Phone number abroad: which documents?

Why do you need documents to get a phone number?

In most countries, the law requires carriers to know who they assign a number to. It is a measure against fraud and abusive telemarketing: a number must be traceable to a real company, with a verifiable address.

Each country sets its own rules. Some ask for nothing, like the US and Canada. Others require a company register extract, proof of address in the area code’s city, or even the legal representative’s ID. This tool gathers those requirements for twenty-three countries, in plain English.

The local address, the most common sticking point

The question is almost never “which documents?” but “where must your address be?”. For a landline number, many countries require an address within the area code’s zone: a Madrid landline requires an address in the Madrid region. Others accept an address anywhere in the country. A few, for mobile numbers, accept an address anywhere in the world.

The table below sums up the rule for each country and each number type.

Country by country

• 🇺🇸 US number
• 🇫🇷 French number
• 🇨🇭 Swiss number
• 🇨🇦 Canadian number
• 🇳🇱 Dutch number
• 🇬🇧 UK number
• 🇧🇪 Belgian number
• 🇩🇪 German number
• 🇪🇸 Spanish number
• 🇦🇹 Austrian number
• 🇮🇹 Italian number
• 🇱🇺 Luxembourg number
• 🇫🇮 Finnish number
• 🇸🇪 Swedish number
• 🇮🇪 Irish number
• 🇵🇹 Portuguese number
• 🇩🇰 Danish number
• 🇪🇪 Estonian number
• 🇷🇴 Romanian number
• 🇦🇺 Australian number
• 🇿🇦 South African number
• 🇲🇽 Mexican number
• 🇧🇷 Brazilian number