Your First 7 Days in the UK as a Nigerian Immigrant: A Step-by-Step Action Plan to Settle In

Your first week in the UK is not the time to figure everything out. It is the time to do a few important things in the right order. Get from the airport to your bed safely. Get a phone number. Get a way to hold money. Get registered with a doctor. Get connected to people who understand you.

This plan is built from what Nigerians in the UK actually do, checked against current official rules. Take it day by day, and do not panic if you finish some steps a day late. If you want more help after this, our Getting Started in the UK section has guides on every step.

Before You Fly: Five Things to Sort in Nigeria

Some of the most useful things happen before you board.

Put your documents in your hand luggage. Not your suitcase. You will need your passport, your eVisa share code (print it), your Certificate of Sponsorship reference if you are a worker or your CAS if you are a student, your accommodation address and the phone number of someone in the UK. A Border Force officer may ask simple questions, and students are advised to carry paper copies of their CAS, share code and proof of accommodation. If you are on a Skilled Worker visa, have your employer's details and sponsorship reference ready.

Get some pounds in cash. About £100 is enough to settle you: a SIM card, transport to where you are staying, and a first meal. If you are carrying £10,000 or more in cash, in any currency, you must declare it at customs.

Renew your Nigerian driving licence if it is close to expiring. You can drive in the UK on it for a limited time (more on this below), and it must be valid to count.

Get your Nigerian police report. More on this in the Day 5 to 6 section. It is much easier to start this before you leave.

Set up your money apps. Download LemFi and Revolut on your phone before you fly if you can. More on these below too.

Day 1 to 2: Arrival Essentials, From Airport to Accommodation and Initial Setup

Plan the journey from the airport before you land. The right choice depends on where you are going.

If you are staying in the same city as the airport and have no one to meet you, a licensed cab or a ride app is usually the easiest and safest option after a long flight. If you are going to a different city, a coach or train is normally the cheapest way. Book ahead where you can, because advance tickets are cheaper than buying on the day.

If you are going to London from Heathrow, the price gap between options is big. The Piccadilly line costs about £5.90 and takes around 50 minutes. The Elizabeth line is faster but costs about £15.50. The Heathrow Express is around £25 if you buy on the day. Once you are in the city, you can tap in with a contactless bank card, and your daily spending in Zones 1 and 2 stops at £8.90.

If someone is picking you up, tell them to leave home only after your flight has landed. You will spend 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes more, getting through passport control and collecting your bags. Airports charge to wait or drop off, and it adds up. Heathrow and Luton charge £7, and Gatwick and Stansted charge £10 for the first ten minutes or so. At Heathrow, pick-ups usually happen in the terminal car parks, not at the door, so your person will wait there and it costs money.

Create your UKVI account and link your passport. Your visa now lives online as an eVisa. Go to gov.uk/evisa and set up your UKVI account with your passport and visa application number, then link the passport you travelled on. This is how you will prove your right to work, rent and study. We explain this in more detail in our guide on returning to Nigeria on a UK visa.

Do not pay for a flat before you see it. New arrivals are a favourite target for rental scams. Report Fraud, the police fraud service, is clear that you or someone you trust should view the property in person before you pay or sign. If you must arrange something from Nigeria, ask your employer or university for advice first.

Students: enrol as soon as you can. Enrolment usually includes a check of your right to study using your share code. You will collect your student ID at your university. Many universities also give a statement of student status, which some banks accept as proof of address, as UCL explains for its own students.

Day 3 to 4: Communication and Connectivity, Getting a UK SIM and Understanding Local Transport

Get a UK SIM card early. In the UK, banks, your GP surgery, delivery apps and your university all send codes to a UK mobile number, so you will need one quickly. Pay As You Go SIMs do not need a credit check or a UK bank account, and giffgaff will even post a free SIM to you before you travel.

For Nigerians, Lebara is worth knowing about. Its plans start from around £5 a month with no contract, and include free minutes to more than 40 countries, Nigeria among them. Supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury's often sell SIMs cheaper than airport kiosks, so if you can wait a day, do.

Set up your money. This is where a lot of new arrivals waste time and money, so take it slowly.

Converting naira to pounds. Use an app, and check the rate before you convert. Rates change daily, and the app that was best last week may not be best today. LemFi works both ways, so you can bring naira from a Nigerian account and hold pounds in the UK. VeloRemit is best known for sending money from the UK to Nigeria, so it becomes useful once you are earning and sending money home. Whichever you use, look at the live rates in the exchange rate section on our home page before you buy, so you always know what a good rate looks like.

Opening a UK account. Traditional high street banks ask for proof of address, and that is often the hardest part for newcomers. An easy way to start is a Revolut account, which you can usually open in minutes with your passport and a selfie. Later, when you have a tenancy agreement, or a letter from your employer or university, you can open a full high street account too. LemFi also now offers a GBP account with UK account details that can send and receive payments inside the UK through Faster Payments. It is worth knowing that this is an e-money account, not a full bank, which is fine for everyday spending and transfers.

