Before you fly: the documents that stay in your hand luggage
Never put any of these in a checked bag. Your passport with your visa or entry clearance. Your visa decision letter. Your CAS statement and your university offer letter. Confirmation of where you are living, with the full address and a contact number. Evidence of finances if your route required it. A tuberculosis test certificate if it applied to your country. Your academic certificates and transcripts. Contact details for your university's international student team, printed rather than only on a phone.
The UK has moved from physical residence permit cards to digital immigration status held in an online account. Make sure you can access your UKVI account, that the details on it are correct, and that you know how to generate a share code, because you will be asked for one by your accommodation provider, your bank and your employer. Check the current guidance before you travel, as this system has changed recently.
Email yourself a single PDF containing every important document, and take one printed copy. Phones die, and the moment you need a share code is usually the moment you have no data and no charger.
At the border
Expect to be asked why you are here, what you are studying, where, and for how long. Answer plainly. Having your offer letter and accommodation address to hand turns a five-minute conversation into a thirty-second one. Border officers are not trying to catch you out, they are confirming that what you say matches your visa.
Allow far more time than you think between landing and being outside the terminal. Thirty minutes to two hours is normal depending on the hour, and September arrival weeks are among the busiest of the year at Heathrow and Manchester.
Getting from the airport to your accommodation
This is the part universities underestimate and students consistently find hardest. You have two or three large suitcases, you are alone, you have not slept, you have no working phone, and you do not know the city. The Underground with three cases and a staircase is a genuinely miserable introduction to Britain, and the coach and train combinations that look cheap online involve changes with all of that luggage.
Check first whether your university runs an airport meet and greet service during arrival weeks, because many do and some are free. If not, book a car in advance with a fixed price so there is nothing to arrange when you land. Booking ahead also protects you from the people who approach international students in arrivals halls offering rides, which is illegal for private hire vehicles in the UK and reliably expensive.
Be honest about your luggage when you book. Three large cases plus hand luggage is not a saloon, and a car that cannot fit your belongings is the worst possible start. Rushxo fares are fixed at the point of booking with no surge and no night rate, the driver tracks your flight and meets you in arrivals, and you can arrange it from home before you fly on +44 20 8888 9988, on WhatsApp at +44 20 8888 9988 or at support@rushxo.com.
Check your accommodation contract start date before you book flights. Halls usually cannot let you in early, and a night in a hotel booked calmly in advance costs far less than one booked at 07:00 in an airport.
The first three days, in order
Day one
Get to your accommodation and collect your keys within the office hours they specified. Buy a UK SIM or activate an eSIM you bought before travelling. Find the nearest supermarket and buy bedding, a plug adapter and food. Sleep at a normal local time rather than immediately.
Day two
Complete university enrolment and registration, which usually requires your passport, visa status and CAS. Ask the international office for a bank letter confirming your student status and address, because most banks will not open an account without one. Register with a local GP surgery, which is free and much easier to do before you need it than during an illness.
Day three
Open the bank account with your passport, share code, university letter and proof of address. Get a student travel discount card if your city offers one. Learn your route to campus in daylight before you have to do it at 08:00 on a wet Monday.
Things nobody tells you
Your immigration health surcharge, paid with your application, gives you access to the NHS, but you still need to register with a GP to use it routinely. Work rights under a student visa are limited and the limits are conditions of your visa rather than guidelines, so check exactly what yours permits before accepting any job. Shipping a box of belongings by courier ahead of you is often cheaper than paying for excess baggage. Bring far fewer clothes than you think and buy a proper coat here. And British academic culture expects independent reading and tutorial discussion in a way that surprises many students in their first term.