Do expats need a VPN?
Most do, for three home-country reasons. The first is banking. UK banks treat a login from an unfamiliar country as a risk signal and respond with extra verification or temporary blocks. Connecting through a UK server before you open the app gives the bank the same picture it has always seen. The second is streaming. BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, Netflix shows the catalogue of the country you are in and warns that your list and continue-watching titles may not carry over, and Sky, ITVX and Channel 4 are UK-only. A UK server restores the home versions, with the caveat that some services block VPN ranges and nothing is guaranteed.
The third is identity. Two-factor codes and account-recovery flows often rely on a UK mobile number, and some services check that the number and the IP address roughly agree. Keeping a UK SIM or eSIM alive on pay-as-you-go, with a VPN set to the UK, is the cheapest way to keep your digital life in Britain while your physical one is elsewhere.
Then there is where you live. In most of Europe, the Americas and Australasia a VPN is a privacy tool and nothing more. In the UAE and Qatar, WhatsApp and FaceTime calls are blocked on local networks; in China unlicensed VPNs are restricted and the major providers' sites are blocked. Read our country guide for your new home before you arrive. Wherever you land, 24/7 live chat from NordVPN or Surfshark is useful when your bank app stops working on a Sunday.
What a VPN does and does not do for expats
A VPN encrypts the link between your device and the VPN server, so your new landlord's Wi-Fi, the local carrier and the cafe network see only scrambled traffic. More usefully for an expat, it lets you choose where you appear to be: the UK for your bank, iPlayer and online shopping with UK delivery and pricing, or your host country for local banking and services when you are back visiting the UK.
It does not change your residence. Tax, healthcare entitlement, voting and your bank's right to close a non-resident account all follow where you actually live, and lying to a bank about your address is a different matter from protecting your connection. It will not keep a UK phone number working, and it cannot override a service that geo-blocks aggressively. Both picks carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, so test your bank and streaming apps on a real connection in your new country: NordVPN for a single expat, Surfshark for a household.
Recommended VPNs for Expats
NordVPN, best for short trips and month-by-month plans
It is the one for you if you are covering yourself, or you and a partner, and want something simple to run and easy to forget about. One plan covers 10 devices, and the apps are quick to install and easy to switch off and on as you need. Plans run by the month, the year or over two years, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Surfshark, best for long stays and unlimited devices
It is the one for you if one subscription needs to cover everyone. Connections are unlimited, so every phone, laptop and tablet you travel with, and anyone you share a place with, runs on the same plan at once. That suits a stay that stretches to months rather than weeks. It sells the same three terms and adds bonus months on the longer two, with the same 30-day money-back guarantee.
Server networks and speeds for life abroad
Both providers run large UK server fleets across London and Manchester, which is what matters for an expat routing home every day, plus physical servers in well over 60 countries and virtual locations for many more, so there is usually a local server for host-country services as well. Latency is the practical limit. From Spain or Germany a UK server adds a few tens of milliseconds and iPlayer streams without trouble; from Australia or Southeast Asia the round trip is long enough that video calls should use a nearby server and only your UK banking and streaming should go home.
For a household, the easiest set-up is the VPN on a router in the new flat, so the TV, consoles and every family member's devices route through the UK without individual apps. Both providers publish router guides, and a router counts as one connection on either plan.
How to choose between them
The differences that matter fit in one table, and the last two rows are there to name two promises you should not believe from anyone, us included.
| Feature | NordVPN | Surfshark |
|---|
| 1 month | $14.99 | $16.45 |
| 1 year plan, total upfront | $65.88 (12 months billed) | $50.85 (15 months billed) |
| 2 year plan, total upfront | $94.23 (27 months billed) | $67.23 (27 months billed) |
| Devices per plan | 10 | Unlimited |
| Kill switch and auto-connect | Yes | Yes |
| Independently audited no-log policy | Yes (2025) | Yes (2025) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
| Guarantees access to any blocked site, anywhere | No | No |
| Makes slow Wi-Fi faster | No | No |
On a single month NordVPN is cheaper. Over a year or two Surfshark is. On everything else the choice is about shape rather than money: 10 devices and a simple setup on one side, unlimited devices on the other.
Setting up before you travel
Do the setup at home, on Wi-Fi you trust, before the airport. Install NordVPN or Surfshark on each device, sign in, and connect once to confirm everything works. Then turn on two settings both apps include: the kill switch, which stops your traffic travelling unprotected if the VPN drops, and auto-connect, which brings the VPN back up when your connection returns.
Do the set-up before you leave the UK while your bank, phone and streaming accounts are all behaving. Install on every device, log in, favourite a UK server and turn on the kill switch and auto-connect. Register a second two-factor method on your bank and email, such as an authenticator app, so you are not dependent on SMS to a UK number. Keep your UK SIM on pay-as-you-go or move it to an eSIM. If you are moving to a country that restricts VPNs, enable the obfuscated server option and download the apps before you fly.
Final recommendation
For a single expat or a couple settling abroad, NordVPN is our pick. Large UK server capacity keeps banking and iPlayer reliable every day, obfuscated servers cover a posting to a country that restricts VPNs, and ten device connections handle two people's phones, laptops and a TV box with room to spare.
For a family moving abroad, or anyone who expects to stay for years, Surfshark is the better value. Unlimited devices means every family member's phone, tablet and laptop plus the living-room TV and a router all run on one account, and the longest plan is the cheapest way to cover the whole of a multi-year posting.
