First Month in London Checklist: Bank, NI Number, GP and SIM

Landing in London is the exciting part. The week after is a list: a phone that works, money you can actually spend, a doctor, and the paperwork that unlocks legal work. None of it is difficult once you know the order, and the order matters far more than the effort, because almost every step quietly depends on the one before it. This is the standalone version of the admin section in our moving to London guide, gone deeper, in the sequence that actually works.

First, the two keys: a UK SIM and a UK address

Almost everything below asks for two things, a British mobile number and a UK address. Sort those and the rest falls into place.

A UK SIM takes about ten minutes. The networks sell pay-as-you-go and rolling monthly SIMs, and many now sell an eSIM you can buy and activate from your phone, so it is possible to land with a British number already working. You do not need a contract yet, and a contract is harder to get anyway before you have a UK credit file.

The address is the part people worry about more than they need to. You do not need your own tenancy to begin. A friend’s flat, a relative’s place or a short let is a perfectly good starting address for your first registrations. What matters is that post reaches you there, and that you give the same address consistently on every form.

There is a loop that catches people, and it is worth naming. Several services ask for “proof of address”, meaning a document with your name and address printed on it, and you have none because you only just arrived. The way out is to do the steps that do not require one first, because each of them then produces the document. Your National Insurance letter, your first bank statement and your council tax bill all arrive with your name and address on them, and each one works as proof of address for the next thing on the list.

Your status is digital, so learn the share code

UK immigration status is held online now rather than on a card in your pocket. You get a UKVI account, and instead of showing a document you generate a share code on gov.uk and pass it on, along with your date of birth, to whoever needs to check you.

This matters more than it sounds, because three different people will ask. An employer must run a right to work check before your first day. A letting agent must run a right to rent check before handing over keys. Some banks and services ask as well.

Set the account up and prove you can log into it during your first week, not on the morning an employer needs it. Codes are generated fresh each time and expire after a set window, so there is nothing useful to keep on file. What is worth keeping is the login itself: store the details somewhere you will still find them in a year, along with a photograph of your visa paperwork.

Open a UK bank account

You want an account early, because your salary, your rent and your bills all run through it. The fastest route for a new arrival is an app-based bank.

These verify you inside the app with your passport and a short selfie video rather than a utility bill. That is the whole trick, and it is why people search for it: the proof-of-address loop is simply not there. You photograph the passport, record the selfie, and you have a real account with a UK sort code and account number, often the same day. That is enough to receive a salary and pay for everything.

One distinction is worth understanding before you pick. Some of these providers are fully licensed banks, where deposits are protected by the FSCS up to the statutory limit. Others are e-money firms, where your money is held in a safeguarded account instead, which is a different arrangement and not the same guarantee. Both are legitimate and both are fine for day-to-day life. Just know which one you are opening, and keep any serious savings with a licensed bank.

A traditional high-street account can follow later, for a mortgage or in-branch service, by which point you will have a payslip or a tenancy to satisfy their proof-of-address rules. Start digital, add high-street if a specific need appears.

Two habits from day one. Never treat an overdraft as spare money, because how you handle your first UK account quietly becomes your credit story. And if you are moving savings across from Israel, compare a specialist currency transfer service against your own bank’s rate before you send anything, because the exchange spread on a large one-off transfer is a real cost and it is easy to miss when you are only looking at the fee.

Apply for a National Insurance number

Your National Insurance number is what links you to legal work, tax and contributions. Every employer will ask for it.

Check your visa paperwork before you do anything, because a National Insurance number is sometimes issued as part of a visa grant, and it is worth ruling that out before filling in a form you may not need. If there is no number on your documents, apply online through gov.uk. Use the official government site and nothing else, because any third party offering to speed the application up is charging you for a form that is free.

The process can take several weeks, so apply in your first days and carry on with everything else while it runs. Here is the part that saves the stress: you can usually start working before the number arrives. An employer can take you on while the application is in progress. A slow NI number is not a reason to turn down a job.

Expect one wrinkle in your first payslip. Until HMRC has your record lined up, new starters are often put on an emergency tax code and overpay income tax for a month or two. It corrects itself once the record catches up and the overpayment comes back to you, but check the tax code on your payslip rather than assuming. Setting up your personal tax account on gov.uk takes a few minutes and shows you what HMRC thinks you earn, which is the fastest way to spot a problem.

