First Week in the UK Checklist: Essential Steps for New Arrivals

First, on Arrival

These are the ones nothing else waits on:

• Get a UK SIM card: A pay-as-you-go SIM gives you a UK number the same day, and you will need a number you can reach: signing in to your UKVI account uses a phone number or email address registered on the account. Providers and prices are commercial and no official source compares them, so this guide names none.
• Check your online immigration status: There is no card to collect. Biometric residence permit cards stopped being issued at the end of 2024, and permission to be in the UK is now held online as an eVisa in a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account. If you have not set the account up yet, do it at gov.uk/get-access-evisa; if you have, sign in and check your name, date of birth, nationality, and the conditions on your permission are all correct. See our guide to what replaced the permit card.
• Get to your accommodation: If you have not arranged permanent housing, check into your temporary accommodation. See our accommodation guide.
• Work out how you will pay for transport: Local transport is run locally, and the ticketing differs between cities. Contactless bank cards are accepted on many networks. Check the transport authority for the place you are actually living in rather than assuming London's arrangements apply.

Banking

A UK account is what wages are paid into and what rent and bills go out of. One rule here is set by law rather than by the bank: section 40 of the Immigration Act 2014 says a bank must run an immigration status check before opening a current account, and must not open one for a person who is in the UK and needs permission to be here but does not have it. That check is why you are asked to prove your status, which you do with a share code from your UKVI account.

• What a bank asks for is the bank's own decision. No official source publishes which banks accept which documents, so ask before you go in rather than trusting a list. See our bank account guide.
• There is an account a designated bank must offer. Under the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015, banks the Treasury has designated must offer a fee-free account with basic features to a consumer legally resident in the UK who holds no other UK account with those features, and must open or refuse it within 10 business days. It carries no overdraft.
• Moving money from home. Exchange rates and fees are set commercially and no official source compares them, so this guide names no service.

Healthcare and Your National Insurance Number

• Register with a GP: Find your nearest GP surgery on the NHS website. The NHS says you do not need ID, proof of address or proof of immigration status, and that you do not need an NHS number, to register. See our GP registration guide.
• Know what the health surcharge did and did not buy. It puts you on the same footing as a resident, which means you then pay what a resident pays. In England that is £9.90 for each prescribed item and NHS dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the band. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Register with a dentist: NHS dental places can be hard to find. Start looking early. See our dentist guide.
• Check whether you already have a National Insurance number, then apply if not: GOV.UK says you may already have one shown on your eVisa or on an old permit card, so look before applying. It also says you can start work before the number arrives if you can prove you have the right to work. You apply online and then verify your identity. See our NI number guide.

Settling In

• Set up utilities: If you have moved into unfurnished accommodation, set up gas, electricity, water, and broadband.
• Register for council tax, or for rates: Council tax applies in England, Scotland and Wales, and you register with the local council. Northern Ireland has domestic rates instead, collected by Land and Property Services rather than a council. Full-time students are treated differently again — see our council tax guide and, if you are studying, our student exemption guide.
• Explore your area: Find your nearest supermarket, pharmacy, post office, and transport links.
• Join community groups: Connecting with others who have been through the same experience can help enormously. See our community groups guide.

If You Are Starting Work

If you are arriving on a work visa:

• Right to work check: Your employer will need to verify your right to work. Generate a share code from view and prove your immigration status on GOV.UK and give it to them with your date of birth. A share code lasts 90 days and can be used as many times as you need in that time. See our right to work guide.
• Getting paid: Your employer runs PAYE. Your tax code comes from a P45 or, if you have not worked in the UK before, from the starter checklist your employer asks you to complete — not from your National Insurance number. GOV.UK says you can start work before that number arrives, provided you can prove your right to work.
• Employment rights: Holding a visa does not give you a lesser set of employment rights. The National Minimum Wage, paid holiday and protection from discrimination apply to you as they do to anyone else doing the same job. See our employment rights guide.

If You Have Children

• School places: In England, Scotland and Wales you apply through the local council. In Northern Ireland admissions run through the Education Authority, not a council. Whichever it is, you apply on the same terms as anyone else living there. See our school places guide.
• Childcare: Funded childcare hours are devolved, so the offer is different in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and some of it is affected by a "no public funds" condition. See our childcare guide.
• Child Benefit: Child Benefit is listed as a public fund in paragraph 6 of the immigration rules. Permission granted with a "no public funds" condition — which most work and study permission carries — means it cannot be claimed. Your eVisa shows whether that condition is on your permission. See our Child Benefit guide.

Driving

Traffic drives on the left. Whether you can use a licence issued outside the UK, and for how long, depends on where it was issued and on whether you count as a resident, a visitor or a student: GOV.UK answers it with a short questionnaire at driving in Great Britain on a non-GB licence, and this guide does not restate a single figure for it. Note that Great Britain here means England, Wales and Scotland; GOV.UK says there is a different process for getting a Northern Ireland licence. See our driving licence exchange guide and driving test guide.

Dealing With Homesickness

It is completely normal to feel overwhelmed, lonely, or homesick in your first weeks. This is one of the most common experiences for new arrivals. See our homesickness and culture shock guide for practical coping strategies.

Questions and answers