Resident registration
Encyclopedia
The register of residents is a government database containing information on the current residence of persons. In countries where the resident registration is compulsory, the current place of residence must be reported to the Resident Registration Office
or the police
within a few days after establishing a residence. In some countries, residence information can be obtained indirectly from voluntary voter register
s or the registers of enhanced driver identification cards. The permanent place of residence is a common criterion for taxation including the assessment of a person's income tax
.
assignments and other government tasks. A person's current address is not shown on id-cards, but on driver's licenses. In some jurisdictions a non-driver's license or "non-driver photo identification card" is issued as a document containing residence details. However, there is no requirement to keep these documents up-to-date and a person may hold multiple driver's licenses from different states.
Foreign visitors are generally required to stay in the United States for a maximum of 90 days if traveling on the Visa Waiver Program
, or 180 days if traveling on a visa. The status of visitor many be renewed for a maximum of one year. Once it has expired, foreigners are subject to the restrictions of the US permanent residence regulations, otherwise known as the green card. This includes an identification card (which was colored green in the first versions) that must be carried at all times. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) can apply for an employment visa (H1-B) and after a number of years permanent residents can apply to be naturalized as proper US citizens. This forms the immigration process to the United States
; however, permanent resident registration does not require an application for US citizenship, as commuters living in Canada or Mexico often retain their citizenship. The corresponding resident registration office is the federal United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
bureau, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The ID cards bear a person INSEE code
that is registered in the National Identification Repertory (Numéro d'inscription au répertoire national d'identification des personnes, NIR). There are plans to introduce a new identity card, the INES (carte d'identité nationale électronique sécurisée) or 'secure electronic national identity card', that was to be implemented from around 2007. The scheme bears many similarities to the British ID card but it is stuck within the legislative process.
The legal requirements on resident registration were part of the legislation of the federal state - so each state of Germany
was allowed to have a different time frame when to register a new home (usually 1 week - the state laws specify immediate registration in RP, within 1 week in BW
, BY
, HH
, HE, MV, NI, NW, SL
, ST, TH
, and within two weeks in BE
, BB
, HB
, SH
, SN). Since 2007 the registration office will electronically de-register at the registration office of the old residency. The resident register is a public register in Germany - within the limits of resident privacy (Meldegeheimnis) each state would define their own rules how to access the personal information in the register and the fees for a residency document (Melderegisterauskunft or short Auskunft) about oneself or a third person.
The Federalism Reform as effective on 1 September 2006 has moved the legislation for resident registration to the federal level. The Federal Ministry of the Interior
was preparing a federal law to replace the state laws on resident registration which scheduled to get effective by 2010. The new law would assign that a Federal Resident Register (Bundesmelderegister) shall be created to be run in parallel with the local resident registers. The nationwide register shall assemble a number of personal identifying information drawing from multiple sources including resident registers, civil registers and taxation offices. During a scandal with list brokers obtaining large amounts of addresses from catalog selling company databases in 2008 the coalition split up over the question - Brigitte Zypries
(SPD
) opposed the plans of the ministry of interior led by Wolfgang Schäuble
(CDU
). She proposed that the current local registration offices should be networked instead. In the new government of CDU and FDP
the plans are blocked as well - the FDP has a political focus to further data privacy which a central database is in clear opposition to.
The concept of the registered Hauptwohnsitz
(main domicile) has special legal ramifications, primarily involving tax
. Although Germany (similarly to Austria and Switzerland) has a strict registration system for centuries there had been a strong opposition towards a single identification number. All registration numbers where local to the Registration Office
- even split within a single community to the office for civil register, tax office, etc. In 2008 a new system was introduced with a national tax payer number. It is still debated how much more information will be attached to the national identification number when the federal resident register is activated.
As of 2006 the ZMR was extended to include additional personal details from the civil registers. It is envisaged to include records from even mor government databases.
is a ten digit system including six digits for the birth date and three digits for the birth region. Almost all companies have registered for direct access to the resident register like telephone companies, electricity companies and so on. This leads to the situation that upon relocation one does only need to declare the new address to the resident register and all bills will be rerouted automatically to the new location. Although this makes it easier to handle the administrative tasks of taking a new home it has also been criticized for its lack of personal data privacy
.
is a ten digit system including six digits for the birth date and four additional digits. Almost all companies have registered for direct access to the resident register like telephone companies, electricity companies and so on. This leads to the situation that upon relocation one does only need to declare the new address to the resident register and all bills will be rerouted automatically to the new location. Although this makes it easier to handle the administrative tasks of taking a new home it has also been criticized for its lack of personal data privacy
.
system is used to record Japanese families and the juminhyo
system is used to record individual residents. Foreigners need to register within 90 days under the premises of the laws for alien registration in Japan
that creates a separate database for alien residents.