Understand your local transport. In London, contactless and Oyster charge the same fares and follow the same daily caps, so a contactless card or phone is the simplest way to pay. Outside London, buses usually need cash or a card tap on board, and trains and coaches are cheapest when booked in advance.

Learning to drive here? Use your Nigerian licence properly. You can drive in the UK on your Nigerian licence for 12 months from the day you become a UK resident. Nigeria is not on the list of countries that can swap a licence for a UK one, so after 12 months you will need a provisional licence and to pass the UK theory and practical tests. You do not need an International Driving Permit, and your Nigerian licence is written in English anyway. Your licence must be valid, and you must have at least third party insurance, which often costs more for new arrivals. A cheap car is a good way to learn the roads in this time. To apply for your UK provisional licence, you will need to show you have lived here for 185 days in the last 12 months.

Day 5 to 6: Navigating Bureaucracy, Registering with a GP and Understanding Basic Services

Register with a GP. A GP is your family doctor, the person you call for any health problem that is not an emergency. If where you landed is where you will live for the next few months, find the nearest one now. You do not need ID, proof of address or proof of immigration status to register. You can register online, it takes about 15 minutes, and it is usually done within five days. If you have no permanent address, you can use a temporary one. In a real emergency, call 999.

Apply for your National Insurance number if you plan to work. You apply online on gov.uk, you need a passport, and you may be asked for a photo of yourself holding it. It can take up to four weeks after you prove your identity, so do not wait until you have a job offer. For a full guide to what your first payslip will look like, read our article on UK payslips and tax for first-time workers.

Sort your criminal record checks. This is where your Nigerian police report comes in, and it helps to understand how it works. A DBS check only covers the UK. It is not a check of your time in Nigeria. For jobs in care, health and education, employers are expected to ask for an overseas criminal record certificate as well, usually if you lived abroad for 12 months or more. For Nigeria, this is a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Central Criminal Registry, and if you are already in the UK you can apply through the Nigerian High Commission in London. It is quicker to do this before you fly. You can request a basic DBS check yourself, but standard and enhanced checks must be requested by your employer.

Ignore the old police registration rule. You may hear that some visa holders must register with the police within seven days. That rule ended in 2022. You no longer need to register with the police.

Day 7: First Steps Towards Integration, Exploring Your Local Area and Connecting with Resources

By now the urgent jobs are done, so today is for getting to know the place. Walk around your area. Find your GP surgery, the nearest pharmacy, the bus stops and the closest supermarket. Learn how to get to your workplace or university before your first day.

Find your food. The UK is blessed with Nigerian food, and you do not have to guess where to shop. Our guide to finding authentic Nigerian ingredients covers what to buy where, and our directory of wholesale African and Caribbean markets lists shops city by city. If you are planning to bring food from home, know that meat and dairy products are banned, and fish has its own rules.

Find your people. Join our Nigerian community WhatsApp groups to connect with Nigerians near you. Our list of Nigerian WhatsApp groups in the UK is the best place to start. If you are in London, our guide to Nigerian community groups in London has more. Churches, mosques, university societies and tribal associations all help too. Ask people in your groups about picnics and meetups, and go. A few familiar faces make the whole first month easier.

Common Issues to Avoid in Your First Week and How to Overcome Them

• Packing your documents in your suitcase. Border Force sees you before you get your bags. Keep everything in your hand luggage.
• Forgetting to link your passport to your UKVI account. Airlines and Border Force check your status digitally, and a mismatch can cause delays.
• Paying for a flat before you see it. If the rent looks too good to be true, or you are rushed to pay, walk away.
• Converting money without checking the rate. A small gap in the rate can cost you real money on a bigger amount. Compare before you convert.
• Buying your SIM at the airport by default. It is fine if you need it now, but it is usually cheaper in a supermarket.
• Waiting until you are sick to register with a GP. Do it this week.
• Driving without insurance, or past the 12 month limit. Both are serious offences, and your Nigerian licence stops being enough after 12 months.
• Carrying £10,000 or more in cash without declaring it. Always declare it.

Your 7 Day Checklist

1. Documents in hand luggage, £100 cash bring from nigeria , airport journey planned before leaving nigeria.
2. UKVI account set up, passport linked, accommodation confirmed in person.
3. UK SIM card active.
4. Money apps set up and rates checked.
5. GP registered.
6. National Insurance number applied for, criminal record certificate started.
7. Local area explored, community WhatsApp joined.

You will not feel settled by Sunday, and that is normal. But if you have done these things, you have a phone, money, a doctor, an address and people around you. That is a very good first week.

This article reflects UK rules, fees and services as understood in September 2026. Fares, fees and requirements change. Always confirm current details with the official source before you rely on them.