report departure where required and arrival to the new municipality. The federal portal says arrival is normally reported within 14 days after the move. A boundary change can matter even within one urban area because the new municipality and canton may use different tax and administrative offices.