Bureaucracy is the unglamorous heart of expat life, and complexity varies from countries where everything is a single online portal to places where each task means separate offices, paper forms, and queues. The universal pattern is that everything depends on everything else: you need an address to register, registration to open a bank account, a bank account to rent. Learning the correct sequence for your country early saves enormous frustration.
Support systems worth using: your employer's relocation service if offered, official immigration and municipal websites, which are more current than forums, expat communities for decoding how things really work, and professionals such as immigration lawyers for high stakes matters like visas and appeals. Many cities also run newcomer welcome offices that people overlook.
Habits that make it manageable: keep multiple copies of every document, take certified translations seriously, never miss renewal deadlines, and log what you submitted where and when. Future you will be grateful.