The Residents Basic Registry Network
or "Juki Net“ was introduced in 2003. This is introduced to increase government efficiency with 264 government tasks to be attached to the new system. In the new system a person identification number
is handed out consisting of eleven digits that can be used as a replacement for other identification documents.
consist of 13 digits that is also shown on the ID cards. Foreigners will receive a replacement number on their alien registration cards. The usage of the registration number is abundant including one third of the national internet websites require sign-up with the registration number and another third being unable to accept the alien registration card number.
was agreed that allows for a register-based census that may use the continuously updated information from the national resident registers with a statistical correction drawn from a sample census performed at another magnitude of the census poll. The first register census was performed in 1981 in Denmark, joined later by other Nordic countries. Germany, Austria and Switzerland intend to use a register-based census model for the EU Census scheduled for 2011. Given the financial benefit it is expected that more countries will switch to a register census model.
Registration Office
A registration office commonly refers to a government agency that files compulsory information in the public interest.The most common type of a registration office is a companies registration office or a trade register office. In most countries, the trade and company register is freely accessible...
or the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
within a few days after establishing a residence. In some countries, residence information can be obtained indirectly from voluntary voter register
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
s or the registers of enhanced driver identification cards. The permanent place of residence is a common criterion for taxation including the assessment of a person's income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
.
USA
The USA do not have a compulsory resident registration system, and, consequently, there is no registration office. Voter registration is used for juryJury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
assignments and other government tasks. A person's current address is not shown on id-cards, but on driver's licenses. In some jurisdictions a non-driver's license or "non-driver photo identification card" is issued as a document containing residence details. However, there is no requirement to keep these documents up-to-date and a person may hold multiple driver's licenses from different states.
Foreign visitors are generally required to stay in the United States for a maximum of 90 days if traveling on the Visa Waiver Program
Visa Waiver Program
The Visa Waiver Program is a program of the United States Government which allows citizens of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. The program applies to the 50 U.S. states as well as the U.S...
, or 180 days if traveling on a visa. The status of visitor many be renewed for a maximum of one year. Once it has expired, foreigners are subject to the restrictions of the US permanent residence regulations, otherwise known as the green card. This includes an identification card (which was colored green in the first versions) that must be carried at all times. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) can apply for an employment visa (H1-B) and after a number of years permanent residents can apply to be naturalized as proper US citizens. This forms the immigration process to the United States
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
; however, permanent resident registration does not require an application for US citizenship, as commuters living in Canada or Mexico often retain their citizenship. The corresponding resident registration office is the federal United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security . It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , which was part of the Department of Justice...
bureau, part of the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
United Kingdom
There is no resident registration in the United Kingdom and the voter registration is used for government tasks. The Identity Cards Act 2006 brought about British ID cards which were to be linked to a resident registration, which would also contain any information deemed necessary by the government; however, following the 2010 General Election this scheme was abolished by the Identity Documents Act 2010.France
France does have the concept of an ID card as per Carte d'Identité. However the address information on the card is merely derived from other documents like electricity bills. There is no requirement to change the address information when moving to another residency which leads to the situation that the current residency is often verified by showing bills relating to the current home.The ID cards bear a person INSEE code
INSEE code
The INSEE code is a numerical indexing code used by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies to identify various entities, including communes, départements...
that is registered in the National Identification Repertory (Numéro d'inscription au répertoire national d'identification des personnes, NIR). There are plans to introduce a new identity card, the INES (carte d'identité nationale électronique sécurisée) or 'secure electronic national identity card', that was to be implemented from around 2007. The scheme bears many similarities to the British ID card but it is stuck within the legislative process.
Germany
The resident registration is a task of the community which do often create a separate resident registration offices to run the resident register (Einwohnermelderegister or short Melderegister). Unlike common belief there is no central administration - the resident registration is run by 5283 local offices throughout Germany.The legal requirements on resident registration were part of the legislation of the federal state - so each state of Germany
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
was allowed to have a different time frame when to register a new home (usually 1 week - the state laws specify immediate registration in RP, within 1 week in BW
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, BY
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, HH
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, HE, MV, NI, NW, SL
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
, ST, TH
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, and within two weeks in BE
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, BB
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, HB
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, SH
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, SN). Since 2007 the registration office will electronically de-register at the registration office of the old residency. The resident register is a public register in Germany - within the limits of resident privacy (Meldegeheimnis) each state would define their own rules how to access the personal information in the register and the fees for a residency document (Melderegisterauskunft or short Auskunft) about oneself or a third person.
