Working on a Student visa
Lesson 12 of 16 in our free Work, Payslips & Tax guide: a 5-minute money game with the key points below.
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Questions you'll answer
A degree-level student does 12 hours a week in a shop and is offered a 'quick' extra shift each week at a second job. What's the most extra hours a week they can take in term time?
Your manager asks you to cover 25 hours this week, mid-term. You're a degree-level student. Best move?
Quick facts
- 15 hours a week as a café assistant during term (degree-level student) → Usually allowed. Within the 20-hour weekly limit for degree-level study.
- Full-time hours at a warehouse during the official summer vacation → Usually allowed. Full-time work is allowed outside term time, in your university's official vacations.
- Freelance graphic design for clients you find online → Not allowed. Self-employment and freelance work aren't allowed on a Student visa.
- Running a reselling business through a selling app → Not allowed. Trading as a business counts as self-employment, which isn't allowed.
- Paid gigs as a professional musician → Not allowed. Working as an entertainer or professional sportsperson or coach is on the not-allowed list.
- A permanent full-time job with no end date → Not allowed. You can't fill a permanent full-time vacancy on a Student visa.
- Fact: “The term-time limit counts all your jobs added together.” — Two jobs at 12 hours each is 24 hours, which is over a 20-hour limit.
- Myth: “Unpaid work experience never counts towards the limit.” — Some unpaid work can count. Check with your university's international student advice team before you agree.
- Fact: “Breaking your visa's work conditions can put your visa at risk.” — It's one of the conditions of your permission to stay. Keep a record of your hours.
- Fact: “You can work full time in the official vacations set by your university.” — Check your university's official term dates. Reading weeks don't always count as vacations.