GETTING READY

Moving to the UK

To do before arriving at the airport

• Label your luggage with your details in English
• Check your baggage allowance to avoid extra costs
• Bring photocopies of all your important documents (passport, visa etc.) alongside passport photos.

Things to pack

a. In your hand luggage

• Valuables such as your phone and wallet/purse
• Passport (containing visa/visa vignette if applicable)
• RVC offer letter and/or CAS email
• Financial evidence
• Address of UK accommodation
• Tickets for your flight
• UK currency for any initial costs and expenses when you first arrive and before you have a UK bank account set up (taxi fares, food etc.)

b. In your hold luggage

✓ Clothes – Pack items suitable for all seasons (if you are coming from a very different climate, it may be cheaper to buy suitable clothes when you arrive).

✓ Personal Items – photographs of loved ones and reminders of home are a great way to brighten up your room and help you feel settled

✓ Electrical items – including three-point (type G) travel adaptors. Countries other than the UK that use three-point plugs are Cyprus, Malta, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. If you are moving from one of these, you should not need a travel adaptor. 

c. What not to bring

❌ Books – these will take up a lot of luggage space, so it’s better to buy them after you arrive. They may also be cheaper in the UK.

❌ Towels, bedding and kitchenware – these will take up a lot of luggage space. You can buy them locally instead, or we can arrange for delivery of items to your room through UniKit.

❌ Banned or restricted items – these can be viewed on the HM Revenue & Customs website.

❌ If you are arriving from outside the EU, there may be restrictions on how much cash you can bring with you. Please see the GOV.UK website for further details.

Prescriptions

• If you are on regular medication, bring at least two months' supply of your prescription, or preferably three months’ supply.
• There may be some discrepancy between drug regulations in the UK and your home country that may make accessing your medication more difficult. Having a reasonable supply before moving will help to avoid additional stress when you arrive.

Shipping personal items

• You may wish to ship some larger items to the UK rather than packing them in your hold luggage.
• To make sure you don’t pay too much tax when shipping your goods to the UK, HM Revenue & Customs has created a Customs Procedure Code 4000C06.
• You should give this code to your courier who will attach it to a C88 form. It covers the tax for clothes, books and any personal items you will need for your time at university. If you use a postal service, you will need to pay and then reclaim import VAT. Full details can be found on the UK government website.

Equipment you'll need

Uniforms and equipment

You will need to buy some uniform and equipment for your course (for example, lab coats or wellies).

The items you’ll need will depend on your course and you can find that information here.

You will be able to purchase/order items at during Freshers week.

Alternatively, we do have some second-hand items available through our  RVC Freecycle service. If you are interested in these, please complete this form and if we have them available, we will reserve these items ready for you to collect at Camden during Freshers

IT Equipment

Follow this link to find out more about the IT setup we recommend for blended learning