How To Get A Proof Of Address In the United Kingdom As A New Immigrant.
How To Get A Proof Of Address In the United Kingdom As A New Immigrant.
Opening a bank account upon arriving in a new country is a no-brainer. You'd need it for day-to-day purposes like paying bills, transacting, and accessing your money generally.
When opening a bank account in the UK, you'll typically be asked to provide two documents that serve as
(i) Proof of identity.
(ii) Proof of address.
These documents are mandatory security requirements used by the bank to ascertain you are who you say you are and that you can be easily reached physically if required.
Now, while your passport or biometric residence permit can easily suffice as proof of your identity. It's a bit trickier to have documents that can serve as proof of address if you are new to the country. Why? The documents usually requested are any of the following:
Recent utility bills e.g. electricity, phone or gas.
Tenancy agreement or mortgage statement.
Council tax bill.
Driver's license.
Credit card bill or statement.
These are documents that you likely won't have yet, but fortunately, many high-street banks are considerate in this regard and will instead ask for either of the following as proof of address:
A letter from your college, university or language school if you came to the UK for study purposes.
A letter from your employer confirming your address if you're in the UK for work.
A letter referring you from an existing customer of the bank.
Note: High street bank is a term used to refer to the traditionally established banks in the United Kingdom with physical branches across the country. Some of the biggest high street banks are Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and HSBC.
You can follow the links below to see the exact documents each of the major banks ask for as proof of address:
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