First day in London Guide

There are several crucial things you need to do on the first day you arrive London. These are the things that will help you to save money later and settle down quickly. These include obtaining a British proof of address as soon as possible so that you can apply for a postpaid mobile phone, see NHS doctors for free and so on.

 1.      On the first day you arrive London, open a bank account.
 
Bring your passport, visa and proof of address in the country you normally reside. The proof of address could be a driving license, your national ID or bank statement with your name and home country address on it.

 As you read through this book you will realize that the proof of address of where you are staying in the UK is very important. Your UK bank account statement can be used as proof of address.

 You will normally get a current account statement every 30 days.  As for a savings account you will normally get the statement every three months. The idea of opening a bank account as soon as possible is because you need to get UK proof of address as soon as possible. This is 30 days from the day you open a bank account.

 Certain banks don’t allow you to open an account with them if you don’t have proof of address that you are staying in London.

Barclays Bank and the Abbey Bank are two of the banks that allow foreigners with a proof of address in their country of residence to open a bank account with them without any charges.

 If you are studying in UK, you can ask your college/university to give you a letter to open an account with the bank that has an arrangement with them.

 

2.      Buy an Oyster card.

An Oyster card is a card that you use to touch in and out at the rail station and on the buses. The transport tickets will be more expensive if you don’t have an Oyster card.  You can buy Oyster card at any tube station; it will cost you £3 for the card only. Since you are going to stay longer, I suggest you buy a weekly or monthly pass.

 
4.      Apply for Oyster photocard if you are eligible.

You can get the form at the Post Office. If you are applying for 18+ Student Oyster photocard and your school accepts online applications then you can apply online or get the form at your education establishment.

 
5.      Surf the Internet to find a room or flat to rent; you might want to consider short term letting first.
 
Later you can move into a better permanent place; the idea is to give you more time to choose the place you really want to stay. This will reduce your expenses because staying in a hotel is really very expensive. Every day counts because even in a bed and breakfast hotel it will easily cost you about £30 per day and the space is very small.

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