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, covering the deposit and first rent while a traditional account is arranged. N26 in particular is German, which some people here find convenient for the same reason.
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 separately, and several will ask twice. Save it as a PDF on your phone.
Mobile appWho: You
3
If you are paid from Germany, insist on your French IBAN
European payments rules require a payer to accept any euro-area account for a euro credit transfer — a German employer cannot lawfully require a German account. Payroll systems still ask out of habit. A short written objection usually resolves it faster 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, not the morning of.
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

Alsace-Moselle has its own personal insolvency route, and it is more direct than the national one.

Individuals domiciled in Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin or Moselle who are neither farmers nor engaged in a commercial, artisanal or any other independent professional activity, who are acting in good faith and are notoriously insolvent, can petition the tribunal judiciaire directly for faillite civile — a procedure descended from a German bankruptcy ordinance of 1877 and now codified at articles L670-1 and following of the Code de commerce, under a title of derogations written for these three departments. It can lead to the erasure of debts. In the rest of France the equivalent runs through the Banque de France over-indebtedness commission first. Both routes exist here and you may choose; the local one can be opened without the commission stage. It is one of the more consequential pieces of droit local and almost nobody knows it applies to them.

Source: Code de commerce, articles L670-1 et suivants

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

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

European payments rules require a payer to accept any euro-area account for a euro credit transfer or direct debit — you cannot be told to open a German account to receive a German salary. In a city where a large number of people are paid from across the Rhine, this comes up regularly, usually because a payroll system was configured against a national account format. Raising it in writing generally works.

Source: European Commission / SEPA Regulation

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

Accepting a bank's refusal instead of invoking the droit au compte.
Opening a German account because payroll asked, when a French IBAN must be accepted.
Arriving at a key handover without an assurance habitation attestation.
Assuming national over-indebtedness advice applies unchanged in Alsace-Moselle.
Setting up direct debits on both sides of the Rhine without keeping a single list.

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