UK number before moving to the UK

Before buying anything, find out whether you need a UK number at all. Many universities, employers and landlords accept an international number, or an email address, for the first contact. Ask them, and keep the answer in writing. If a form simply will not accept a foreign number, that is a reason to get a UK one. If it will, you can wait until you land and buy a local prepaid SIM in a shop, which usually needs no paperwork.

For GOV.UK One Login, the official guidance says you cannot get a security code by text message if your phone number is registered outside the UK, and that you will need an authenticator app or a UK mobile phone number instead. An authenticator app on a phone, tablet or computer is free and works from anywhere, so it is the first thing to try. Our page on the GOV.UK security code and non-UK numbers goes through it. Note that the UKVI account used for eVisa is a separate system, and we have found no statement that it requires a UK number. If a UKVI code does not arrive, resend it, check spam, try the other contact method (email or phone), check the contact details on the account are really yours, since an adviser may have entered their own, and use the official GOV.UK UKVI account recovery or contact route if you are locked out.

The UK Number is a real UK mobile line on an eSIM, not VoIP, dedicated to you and unused when issued. It receives SMS and incoming calls, including while you are abroad, because it roams on UK carriers in about 190 countries. That means you can put a +44 number on a university form, give it to a landlord or employer, and use it to receive codes for UK accounts while you are still in your home country.

It also stays the same. If you change phones, move cities or go home for the summer, the number on your forms and accounts does not change, as long as the line is kept active. Standard SMS verification works with a real carrier line, but no provider can promise that a given bank, app or government service will accept a given number, and we do not.

A UK number is not a bank account. UK banks ask for proof of identity and usually a UK address, and a phone number is only one of the details on their form. It does not secure a tenancy, a job offer or a place on a course either. Landlords, employers and universities decide on their own checks, and the number is simply a contact detail they can reach.

The line includes no mobile data and no outgoing calls. Most people therefore buy a local UK plan with data after they land and keep this line for codes and incoming calls, or they use it as their permanent number and keep it topped up. Checkout is in crypto with no ID and no account needed to buy. That means no identity is needed to purchase, which is different from the number being hidden from the services you give it to.

Buy and install the line a few weeks before departure, so there is time to fix a problem. Check your phone supports eSIM first: the install QR is single use, it installs once, it is never reissued, and UK number orders are not refunded. Turn off any VPN, iCloud Private Relay and Private DNS while installing. Then dial *132# (or *#100# as a fallback) to see your number, and give it out.

The first 6 months (180 days) are included in the $25 price, and $15 adds another 6 months. Longer periods can be paid up front at checkout. A line whose 6 months run out without a top-up lapses and cannot be recovered, so set a reminder and top up before the date. After you land, you can keep the line as your permanent UK number, and it keeps receiving codes if you travel home. Buyer reports on where the line works are published on our UK eSIM coverage page: most countries work, but reception is patchy in a few, including Russia, Hong Kong, China, Kazakhstan, Ghana and Turkmenistan.