Student/Tier 4 visa holders are not permitted to:
- be self-employed;
- be employed as a professional sportsperson including as a sports coach;
- be employed as an entertainer;
- take a permanent full-time job;
- work as a doctor or dentist in training, unless they are on the foundation programme.
Students may take voluntary work. Any hours spent doing voluntary or unpaid work count towards the student’s maximum permitted hours during term-time.
Following completion of their studies, students may work full-time. Completion of studies is usually interpreted as when the final exam is sat or when leave to supplicate is granted. In either case students should not work more than four months full-time on their student visa following completion of studies, unless they have submitted a valid application for a new visa status. Students who complete early and have a long period remaining on their student visa will be reported to the Home Office and their visa will be curtailed. Because this generally takes three to four months, the student should not be disadvantaged compared to those who complete on schedule.
Some Masters students will have been issued a Tier 4 visa with a six-month period after their course completion date, during which they can look for and undertake work. In these cases, a report of early completion is not made to the Home Office if they complete their studies as planned, and they can work for the full remaining six-month period until the expiry of their Tier 4 visa. The above restrictions on the type of work that is prohibited still apply. You must seek either written confirmation from the research supervisor, confirmation that the student’s thesis has been submitted, or confirmation that the student has completed their studies before employing a student visa holder – see further information below. Please note that, if a student is later required to complete corrections, they are then considered to be studying again and the restrictions on maximum hours permitted for employment during term-time will similarly apply.
Junior Deans
The 20-hour weekly limit for Student/Tier 4 visa holders includes hours worked as a Junior Dean and any other work across all employers. For Junior Deans on Student/Tier 4 visas, work is defined as follows: although they may be on-call all night or weekend in case something happens, only the time spent dealing with incidents will count towards the 20 hour limit. Being on-call in case something happens is distinguished from situations in which those who are on-call at night expect frequent call outs, for example when Junior Deans do double duty as porters or make regular rounds. In practice, except in extremely exceptional circumstances, the average number of times that Student/Tier 4 Junior Deans can be called out to deal with welfare and disciplinary matters at night should not exceed once a week in term time and once a month during the vacation. Where the pattern of frequency of call out regularly exceeds this guidance, alternative arrangements to staffing Junior Dean posts should be made.