Register with a GP and get your NHS number

Healthcare here runs through your GP, the local doctor who is your first point of contact and the gateway to almost everything else, from prescriptions to a referral to a specialist. Registering is free and takes about fifteen minutes.

You register with a practice near where you live, through the NHS website or the practice directly, starting from your postcode to find who covers your area. Registration is what gives you an NHS number, the single identifier the rest of the system hangs off.

This is the one worth knowing precisely, because front desks sometimes get it wrong: you do not need proof of address, identity documents or immigration paperwork to register with a GP in England. A practice should not turn you away for lacking them. Bring what you have, and if someone asks for a utility bill, say politely that you understand registration does not depend on one. If you paid the immigration health surcharge with your visa, your NHS access is already part of that, and registering is how you switch it on in practice.

Two small things pay off immediately afterwards. Download the NHS App, because your record, repeat prescriptions and appointment booking all live there once you are registered. And find your nearest pharmacy, since pharmacists here advise and increasingly treat minor conditions without an appointment, which is far quicker than waiting for a GP slot. Dentists are a separate registration, not tied to where you live, and NHS places are genuinely scarce, so get on a list early rather than when something starts hurting.

Register while you are healthy, not the week you wake up unwell and discover you have no doctor.

Council tax, bills and a credit file from zero

With the big items done, the last stretch is about settling in properly.

• Council tax. Every household pays it to the local council, banded by property. Tell the council when you move into your own place. If you live alone you get a single person discount of a quarter off the bill, and a household where everyone is a full-time student pays nothing at all. Watch the edge case: one non-student in an otherwise student household turns a full exemption into a discounted bill.
• Bills and the TV licence. Gas, electricity, water and broadband are yours to arrange unless the tenancy says otherwise. A TV licence is legally required to watch live television or use BBC iPlayer, including on a laptop, and it is one of the few UK bills that catches new arrivals by surprise.
• Phone contract or SIM. Once you have an account and a little history, a monthly contract with a handset included becomes possible. Early on a plain SIM is simpler and far easier to be approved for.
• A credit file from zero. Arriving with no UK credit history is completely normal. What catches Israelis out is that the standard first piece of advice does not apply to most of them. Getting on the electoral roll is the classic way to anchor a file, but unless you also hold British, Irish or Commonwealth citizenship you are usually not eligible to register to vote, so that route is closed. Build it the other ways instead. Hold a UK account and a phone in your own name. Get your name on the tenancy or a utility bill rather than leaving everything with a flatmate. A credit-builder card used for small purchases and cleared in full every month is a common way to start a file from nothing. And pay everything on time, month after month, because that record is the whole game. Then check what is actually held on you: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion each keep a separate file, lenders do not all use the same one, and a mistake on the one your landlord checks is worth finding early.

Your first-month checklist

Task	Where	Notes
UK SIM	Any network	Ten minutes, eSIM works before you land
Starting address	Friend, family or short let	Just needs to receive post
UKVI share code	gov.uk	Right to work and right to rent checks
Bank account	App-based bank	Passport plus selfie, no proof of address
National Insurance number	gov.uk	Check your visa papers first, then apply early
GP registration	NHS or local practice	Free, no documents needed, do it while healthy
Council tax	Local council	Tell them when you move in, claim any discount
Credit file	Bills, tenancy, on-time payments	Electoral roll is usually not available to you

Once the admin is done

Paperwork is the easy part to plan and the lonely part to do. Get through it quickly, because everything that actually makes London feel like home sits on the other side of it.

If you have not landed yet, entry and the visa routes is the one to read first. When you start looking for your own place, the neighbourhood guide compares the areas on rent, commute and where you actually hear Hebrew. If work is next on the list, Hebrew-speaking jobs in London covers the sectors, the boards and the UK-style CV.

And once the SIM works and the bank card has arrived, the step that matters most is people: the Israeli community in London, what is on across the city, and the Friday night dinners where turning up on your own is completely ordinary.

HBayit has walked thousands of Israelis through exactly this first month. Bring your questions to a Friday dinner, or message Ari on WhatsApp.