Moving to the UK: your first weeks, in order

What is different about moving to the UK?

You do not register with a town hall. The official pages we read for this guide set no single address-registration step. Instead, four things lean on each other: your immigration status, your right to rent, your National Insurance (NI) number and your GP. Get them in the wrong order and a landlord, an employer or a surgery sends you back to the start.

This guide gives the order, the fees and the 2026 rent levels. It covers England in most places. Rules for landlords, tenancies and schools differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and we say “England” wherever a rule is English only.

Which visa do I need to move to the UK?

It depends on where you are from and why you are coming.

• Irish citizens. gov.uk says an Irish citizen may stay in the UK without applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (gov.uk, EU Settlement Scheme), and can prove the right to rent in England with an Irish passport or passport card (gov.uk, right to rent).
• EU and EFTA citizens. The EU Settlement Scheme was for people who were living in the UK by 31 December 2020, and its deadline for most people was 30 June 2021. If you arrive now, check which visa applies to you with the gov.uk visa tool. Do not assume your passport is enough.
• Everyone else. gov.uk lists the work routes. The most common for an employee is the Skilled Worker visa: you need a job offer from an approved UK employer, a certificate of sponsorship, an eligible job at the minimum salary and enough English. The visa lasts up to 5 years, and your partner and children can apply as dependants. You can apply up to 3 months before your start date, and gov.uk says you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks if you apply from outside the UK (gov.uk, Skilled Worker visa). Other routes need no job offer, among them the Graduate visa, the Global Talent visa and the Youth Mobility Scheme (gov.uk, work visas).

This is an overview, not advice on your case. Telling someone which visa to choose is immigration advice, which is regulated; read who may give immigration advice in the UK before you pay anyone for it.

What do I pay the government before I move?

For a Skilled Worker visa applied for from outside the UK, gov.uk gives these figures (gov.uk, how much it costs):

Item	Amount
Application fee, up to 3 years, standard	GBP 819 per person
Application fee, more than 3 years, standard	GBP 1,618 per person
Lower fee if your job is on the immigration salary list	GBP 628 (up to 3 years) or GBP 1,235 (more)
Money you must show in your account, unless your employer covers it	GBP 1,270

Your partner and children pay the fee for the same length of time as you. On top of the fee comes the Immigration Health Surcharge: GBP 1,035 a year for most adults and GBP 776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility Scheme holders and anyone under 18 (gov.uk, healthcare surcharge). gov.uk’s own example is a 2-year visa for a job not on the salary list: GBP 819 plus GBP 1,035 for each year, GBP 2,889 in all when you apply.

Work out the total for every person who is applying before you accept an offer. For a family of four on a 5-year visa, the surcharge alone is 4 x 5 x GBP 1,035 = GBP 20,700 at the standard rate, our arithmetic from the gov.uk rate. Ask your employer which part it pays.

How much is rent in 2026?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published these averages for August 2026 (ONS, 16 September 2026):

• London: GBP 2,332 a month, up 3.5% on a year earlier.
• England: GBP 1,459, up 4.0%.
• UK: GBP 1,400, up 3.8%.
• Scotland: GBP 1,013, up 1.1%.
• Wales: GBP 846, up 4.3%.
• North East England, the lowest English region: GBP 788.

Inside London the spread is wide: Kensington and Chelsea averaged GBP 3,690, the highest of any local area. Outside London the highest was Oxford at GBP 1,963. For the whole UK, a one-bedroom property averaged GBP 1,136 and a flat or maisonette GBP 1,367. ONS publishes figures for each local authority, and we did not pull Manchester or Edinburgh, so we give no number for them.

In England, a landlord may ask for one week’s rent as a holding deposit, up to five weeks’ rent as a deposit when the yearly rent is under GBP 50,000, and one month’s rent in advance after you sign (gov.uk, Tenant Fees Act guidance, updated 7 July 2026). Our arithmetic at the London average: about GBP 538 for the week, GBP 2,691 for five weeks and GBP 2,332 for the month in advance. The rules in full are in our guide to renting in London without a UK credit history.

What do I do in the first week?

Follow this order.

1. Set up your eVisa. gov.uk says you need a UK Visas and Immigration account to access your eVisa, your online proof of status. You create it with a phone number and email address, then confirm your identity with an app on a smartphone (gov.uk, eVisas).
2. Get a share code before the viewings. In England, a landlord must check your right to rent. If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you prove it with a share code from the Home Office or with original immigration documents. You do not need to prove it in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland (gov.uk, right to rent).
3. Apply for your NI number. You can apply if you live in the UK, have the right to work and are working, looking for work or have an offer. It can take up to 4 weeks, and you can only apply once you are in the UK. You can start work before it arrives if you can prove your right to work (gov.uk, NI number).
4. Register with a GP. Everyone in England can register for free, usually online. Registration is usually confirmed within 5 days of the surgery getting your details, though it can take longer (NHS England, register with a GP).
5. Open a bank account. We did not open an official page that lists what UK banks ask newcomers for, so we give no list. Ask the bank which documents it accepts and book an appointment if it asks for one.
6. Check your driving licence. The gov.uk tool says you can drive cars and motorcycles on a full, valid licence from outside the EU for 12 months from when you became resident. If your licence comes from a designated country, you then exchange it for a GB licence and have 5 years from becoming resident to do so. If not, you apply for a provisional licence and take the theory and practical tests (gov.uk, non-GB licence).
7. Expect a Council Tax bill. Your bill depends on the valuation band of your home, what your local council charges for that band and any discount you qualify for (gov.uk, Council Tax).
8. Look at schools. In England, you contact your local council for state schools and their admission criteria; for private schools you contact the school directly (gov.uk, school admissions).

Is the NHS free once I arrive?

Most visa applicants pay the Immigration Health Surcharge with the application. Once paid, you can use the NHS free of charge from the date your visa starts. Prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests still cost money. The surcharge is not private insurance. Our guide to the NHS for newcomers has the rules and the part-year cases.

When does a relocation agent help?

The professional body for the trade in the UK is the Association of Relocation Professionals (ARP). It describes three groups: corporate relocation specialists who move staff for employers, property finders who help individuals search for a home, and specialist providers such as school and legal advisers (ARP). In British usage you will see “relocation agent” and “relocation agency” for the same thing.

An agent is most useful for three jobs:

• Home search, when you land with a few days to find a flat. See how to find a flat in London.
• Settling in, when the steps above feel like a second job. See relocation support in the UK.
• School search, when you have children and a start date.

Prices and how to pick are in what a relocation agent costs in the UK and how to choose a relocation agent in London. If you would rather not compare agencies yourself, get matched: you send one request and one agency gets in touch. The directory for the country is on the United Kingdom page, and how we rank explains the order.

What we could not source

We did not find an official list of what a UK bank asks newcomers for, or which Council Tax discounts apply to a new arrival, and we give a visa decision time only for the Skilled Worker route. We did not cover the EU licence rules beyond what the gov.uk tool says, or the tenancy rules of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice.