Advice on opening a bank account when newly arrived in the UK

henm2

Elefanchito wrote: »

Have you tried to get the HSBC Passport account.

HSBC Passport account has not been available for quite a long time. The account that would be suitable is a basic account. HSBC will require ID and proof of address. One idea for proof of address would be to get the council tax bill amended by the local authority so that your wife is on the bill.
Apart from that the process at HSBC will be quite long due to the extra questioning due to the high risk country link as previously mentioned and the consequent waiting for approval of the application from HSBC's head office.

NH2004

I do have my wife added to my council tax bill for proof address, the problem is this is in our married name, whereas her passport and only form of ID is still in her maiden name. So the banks won't accept them as matching, even when we show our marriage certificate.


I have since amended the water bill to be changed to her maiden name, which proves what a farce the whole system is, as I could happily add any name I wish to it, no questions asked and it would suffice as proof of address. There are no checks made to see if a person actually lives there or not.


I agree it would make life a lot easier if she could be added to the electoral roll, but as colsten says, I don't think she is eligible.
Only when she gains indefinite leave to remain status will she be eligible which will be in five years time.

TartanSaver

NH2004 wrote: »

Only when she gains indefinite leave to remain status will she be eligible which will be in five years time.

Actually, she'd have to be a citizen. Indefinite leave to remain does not confer voting rights. If she was a qualifying citizen of a Commonwealth country, being in the UK legally would be enough. (The "qualification" is having leave to ENTER, which essentially means you didn't sneak in underneath a lorry...) EU citizens resident in the UK automatically have the right to register, and to vote in local elections. Visa status has no bearing on elections - it's all about citizenship.

TartanSaver

I should add - good luck! Try basic accounts. The water bill seems like a good move. You could also encourage your OH to get her passport updated so it's accurate, although that might be tough without going to The Gambia. (Maybe an embassy/consulate?)

NH2004

Thanks Tartansaver for clarifying that.
There is so much conflicting information about.
But that does make sense now that Gambia is no longer in the commonwealth.

Anyway one step at a time! We'd be happy just being able to open a bank account for now!

We did look at the possibility of updating the passport but we were told by the gambian embassy in London that they can't do it and we'd have to return to The Gambia. They sure don't make things easy!

izoomzoom

http://www.lloydsbank.com/banking-with-us/joining-lloyds/new-to-the-uk.asp

Try Lloyds

Archi_Bald

izoomzoom wrote: »

http://www.lloydsbank.com/banking-with-us/joining-lloyds/new-to-the-uk.asp

Try Lloyds

I suggested that in post # 3 but it doesn't seem to have got received well.

Elefanchito

I think she can still enrol to vote by the way even though Gambia is no longer in the Commonwealth as the definition of ‘Commonwealth citizen’ for voting purposes in the UK is set out in the British Nationality Act 1981. So unless legislation is passed to remove The Gambia from the list of Commonwealth countries included in the Act, qualifying citizens from The Gambia will continue to be eligible for registration even though The Gambia is no longer a member of the Commonwealth.

As far as I can tell no formal steps have yet been taken to remove The Gambia from the list of Commonwealth countries in the Act, so all she would need is a national insurance number to get enrolled.

NH2004

Very interesting Elefanchito. Further investigation on the Gov.uk register to vote does seem to allow Gambians to register.
We need to wait for her national insurance number but once we have it we will get her registered and hope it helps with applications.

Archi bald, thanks, we will certainly give Lloyds a try. As you say they seem to invite newcomers to the UK.

Fingers crossed!