Two different journeys
Which process you follow depends on your nationality. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens register. Non-EU citizens apply for a permit tied to something specific: work, business, digital nomad status or self sufficiency.
Everything else in this chapter - documents, order of operations, family members - applies to both.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens
EU, EEA and Swiss nationals apply for a registration certificate - the MEU1, widely called the yellow slip - at the Civil Registry and Migration Department when they intend to stay longer than three months.
It is a registration rather than a permission, but it is the document that the rest of your administrative life here hangs off, so treat it as an early priority rather than something to do once you have settled in.
Non-EU citizens
Non-EU nationals apply for a temporary residence permit. The available routes include employment, the foreign interest company route for staff of qualifying companies, digital nomad status and self sufficiency.
Choosing the route is a decision with knock-on effects for your company setup and your tax position, so it is worth taking advice before you start rather than after a first refusal.
Get the documents right before you fly
You will be asked for the same documents over and over, by different offices, and each will want its own copy. Prepare several certified and apostilled copies before you leave:
- Birth certificates for every family member
- Marriage certificate
- School records and reports
- Criminal record checks
- Proof of address
Getting an apostille from abroad, after you have moved, is slow and irritating. Getting it while you still live near the issuing authority is trivial.
Order matters more than speed
Address proof and a local bank account unlock most of the rest. So the practical sequence is: sort a lease, then banking, then the immigration appointment - not the other way round.
Register your children's documents at the same time as your own. School registration and healthcare both come back to these, and a missing apostille on a birth certificate can stall two separate processes at once.