Before you start

A valid UK visa granted under the relevant route
A UKVI account linked to your immigration status
The Immigration Health Surcharge paid as part of your application
A UK address, for the NI number application and most services

Step-by-step

1
Create and check your UKVI account before you travel
The eVisa is the only record of your status. Confirm the passport number, your personal details and the permissions shown all match what was granted. Errors are far easier to fix from abroad than from a Portswood letting agency with a holding deposit already paid.
OnlineWho: YouBefore travel
2
Learn to generate a share code before you need one
Employers and landlords check your status with a code you generate from the UKVI account. Codes are time-limited and purpose-specific — a right-to-work code will not satisfy a right-to-rent check, and you will need both inside your first fortnight.
OnlineWho: You
3
Apply for a National Insurance number as soon as you arrive
There is no route to apply from abroad. Check first whether you already hold one printed in the remarks on an old BRP. Without it you can work legally, but payroll will usually apply an emergency tax code.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
4
Register with a GP while you are still well
You have already paid the Immigration Health Surcharge, but access runs through a GP practice and nothing happens automatically. Practices around Portswood, Highfield, Swaythling and Bevois Valley absorb a very large student intake each September, so register before it rather than during it.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
5
Keep the eVisa record current
It is linked to your passport, so renewing a passport without updating the UKVI account causes problems at the border. Maintaining the record is a permanent responsibility rather than a one-off task.
OnlineWho: You
6
Separate what is UK-wide from what is English
Your visa, NI number and surcharge are identical everywhere in the UK. Income tax bands, the NHS prescription charge, tenancy law and university fees are devolved and materially different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Advice written for Cardiff or Belfast is right about your visa and wrong about your payslip and your tenancy.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the visa granted
UKVI account credentials, including the phone and email used for two-step verification
Share codes, generated per purpose for employers and landlords
Proof of a Southampton address
Evidence of Immigration Health Surcharge payment, included in the visa grant

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no physical document any more, and that changes what can go wrong.

Vignette stickers ended for new applicants on 1 July 2026 and BRP cards before that. Your status exists only as an online record, so a locked-out account, an unchanged passport number or a mistyped detail are now the failure modes — and there is no card to show while you fix it.

Source: GOV.UK — online immigration status (eVisa)

Right-to-rent checks bite harder here because so much of the market is small shared houses.

Southampton licenses HMOs across nine wards and requires planning permission for new ones citywide, which tells you what the stock is: converted terraces owned by individuals, not build-to-rent blocks with a compliance team. Some of those landlords have never processed a share code. Offer it unprompted at the viewing with a one-line explanation and the objection never forms.

Source: GOV.UK — right to rent checks

You can only apply for a National Insurance number from inside the UK.

There is no advance route, so it is a first-week task rather than a pre-departure one. Several visa categories already have a number printed on the reverse of the old BRP — applying for a second creates a records problem that takes months to unpick.

Source: GOV.UK — apply for a National Insurance number

The Immigration Health Surcharge is a lump sum paid before you have earned anything.

It is charged per year of leave for every family member and paid with the application, on top of the visa fee. For a five-year visa with dependants it runs well into five figures, and it lands months before your first UK payslip.

Source: GOV.UK — pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application

Common mistakes to avoid

Travelling without having logged into and checked the UKVI account.
Generating a right-to-work code and offering it for a right-to-rent check.
Applying for a second National Insurance number you already hold on an old BRP.
Renewing a passport without updating the linked eVisa record.
Budgeting the visa fee but not the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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