Before I planned my big moving to London adventure I was concerned about all the paperwork I’d have to fill out just to work here. Bank Accounts I understood, but the National Insurance Number seemed completely foreign to me.
The National Insurance Number (think Tax File Number Australians) is required by your employer and while used for tax purposes it also gets you access to free health services should you ever need them. As for your bank account, well that’s just so you can get paid and stop having to convert your home currency into the pound and pay a fortune in conversion fees.
The big catch I found was that for both of these services you need some form of address to get either of them. Not so easy when you only arrived in the country a week ago and your address has already changed twice thanks to hostel life and some questionable room mates.
I found that you can get the address in a couple of ways. Find a place to rent, hook up with a friend already living here or have a kind word to the hostel staff and get them to let you use their address on your application forms. I struggled with finding rentable accommodation in London so got very friendly with hostel management and they allowed me to get mail posted to them.
Having the address was the first step but the bank required proof of me living there in a form of a bill or equivalent. Luckily I’d made my parents signatories on my bank account before leaving home in case something bad happened. I got them to change my postal address on my bank account back home to show my new address here in London. Thanks to the beauty of online bank statements I printed it off and finally had the proof the UK banks would need. From there its a matter of picking the bank that you like the best and booking in for an appointment to go through the details. Be sure to bring along your passport and any details on a job (if you have one) as well as any other forms of ID just to be sure you cover all your bases.
Applying for my National Insurance Number after having gone through the bank account process was a dream. You apply through Jobcenter Plus on 0845 600 0643 from 8am-6pm Monday-Friday. Depending on if you are working or not they can require you to attend an appointment to apply but nobody I know has ever had to go through that process.
My application required me to call up the number above and answer a few questions, they then posted out a form to fill in and all I had to do was post it back to them. Some 8-10 weeks later a piece of paper arrived in my mailbox detailing my national insurance number and I was all set.
Most employers will take you on without a number in the beginning but given you will also need your bank account to get paid (normally monthly here) its best to get both applied for and in your hand as soon as you can.
While there are companies that offer services to help you get your bank account and national insurance number before and after moving to London, they can often be costly and from what I’ve heard are a mixed bag on just how supportive they are. Doing it yourself is far more rewarding especially if your out exploring the world as a solo traveller.
Photo Credit: comedy_nose
Great post and a good reminder of the rewarding feeling that comes from getting something accomplished in a different country that we may take for granted at home.
Hello,
Timely post for me – I’m just deciding whether or not to go through a service like 1stContact.
By the sounds of things it’s not too hard, I always thought with the proof of residence over there you had to show a bill from 2 months prior or something like that?
The 1stContact package costs $85AUD which I would of course prefer to keep in my back pocket, so if it is not too difficult then it sounds like it can be managed yourself without much trouble!
Jarratt
Hi,
Has anyone been successful with a hotel address for a National Insurance Number?
Regards,
Heather
Hey guys. I arrived in London a few days ago and went straight to Barclays. They told me I did not require a proof of address as I have an Aussie passport. It seems that in the order of trustworthiness, they rate us quite highly. I did bring along my passport and a previous bank statement from Australia which had my Aussie address printed on the front. They even told me that I was eligible for ANY bank account, not just the bare basic one which they usually give out to other travellers. Also, unlike Aussie banks, there are bugger all fees. Cheers, Hien
Hien thanks for the comment as that’s really useful info for others travelling over to London. I did have a choice of bank accounts when I signed up but not for a credit card. Seems they are really restricted over here unlike at home.
Hello Hien,
Its strange how one bank can say one thing and another bank another… for instance l was lucky enough to be born in england , hence l have dual citizenship with Oz…. so Santander only needed my birth certificate and a bill to open an account.
however they were very very restrictive in what types of bank accounts they offered me. (because they said l had NO credit history with them Uhhhh???)
They wouldn’t give me a credit card, although l’d bought a motorhome in england for £40K…. !
I’d like to buy an investment property while the economy is down and affordable in london, but they told me l’d have to buy the first one outright then use that one as collateral to purchase a second one with a mortgage…
And the house prices haven’t dropped that much that l can afford that LOL !!
But l’ll definitely check out Barclays and maybe they will offer me what Santander wouldn’t.
thank you, Anthea
Hi Anthea
I just read your message now! funny how that happens sometimes. Yes, I find it quite variable between the companies in the UK…on your comment regarding credit cards, I have heard that if you have an Amex from outside the UK, your credit rating carries over to the UK, which means you don’t have to wait 6 or 12 months to build up enough rating…I am not sure but I gather if you have a UK Amex, then you MAYBE able to then apply for a visa or mastercard credit card…worth a try. Myself, I won’t be in the UK long enough to make it worth the hassle – Hien
Hello, great post! I liked although it doesn’t help me to get de NIN.
I’m having some troubles with it. I’m having the interview on two weeks, but I am not sure if I’ll pass it. I’m gona explain my problem and if someone have a hint…
I’m living in a host family house, I’m paying the rent weekly without any contract, I asked for a receipt hoping that maybe it would be a proof of address, but she gave me a paper with … “Alberto paid 100 pound, on 24-7″… I don’t thing that it could be a proof of anything.
Last week I tried to open a bank account, first I went to ‘Co-operative bank’ and they told me that they needed a proof of address!! Then I went to ‘Santander’, they just made a copy of my passport and took my new address, finally they sent me a letter declining my application.
Then arrived another letter from the job centre with the information of the interview for the NIN, and I would like to know if this two letters could be enought as proof of address??? Anyone knows it????
I have just tried to change by internet the address in the bank account that I have in spain, but they don’t let me, because I should present some bill to proof my new address!! It’s like a nightmare!!! :-S
And finally somebody told my to translate my driving license to english putting my new address, and It could be a proof of address. Is that true? Pleeease help me!!
i dont know if ne 1 noes this but all u need with to open up a bank acc with barclays is ur aussie/nz passort now cos it was a mission for me and then i found that out!!!!
hope its of use…
I’ve talked to the commonwealth bank of australia recently, and they said that the changing of address to one in London can be done online for getting a Statement as the “official proof of address” for a bank in the UK.
I guess Barclays doesn’t seem to care about that document for Aus/NZ passport-holders though.
Hey Aussie Nomad,
you’ve said that the NI number gets access to “free health insurance”, but I thought that was what the NHS number was for? Or are both of them needed for health insurance?
Cheers