Which bank will open an account for me this week?
Start with an app-based bank. Passport, visa status and your address are enough. High-street banks want a letter from the university first.
For international student support teams
A settling-in guide you can safely send to every international student.
250 topics on UK life, from the bank account to the council tax letter. Written independently, checked against GOV.UK and the NHS, free to read.
- No ads, no affiliate fees
- Visa questions come back to your advisers
Setlyr⚙
Welcome to the UK.
250 topics · free to read
council tax letter
Start here
Before you fly
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Browse by area
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Money
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Healthcare
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Housing
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Day to day
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Education
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Getting around
250topics, free to read
500+step-by-step guides
100+immigrants who checked the content
Coverage
Everything a student has to think about, in the order it happens.
250 topics across 16 areas of UK life, arranged the way the year unfolds. Pick a stage to see what Setlyr answers there, and what stays with your team.
On their mind
How much will this cost, and what should I sort before I leave?
The real cost of UK immigration
What your visa means for everyday lifeinfo only- Opening a bank account
Dressing for British weather
The Cost Planner shows upfront cash and monthly costs by city before they book a flight.
On their mind
A SIM, a bank, a bus, a supermarket, and where I am.
Mobile phone contracts
Tapping in and out
Buses and trams
Your guide to UK supermarkets
Keeping safe
Fewer of the first-days questions reach the desk, because they were answered on the plane.
On their mind
The GP, the council tax letter, the National Insurance number, the queue.
- Registering with a GP
- Council tax
National Insurance
The sacred art of queueing
Small talk and the weather
Your Everest. Setlyr takes the repeat questions so your team has time for the cases only people can handle.
On their mind
Viewings, flatmates, a deposit, a contract I don't understand.
Viewings, flatmates and securing a place
Rental options and tenancy agreements
Your rights as a tenant
Deposit protection and tenancy rights, explained before the student signs anything.
On their mind
Bills, broadband, the TV licence, the bins.
Gas and electricity
Water bills
Broadband and home phone
TV licence and watching TV
Rubbish and recycling
Building your credit history
The questions that arrive at the desk in October, answered in September.
On their mind
A part-time job, a payslip, money home, and the quiet weeks.
What you need to work in the UKhours: info only
Pay and salary
Sending money home
Dealing with loneliness and homesickness
How Brits make friends
Wellbeing topics point students to your services and the NHS, not away from them.
On their mind
The first job, the next visa, staying on.
Your UK CV and covering letter
Acing your UK interview
Types of employment contracts
The path to settlementinfo only
Anything about the next visa goes back to your advisers, by name.
Why you can point students at it
Independent, and kept up to date.
No ads. No sponsored content. No affiliate fees.
Nobody pays to be in the app. Not a bank, not an insurer, not a letting agent. We name what suits the student.
Checked against the source. Updated when the rules change.
Every topic is checked against GOV.UK, the NHS and HMRC before it goes in, and re-checked when the rules move.
Written by people who did it. Corrected by anyone who spots a mistake.
Checked with over a hundred immigrants. If your team sees something out of date, tell us and we fix it: hello@setlyr.com.
Checked against
- GOV.UK
- NHS
- HMRC
- UKCISA guidance
What students get
Sorted before they fly.
Which bank. What to bring. How long it takes. Every topic is free to read. The step-by-step guide underneath is premium.
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🏥 Healthcare
Registering with a GP
Your entry ticket to the NHS — and to seeing a doctor when you need one.
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STEP 2 OF 5
Complete registration form
Most GPs use Form GMS1, online or on paper at the surgery.
💡 INSIDER TIP
Register even if you feel fine — surgeries take 1–2 weeks to process.
Where Setlyr stops
No immigration advice. Ever.
Ask about a visa and the app says the same thing every time: talk to your university's international student advisers. Check that line first.
A student asks
Can I work more than twenty hours a week?
Setlyr saysThat's a condition of your visa, so we won't guess. Ask your university's international student advisers. They know your case.
Independence
No bank pays to be mentioned.
No sponsored content. No affiliate fees. So Setlyr names the bank that suits the student, not the one that pays.
What we take from providers
Banks£0
Insurers£0
Letting agents£0
Phone networks£0
Sponsored contentNone
How teams use it
One line in an email is enough.
Nothing to sign, nothing to connect, no student data. Paste the line into your pre-arrival email and you're done.
To: New international students
Subject: Before you fly
Before you fly, have a look at Setlyr (setlyr.com). It's a free-to-read app that explains the bank account, the GP and the council tax letter, step by step. It isn't immigration advice. For anything about your visa, talk to us.
Compare
Next to a typical comparison site.
The free sites students find on Google are paid by the banks they recommend. That's the difference.
Feature
Typical comparison site
No ads, no affiliate feesNobody pays to be recommended.
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Hands visa questions to your advisersBy name, every time.
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Updated when the rules changeChecked against GOV.UK and the NHS.
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Written for the arriving studentBefore the flight and in week one.
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Step by stepWhat to bring, how long, what it costs.
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Free to readEvery topic, for every student.
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Three moments
From the offer letter to term time.
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Pre-arrival
One line in the email students read before they fly.
2
Welcome week
A QR code at the desk for the question you've answered forty times today. Ask and we'll send one.
3
Term time
Send the topic. Don't retype the answer.
Students who come via a university link get four months of premium free instead of three. That's for them, not for you.
Week one, every year
What they ask. What Setlyr says.
Three of 250 topics. The ones that reach the desk first.
I've got a council tax letter. Do I owe this?
Almost certainly not. Full-time students don't pay. Download your student status certificate, send it to the council on the letter, keep the reply.
I paid the health surcharge. Is the doctor free?
Yes. Register with a GP near where you live, before you're ill. It takes a week or two. A university letter counts as proof of address.
I got the bank account, the GP and the council tax letter wrong before I got them right. Setlyr is what I wish someone had handed me at the desk.
Shahrukh
Co-founder · moved from India to the UK fifteen years ago · the person who called you
Inside the app
Three things a student gets.
250 plain-English topics across 16 areas of UK life. The bank, the GP, the council, the SIM, the done thing.
What to bring, how long it takes, what it costs. 500+ of them, with insider tips.
Upfront cash and monthly costs by city, before they book a flight.
Before you forward this
Quick answers.
Yes. The same way you point them to UKCISA or the NHS. No endorsement, no student data, nothing to procure.
No. Visa questions go back to your regulated advisers, by name, every time.
Every topic is free to read. Premium is optional. And we take no commission from any bank or insurer.
Good. Yours covers the university. Setlyr covers the town: the bank, the surgery, the council.
We launched on Android in July 2026. Students are using it now. This autumn we're talking to international teams across the country. No logos, no names.
After your arrivals are through
We know September is your Everest.
Twenty minutes, whenever suits you. You tell us what week one looked like. We show you what students see. No slides.
No form, nothing collected. The email goes to a person.
