Before you start

Passport and residence permit or validated visa
Justificatif de domicile in your name
Proof of income or employment, commonly requested
A French mobile number

Step-by-step

1
Open a digital account in your first week
Revolut, N26, Wise and the French online banks open accounts in days and give you a usable IBAN, which covers the deposit and first rent while a traditional account is arranged.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 1
2
Download your RIB and keep it where you can send it in thirty seconds
Your employer, landlord, electricity supplier, tax office, health insurance fund and the CAF will each ask for it separately. Save it as a PDF on your phone.
Mobile appWho: You
3
Push back if a Belgian payroll insists on a Belgian account
Under the European rules governing euro payments, a payer may not require an account held in a particular member state — a euro-area IBAN is a euro-area IBAN. Payroll departments and some institutions still ask out of habit or because their software was configured badly. The point is worth making politely and in writing rather than opening an account you do not need.
Via employerWho: You
4
Open a traditional French account for the things that still want one
Some landlords, some employers and certain administrative procedures prefer a French high-street bank. Book an appointment with the passport, residence permit, proof of address and employment contract.
In personWho: You
5
Invoke the droit au compte if you are refused
Get the refusal in writing and take it to the Banque de France, which designates a bank obliged to open a basic account with standard services free of charge. It is a statutory right rather than a theoretical one.
In personWho: You
6
Arrange assurance habitation before the key handover
Home insurance is legally required for tenants and the agent will ask for the attestation on the day you collect the keys. Most banks and insurers issue one online within an hour — but do it the week before.
OnlineWho: YouBefore key handover

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence permit or validated visa
Justificatif de domicile
Employment contract or proof of resources
French mobile number

Things most newcomers don’t know

Nobody in the euro area may lawfully demand a local IBAN for a euro payment.

European payments rules require that a payer accept any euro-area account for a euro credit transfer or direct debit — you cannot be told to open a Belgian account to receive a Belgian salary, or a French one to pay a French subscription. In a cross-border city this comes up constantly, usually because a payroll or billing system was configured against a national account format years ago. A short, polite written objection citing the rule usually resolves it faster than opening the account.

Source: European Commission / SEPA Regulation

The droit au compte exists and almost no newcomer knows about it.

If banks refuse you — which happens with unusual documentation, no French credit history or a foreign address still on file — obtain the refusal in writing and apply to the Banque de France, which designates a bank required to open a basic account with standard services free of charge. It is a statutory right, routinely used, and it turns an apparently closed door into a two-week administrative procedure.

Source: Banque de France

Keeping one account either side of the border is often simpler than being purist about it.

Cross-border life generates small frictions that are not about currency: Belgian direct debits for a gym or a parking subscription, French ones for rent and utilities, cards that some Belgian merchants handle awkwardly. Plenty of people who work across the border keep a light Belgian account alongside their French one purely for the local direct debits, while keeping salary and everything official on the French side. That is a convenience decision, not a legal requirement.

Source: community-reported

French direct debits are much easier to start than to stop.

Rent, utilities, insurance and phone all run on prélèvement. Authorising one takes a signature; stopping one usually means terminating the underlying contract properly, and blocking the debit at the bank leaves the contract alive and the debt accruing. Keep your own list of what you have authorised, because nothing shows it to you in one place.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Opening a Belgian account because payroll asked, when a French IBAN must be accepted.
Accepting a bank's refusal instead of invoking the droit au compte.
Arriving at a key handover without an assurance habitation attestation.
Setting up direct debits on both sides of the border without keeping a single list.
Expecting to open a traditional French account before you have any proof of address.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.