Before you start

A valid UK visa granted under the relevant route — unless you are an Irish citizen, in which case none of this applies
A UKVI account linked to your immigration status
The Immigration Health Surcharge paid as part of your application
A Northern Ireland address, for the NI number application and most services

Step-by-step

1
Check whether the Common Travel Area already covers you
Irish citizens do not need a visa, an eVisa, a share code or any permission to live and work in Northern Ireland, and that survived Brexit intact. People born in Northern Ireland may hold Irish citizenship, British citizenship or both under the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. If you or your partner hold an Irish passport, establish that first — it changes the whole plan.
OnlineWho: YouBefore anything else
2
Create and check your UKVI account before you travel
The eVisa is the only record of your status. Confirm the passport number, personal details and permissions all match what was granted. Errors are far easier to fix from abroad than from a Belfast letting agent's office with a holding deposit already paid.
OnlineWho: YouBefore travel
3
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 in your first fortnight.
OnlineWho: You
4
Apply for a National Insurance number as soon as you arrive
There is no route to apply from outside the UK. Payroll needs it to tax you correctly; without it you can work legally but will usually be put on an emergency code and have to reclaim. Check first whether you already hold one printed in the remarks on an old BRP.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
5
Register with a GP practice and get your Health and Care number
You have already paid the Immigration Health Surcharge, but access runs through HSC Northern Ireland, not the NHS, and nothing happens automatically. Register on an HSCR-1 form if you have come from outside the UK; a medical card carrying your Health and Care number follows by post.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
6
Separate what is UK-wide from what is Northern Irish
Your visa, National Insurance number, surcharge and income tax bands are the same as England's. Your tenancy, your rates bill, your health service, your driving licence and your children's schooling are not. Advice written for London is right about your visa and wrong about almost everything else in your first month here.
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 Belfast address
Evidence of Immigration Health Surcharge payment, included in the visa grant

Things most newcomers don’t know

An Irish passport is a completely different legal position, not a convenience.

Under the Common Travel Area an Irish citizen needs no visa, no work permit and no eVisa to live in Belfast, and can vote in local and Assembly elections. Nowhere else in the UK is that as practically common as it is here, where a large share of the workforce holds an Irish passport, a British one or both. If it applies to you, every fee, surcharge and share code in this guide is irrelevant.

Source: GOV.UK — Common Travel Area guidance

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 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 work differently in Northern Ireland from how most landlords here expect.

The Immigration Act's right-to-rent scheme has never been commenced in Northern Ireland the way it operates in England, so a Belfast landlord may never have processed a share code and may not know what one is. Bring it up yourself at the viewing with a one-line explanation rather than waiting to be asked — the friction here is unfamiliarity, not suspicion.

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 an old BRP — applying for a second creates a records problem that takes months to unpick.

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

Common mistakes to avoid

Paying for immigration advice before checking whether the Common Travel Area already covers you.
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.
Assuming an England-focused relocation guide describes your tenancy, your rates bill or your health service.
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.