The Federalism Reform as effective on 1 September 2006 has moved the legislation for resident registration to the federal level. The Federal Ministry of the Interior
Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the German federal government. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister of the interior is Dr...
was preparing a federal law to replace the state laws on resident registration which scheduled to get effective by 2010. The new law would assign that a Federal Resident Register (Bundesmelderegister) shall be created to be run in parallel with the local resident registers. The nationwide register shall assemble a number of personal identifying information drawing from multiple sources including resident registers, civil registers and taxation offices. During a scandal with list brokers obtaining large amounts of addresses from catalog selling company databases in 2008 the coalition split up over the question - Brigitte Zypries
Brigitte Zypries
Brigitte Zypries is a German politician. She was Federal Minister of Justice of Germany from 2002 to 2009. She is member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .- Career :...
(SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
) opposed the plans of the ministry of interior led by Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble
Wolfgang Schäuble is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union , currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet Merkel....
(CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
). She proposed that the current local registration offices should be networked instead. In the new government of CDU and FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
the plans are blocked as well - the FDP has a political focus to further data privacy which a central database is in clear opposition to.
The concept of the registered Hauptwohnsitz
Hauptwohnsitz
In German-speaking countries, Hauptwohnsitz denotes the primary place of residence. In Germany and Austria, the concept of Hauptwohnsitz has special legal ramifications, primarily involving tax....
(main domicile) has special legal ramifications, primarily involving tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
. Although Germany (similarly to Austria and Switzerland) has a strict registration system for centuries there had been a strong opposition towards a single identification number. All registration numbers where local to the Registration Office
Registration Office
A registration office commonly refers to a government agency that files compulsory information in the public interest.The most common type of a registration office is a companies registration office or a trade register office. In most countries, the trade and company register is freely accessible...
- even split within a single community to the office for civil register, tax office, etc. In 2008 a new system was introduced with a national tax payer number. It is still debated how much more information will be attached to the national identification number when the federal resident register is activated.
Austria
On 1 March 2002 the regional resident registers were centrally stored on the newly established "Zentrales Melderegister" (ZMR). Some larger cities continue to run their own local resident registers (Lokales Melderegister - LMR), which are synchronized with the central database. The current place of residence is reported by means of a Meldezettel (registration sheet) to the local administrative authority ("Gemeindeamt" or in cities "Magistratisches Bezirksamt"). The residence reporting requirement (Meldepflicht) involves a limit of 3 days for registering or de-registering a place of residence. A residence document from the database is called Meldeauskunft - this includes information about third persons unless those have filed for Auskunftsperre to restrict the public access. Permanent access is granted to some profession that require regular residence checks like lawyers, banks, professional associations and collection agencies.As of 2006 the ZMR was extended to include additional personal details from the civil registers. It is envisaged to include records from even mor government databases.
Switzerland and Liechtenstein
The compulsory resident registration is called Einwohnerkontrolle (residents' registration) in these countries. The residents' registers are subject to the local authority named Einwohneramt (residency office), Einwohnerkontrolle (residents registry office) or Personenmeldeamt (persons' registration office). Foreign residents are subject to the federal residents' register run by the immigration office. Each relocation must be declared to the residents' register including notice of departure when moving abroad.Italy
In Italy the registration of residence is compulsory and the records are kept on a decentralized system. Unlike other countries a reported place of residence is physically checked by government officials as well as the de-registration of a previous residence. Hence, the official confirmation may take up to four months. Residents moving to a new place of residence abroad are recorded as expatriates on the „Anagrafe degli Italiani Residenti all'Estero“ database (AIRE). When they return to Italy the are de-registered from AIRE and their new residence is registered by the local administrative authority.Netherlands
The compulsory resident register is run by the Bureau Vestigings Register in ‘s-Gravenhage/Den Haag.Norway
The register of residents, called folkeregisteret, is compulsory. Foreigners need to register only when they intend to stay longer than for 3 months.Denmark
The compulsory resident register is run by the folkeregister which hands out a CPR-Number (Central Person Register number). Foreigners need to register when intending to stay longer than six months.Sweden
The compulsory resident register is run by the federal tax office Skatteverket that also hands out the person id - that national identification numberNational identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other...
is a ten digit system including six digits for the birth date and three digits for the birth region. Almost all companies have registered for direct access to the resident register like telephone companies, electricity companies and so on. This leads to the situation that upon relocation one does only need to declare the new address to the resident register and all bills will be rerouted automatically to the new location. Although this makes it easier to handle the administrative tasks of taking a new home it has also been criticized for its lack of personal data privacy
Data privacy
Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
.
