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 Brighton letting agency where the flat will be gone by the afternoon.
OnlineWho: YouBefore travel
2
Generate a right-to-rent share code before your first viewing
In a market this fast, the applicant who can hand over a working share code and a one-line explanation at the viewing beats the one who says they will sort it out later. Codes are time-limited and purpose-specific — a right-to-work code will not satisfy a right-to-rent check, so generate both.
OnlineWho: YouBefore viewing
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 the universities, Lewes Road and Moulsecoomb take a large student intake each September, so register before 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 Edinburgh 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 Brighton and Hove address
Evidence of Immigration Health Surcharge payment, included in the visa grant

Things most newcomers don’t know

In a market this fast, the share code is a competitive advantage, not a formality.

Good Brighton lettings receive multiple applications the day they list, and small landlords who have never processed a share code will quietly prefer the applicant who does not need one. Bringing the code to the viewing, with a sentence explaining how the check works, removes the objection before it is formed. This is the single most useful piece of Brighton-specific advice about immigration paperwork.

Source: GOV.UK — right to rent checks

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)

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 — in a city where you will also need the largest deposit of any city in this set.

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