Look here first -> Banking in the UK

[Boomka]

Go to HSBC in Canada. Open an account. When you want to move to the UK, tell HSBC and they will set up an account for you in the HSBC branch of your choosing in the UK. You will arrive in the UK with a fully functioning bank account, minus your credit rating.

[Daniel Graham]

Difficulty in setting up an account seems to vary from bank to bank with it generally getting stricter over the past four years. Try Barclays.

I am a foreign exchange dealer at Voltrex Foreign Exchange if you are thinking of emigrating to the Uk contact me to get a better exchange rate for your Canadian dollar savings.

[feint]

hmm yeah, this can be pretty hectic. Lloyd's turned me down outright, no explanations, no Sir. apply for your driving licence they told me, get a proof of address then come back. then MAYBE we can do something for you.
huh.
then i tried Abbey. but well that's more like a building society, but it did the trick.
all i needed was my passport and i gave my cousin's flat add as my own. worked out fine.

[LAYDY]

I went to a barclays a few days ago and it was pretty easy to open up my bank account, which is quite surprising! Thought it would be a nightmare! Went there last Friday, told them i wanted to open up a bank account. They asked my if i had a job or if i was a student. Then i took an appointment for the next Monday morning. All I needed was my passport and driving license. they did'nt ask me for any proof of address. They just asked for my address so they can send me a confirmation letter and my debit card. Took about 30-45 minutes and it was all done.

I went to the Barclays on Borough High street right next to the London Bridge Station. If that can help anyone.

Good luck!

[bethlee77]

I had an interesting experience opening up a bank account that i thought i would share. I went to RBS bc that's where my boyfriend has his account. They took my passport, a bank letter, evidence of me finding work with my UK address and old bank statements but it wasn't satisfactory. They needed more evidence of my address here in the UK so we had to go the council and add me to the house council tax. Thank goodness it was right across the street from the bank. Now we're waiting on getting a little council tax card before i can get a bank account opened. So, i'm without a bank account and hoping i can take money out using debit bc it didn't work last time i was here! Whoever was able to just walk into a bank and open up an account easily was lucky! They are becoming stricter!

[Daniel Graham]

RBS is very strict I had an account with NAtwest for 3 years (Natwest is a part of the RBS Group) and RBS still made me wait almost 6 months to get a debit card.

[bethlee77]

You are definitely right about strict but I didn't have a problems getting a debit card with RBS once I opened my account. I am just waiting for my pin number which is in the mail but there's a Royal Mail strike right now. I am not sure how long I will have to wait if i want to get a credit card. I know that might take awhile.

[murtle_007]

Oh dear, I was hoping to use RBS because my friend works for them :\. HSBC sounds like a good idea, have them do some of the work from here ^^