Finland
The compulsory resident register is run by the federal office Väestörekisterikeskus that also hands out the person id - that national identification numberNational identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other...
is a ten digit system including six digits for the birth date and four additional digits. Almost all companies have registered for direct access to the resident register like telephone companies, electricity companies and so on. This leads to the situation that upon relocation one does only need to declare the new address to the resident register and all bills will be rerouted automatically to the new location. Although this makes it easier to handle the administrative tasks of taking a new home it has also been criticized for its lack of personal data privacy
Data privacy
Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
.
Hungary
The compulsory resident register is run by Központi Adatfeldolgozó, Nyilvántartó és Választási Hivatal, Igazgatási és Felügyeleti Föösztály in Budapest. Hungarian citizens will declare their residency to the local administration while foreigners will register in the immigration office.Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia
The compulsory resident register was handled separately by the regional offices even before the Yugoslavia was split into sovereign states.Japan
In Japan the kosekiKoseki
A is a Japanese family registry. Japanese law requires all Japanese households to report births, acknowledgements of paternity, adoptions, disruptions of adoptions, deaths, marriages and divorces of Japanese citizens to their local authority, which compiles such records encompassing all Japanese...
system is used to record Japanese families and the juminhyo
Juminhyo
A is a registry of current residential addresses maintained by local governments in Japan. Japanese law requires each citizen to report his or her current address to the local authorities who compile the information for tax, national health insurance and census purposes.The jūminhyō is different...
system is used to record individual residents. Foreigners need to register within 90 days under the premises of the laws for alien registration in Japan
Alien registration in Japan
is a system used to record information regarding aliens resident in Japan. It is handled at the municipal level, parallel to the koseki and juminhyo systems used to record information regarding Japanese nationals.Foreigners staying in Japan for more than 90 days are required to register...
that creates a separate database for alien residents.
The Residents Basic Registry Network
Residents Basic Registry Network
The or is a national registry of Japan citizens. It has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court of Japan on March the 6th of 2008 amidst strong opposition.- Registry content :The registry contains for each citizen the following information:* Name,...
or "Juki Net“ was introduced in 2003. This is introduced to increase government efficiency with 264 government tasks to be attached to the new system. In the new system a person identification number
National identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other...
is handed out consisting of eleven digits that can be used as a replacement for other identification documents.
South Korea
The resident registration number in South KoreaResident registration number (South Korea)
A resident registration number is a 13-digit number issued to all residents of the Republic of Korea. Similar to national identification numbers in other countries, it is used to identify people in various private transactions such as in banking and employment. It is also used extensively for...
consist of 13 digits that is also shown on the ID cards. Foreigners will receive a replacement number on their alien registration cards. The usage of the registration number is abundant including one third of the national internet websites require sign-up with the registration number and another third being unable to accept the alien registration card number.
China
In China the Hukou system is used for resident registration and civil registration. This system was inherited from imperial times and there is an interest to reform the legislation about it.Register census
Within the Europe Union a regulation for the European-wide censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
was agreed that allows for a register-based census that may use the continuously updated information from the national resident registers with a statistical correction drawn from a sample census performed at another magnitude of the census poll. The first register census was performed in 1981 in Denmark, joined later by other Nordic countries. Germany, Austria and Switzerland intend to use a register-based census model for the EU Census scheduled for 2011. Given the financial benefit it is expected that more countries will switch to a register census model.
Pakistan
In Pakistan the NADRA system is used to record Pakistani families and the District Council system is used to record individual residents. Foreigners need to register within 90 days under the premises of the laws for alien registration in Pakistan that creates a separate database for alien residents.See also
- Schengen Information SystemSchengen Information SystemThe Schengen Information System , is a governmental database used by European countries to maintain and distribute information on individuals and pieces of property of interest. The intended uses of this system are for national security, border control and law enforcement purposes...
- National identification numberNational identification numberA national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other...
- Social Security numberSocial Security numberIn the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...