After 8 years in Italy, I relocated to the UK along with my wife on the 3rd of April, 2023. I can tell you that there are many things that you must do as soon as you move to the UK. In this post I will share a comprehensive guide from personal experience. I will outline each task 1-by-1, to help you navigate the process of settling in the UK.
I am going to go through these items in the order of importance.
1. Collect your BRP
Everything starts with your BRP also known as Biometric residence permit. It is given to you if apply to stay in the UK for more than 6 months and it can be used to confirm you identity and your right to use public services or benefits. You need to collect it, usually at a post office of your choosing. It should be collected within 10 days of your arrival. We arrived on the 3rd of April and the very next day we collected our BRP’s at Guildford before moving to Camberley.
https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits/getting-your-brp-if-you-applied-from-outside-the-uk
2. Inform & Setup Council Tax
The next thing to do is to inform your council of your move-in to the new address. This is also typically done within the first 10 working days of your move. Sometime your housing or real-estate agent would have informed the council of your move immediately after signing your contract. But it is your responsibility to call them up and inform them of your arrival. They will register and inform you instructions of how you should start paying your council tax. You can choose to pay the entire years council tax or opt to pay them in installments every month by direct debits from your bank account or through their online portal. The amount of tax you will be paying depends on many factors like you council tax band for your apartment and your council itself.
https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands
3. Inform British Gas & setup account
The next thing to do is to inform your utility provider about your move-in. Again, they may also be informed beforehand by your housing agency, but it is important that you inform them personally and set up an account with them to start paying for utilities. Our apartment was registered with British Gas previously, so we registered with them. Once registered you are free to switch to other providers. This switch is typically free. Please make sure to read your terms and conditions before switching to your provider.
4. Inform South East Water
The next time in this list is to inform your water company or provider. Also, the water company may have been given heads-up about your move, it is your responsibility to set up an account and payments methods to start paying for your usage.
💡 Typically, the charges of your utilities are fixed monthly payments based on your average usage. Initially it could be high or low depending on how the usage was in the months or years prior to your moving. But this could change based on your current usage pattern. Don't be alarmed when you see that you have to pay for example 50 GBP within the first 10 days of your move. This will be used as a credit and will be deducted based on your usage.
💡 Another point it that you will have to setup direct debits for these payments, however you don't have a bank account yet. This is not a problem; you pay using a credit or debit card and set up a direct debit later once you have a bank account.
5. Bank Account
So the next logical thing to do is open a bank account. You have plenty of options like Barclays, LLoyds, HSBC, NatWest, Santander. The process of opening a bank account is pretty much the same for every bank. All you need it to choose a bank of your choice and then download their app. You can simply follow the instructions to prove your identity and provide address proof to initiate an application. You would typically be asked for your passport, BRP and one of the bills from your utility provider. Thankfully for me, one of our utilities company immediately generated our first bill and we used that to provide proof of our address. In 5 -10 working days your account will be opened and a week or so later you will receive your debit card PIN and followed by your debit card.
6. Register with GP – NHS
Now let’s focus on health. Most western countries provide health care for free, of course from the taxes you pay. This requires you to register with a doctor or a local hospital. Here in the UK, this is your GP or General Practitioner. This GP is like your family doctor and is the main point of contact for your healthcare.
Find out your nearest GP using https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-gp this link. Call them up and let them know that you would like to register with them or find their website and simply follow the instructions on how to join the practice. They usually have 3 parts to this registration.
- Patient Details
- Health questionnaire
- online access.
Once you complete this successfully, you should receive within 5-10 working days your NHS number by post. Keep this safely for you reference. There is also a handy NHS app to find information regarding healthcare and to book your appointments. Since it is post-COVID, the NHS service will recommend you to get vaccinated. In case, you are already vaccinated, which I was, you can inform NHS of this and they will update their vaccination records. It is simply sending your vaccination records and identity proofs to an email. you can find more information in this link
7. National Insurance (NI)
National Insurance is like social security, and you need this to qualify for certain benefits and state pension. You can find information about this at https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance. This is something your employer will also ask you so that they can link their pensions to your records. You find information on how to apply here https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number. You will see that one of the requirements for applying NI is right-to-work. And if you entered the UK using a skilled worker visa or any other type of work visa, you can find proof of right to work from here https://www.gov.uk/prove-right-to-work.
8. Sign up HMRC
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is the UK’s tax, payments, and customs authority. They collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support. In order to manage your taxes and avail tax benefits, if you are eligible, you need to sign up for an account with the HMRC. I don’t know if it is mandatory, but I was suggested that I do sign up for an account with them, so I did.
9. Electoral Registration
I am not going to lecture on the importance of the right to vote, but it is important that you enroll yourself to vote in the local electoral register. You can find information about it here https://www.gov.uk/electoral-register. One other benefit that I found of being registered is the positive impact on your credit score. Although I have not noticed this yet, the banks themselves recommend that you enroll in the electoral register.
10. Provisional Driving License
If you are from a country that has an exchange agreement with the UK for converting to British driving license, well and good. You can convert to a British driver’s license. You can find information about it here https://www.gov.uk/exchange-foreign-driving-licence. If you are like me, then you have to pass the driving test and get a British driving license. The first step is to apply for a provisional driving license. You need this to take driving lessons and also for registering for the theory and practical exam for the license. You can apply your provisional driving license from here https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-provisional-driving-licence
After you apply for it, you will receive a letter in some days with a prefilled application and asking you to provide a proof of identity, specifically, you may have to submit your biometric residence permit. Send it along with the application to the address mentioned in that letter. They will return back your BRP and then followed by your professional driving license after a couple of days later. Now you can start taking driving lessons or drive with an approved driving instructor.