Resident registration

A resident register is a government database which contains information on the current residence of persons. In countries where registration of residence is compulsory, the current place of residence must be reported to the registration office or the police within a few days after establishing a new residence. In some countries, residence information may be obtained indirectly from voter registers or registers of driver licenses. Besides a formal resident registers or population registers, residence information needs to be disclosed in many situations, such as voter registration, passport application, and updated in relation to drivers licences, motor vehicle registration, and many other purposes. The permanent place of residence is a common criterion for taxation including the assessment of a person's income tax.

South Africa introduced the Population Registration Act in 1950, which created a national population register, and required the classification of residents based on race, and the issuing of identity cards. This system formed an important part in the pass laws, one of the dominant features of South Africa's apartheid system, after the Native Laws Amendment Act and the Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents Act of 1952 regularized their use. The apartheid system effectively ended in 1986.

Neither the federal government of the United States nor any U.S. state has formal resident registration systems. Refusing or neglecting to answer questions for the United States Census, such as current address, is punishable by fines of $100, for a property or business agent to fail to provide correct names for the census is punishable by fines of $500, and for a business agent to provide false answers for the census is punishable by fines of $10,000. Registrants in the Selective Service System (conscription in the United States) must notify Selective Service within 10 days of any changes to any of the information he provided on his registration card, like a change of address. In California, anyone with a driver's license must notify DMV of a change of address within 10 days or face a typical fine of $214, and anyone who has applied for or received a vehicle registration must notify DMV of a change of address within 10 days or face a typical fine of $178.

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