Students should be granted working permissions allowing them to work:
- Up to 20 hours a week in term time. A Student Visa issued for full-time degree-level studies allows you to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week during term time. This is a maximum of 20 hours in total in any one week, including paid or unpaid work (including voluntary work) and for one or more organisations.
Students should note UKVI defines a "week" as "a seven day period starting on a Monday and ending on a Sunday"
- Full-time outside term time (for study at all levels), which includes:
Students who have exams during the main examination diet or during the resit period are in term time for the duration of the period regardless of the number of exams being taken.
Working more than 20 hours per week during term time is in breach of your visa's working conditions which may impact your visa and any future immigration in the UK.
You need to check your own visa conditions to check how many hours you can work during either term time or vacation time.
Always check what your passport sticker (entry clearance) or biometric residence permit (BRP) says. You should also have received detailed information in a letter when you received your entry clearance or BRP. If you think there is an error, for example it says "No work" when you should be allowed to work, you must get it corrected before you take any employment - see how to do this in Errors on 30-day vignette and Errors on BRP.
You should be aware your studies are not completed until the course end date as stated on your CAS, at the earliest; For students undertaking resits or repeats in the final four month of their visa ("Grace period"), their course end date will the deadline date given by the Assessment Board to submit your outstanding coursework/dissertation (even if you submit before this) or the end of the next exam diet, not the date of your last exam, whichever is relevant.
Working hours are calculated for a seven day period beginning on a Monday.
Standard Visitor Visa holders are not allowed to work, paid or unpaid.
If you stop studying before completing your course you will no longer be entitled to work and will be in breach of your conditions of leave if found working.
If you do not already have a National Insurance Number, you only need to apply for one if you’re planning to work.
You must apply for one if you plan to work. You can only apply when you’re in the UK.
Eligibility
You can apply for a National Insurance Number if you live in the UK and have the right to work in the UK.
You must also be looking for work or have an offer to start work in the UK. If you have already started working you can still apply.
You’re not eligible to apply if you:
- Have lost your National Insurance Number
- Are a UK resident aged 19 or under and have not contacted HMRC first
- Have a biometric residence permit (BRP) which has a National Insurance number printed on it
- Are only applying for a National Insurance Number because you want to apply for benefits or a student loan.
If you’ve lost your National Insurance Number
Check how to find a lost National Insurance Number.
How to apply
You can apply for a National Insurance Number if you live in the UK and have the right to work.
To get a National Insurance Number you need to apply online and prove your identity.
What you'll need
If you have the following documents, use them when you apply:
- A passport from any country
- A BRP
You can also use a national identity card from:
- A country in the EU
- Norway
- Liechtenstein
- Switzerland
You can still apply if you do not have any of these documents but you may need to attend an appointment to prove your identity.
Prove your identity
You may be able to prove your identity online by submitting digital photos of your identity documents and yourself.
If you cannot prove your identity online then you may need to:
- Post photocopies of your documents
- Attend an appointment
Apply online
After you apply online you’ll get an email with your application reference number. The email will tell you if you need to provide more proof of your identity. It can take up to eight weeks for you to get your National Insurance Number after you have proven your identity.
If you get a job, you will have to prove your right to work to an employer. You will be expected to share details of your right to work in the UK with them, including:
- The types of job you’re allowed to do
- How long you are allowed to work in the UK
You’ll need one of the following:
- Your biometric residence permit number
- Your biometric residence card number
- Your passport or national identity card
Employers must view a job applicant’s right to work details before they employ them.
Students seeking a letter from the University to confirm their term dates should refer to the Bespoke Academic Calendar Information for Student Visa holders.
You may wish to provide the GCU academic calendar to your employer and/or your Confirmation of Student Status letter, as evidence of your term dates.
The VISA Team cannot issue you with a letter that confirms your right to work or your term dates.
Your employer should refer to your BRP and the employer checking service to verify your right to work.
If you are allowed to work during study, you can apply for and accept jobs in most types of paid roles, at any level. We have set out below the types of work you must not do. If you earn a relatively high amount, for example around £15,000 a year or more, the Home Office might question your working hours.
There are no limits on what you may earn or on your hours of work in vacations and after study, but make sure you never exceed your maximum weekly working hours in term time and do not let work interfere with making progress on your course. Self-employment and business activities are not permitted.
UKCISA's blog A working definition looks at many specific types of work opportunities, and whether the student work restriction allows you to do them.
Volunteering
Volunteering, although not paid, offers the opportunity to undertake a wide range of activities and meet many different people.
There is a difference between unpaid employment (voluntary work) and volunteering, and you should always check with the organisation which offers you a volunteering opportunity whether it can be regarded as unpaid employment. This is because the time you spend doing unpaid employment counts towards your maximum number of hours of work a week. Students with a work prohibition must be particularly careful not to undertake work that could be regarded as unpaid employment.
The Student and Child Student casework guidance explains how the Home Office differentiates between 'voluntary work' and 'volunteering'. For example, volunteers do not have a contract and are not paid, though reasonable travel and living costs can be reimbursed. Volunteers usually help a charity, voluntary organisation or public sector organisation.
There are many ways of finding volunteering opportunities, and your student sponsor can probably help. Here are some links to get you started:
Work you are not allowed to do
There are some kinds of work you must not do:
- Self-employment and business activity
- Professional sportsperson including as a sports coach, though there is an exception from 1 October 2019 for students at higher education providers doing work placements on a degree-level course
- Entertainer, which includes actors, musicians, dancers and other performers, though there is an exception for students doing work placements on degree-level dance, drama and music courses
- Permanent full-time job, unless you have applied under a work route - see UKCISA's page on work when you are no longer studying
- Doctor or dentist in training
Detailed UK government information about self-employment explains when you are likely to be self-employed, for example, running your own business and selling goods and services for profit, including online and through apps. You can check with the UK tax authority, HMRC, whether your proposed work would be self-employment by contacting them or by using their information and self-assessment tools.
You must not "engage in business activity" if you applied for your student immigration permission on or after 6 April 2016. The Student and Child Student casework guidance provides examples of what this means. For example, if you are not an employee, you must not work for a business in which you have a financial or other significant beneficial interest, and the guidance explains what this means in practice.
Your employer might suggest that you work for them on a 'self-employed', 'consultancy', 'contractor' or 'freelance' basis so that your employer does not have to do so much paperwork. You must not agree to this as you might end up breaching your work condition.
The definition of "professional sportsperson" is quite complicated because it refers not only to your current or proposed activities but also what you have done in the past and your future intentions. Check the definition in the Student and child student casework guidance, which also explains when you can undertake sports-related activities, and ask your student sponsor if you do not understand how it applies to your situation. You are able to undertake sports activities as an amateur if you are studying at degree level with a higher education provider, or at a charity event.
You may be able to work as a sportsperson or entertainer as an "amateur", which is defined as "a person who engages in a sport or creative activity solely for personal enjoyment and who is not seeking to derive a living from the activity".
