I moved to the UK for work and one of the requirements for that is to have a UK bank account. Firstly, it is very inconvenient to have to start the bank application whilst you are in the country, all that could be needed is proof of identity or a pdf with visa acceptance letter. Secondly, I have had to get assistance with setting up my account and hand in additional documents. So I have visited the branch around 4/5 times in the past month, which is a nuisance because these matters are always delayed for the weekend. Opening hours for the closest branch to me (Oldham) opens from 9am-5pm which spans the normal work day and therefore, issues cannot be settled after my shift is done (my job does not allow me to have more than a 30min break so going and settling it there and then during the week is not an option). Thirdly, (most of) the clerks working at the branch are not helpful and they often need to refer to colleagues or the manager because it seems like they never dealt with foreigners opening accounts or answering simple questions like the requirements for handing in tax residency documents. Fourthly, I had an experience that they were required to scan and verify my passport. The clerk mistook a previously expired visa with my photo on it as the photographic ID page on my passport. Had it not been caught, the submission of the document would have been delayed and another few hours wasted going to the bank to settle this issue. In addition, whenever we are opening a bank account, they have this corner where you are invited to sit on this low lying sofa. Then they start asking you questions upon questions if you don't have the necessary documents, whilst they are stood up. Frankly, this is a very intimidating situation to be in and it heightens anxiety which is only made worse. In addition, even after bringing the right documents, they ask you a bucket load of questions on whether this document is enough for them to accept and start asking you to provide other information like the NI number which was never previously mentioned whilst at the bank in the weeks before. In addition, I do not appreciate that the scanner/printer is in a side room away from the til. So whenever you need to hand in a document needed to be scanned, they take it to this room, spend at the very least 5mins scanning it and chatting to their coworkers and then slowly come back to hand the document back. I wonder how they never mixed up different clients documents.