Working on a student visa after finishing your studies
Thinking of working full-time after your studies whilst you are still on your student visa? Want to know when you can officially start working more than 20 hours a week? Read on to find out what work you can do.
You are allowed to work for more than 20 hours a week when you are out of term time, including while your visa is still valid after your official course end date.
Please note, if you are a PGT or PGR (postgraduate) student, you are considered to be in term time until your course end date on your CAS has passed. You are also considered in term time during the period you are required resit/repeat/resubmit.
However, there are exceptional scenarios where you may be able to work full-time earlier than the official end date of the course or the official end of term.
When can I start working full-time after finishing my course?
If you are an Undergraduate student and have secured a summer internship which starts before the end of term 3, you can request a letter confirming that you have completed all work for the current academic year.
This letter can be used as evidence to show you are permitted to start your internship before the end of the summer term.
The earliest you can start your internship is 3 weeks before the end of summer term (if you make a request to start an internship any earlier than this, it will be disregarded).
To request a letter from us:
You will need confirmation from your employer of the dates of your internship (the internship offer letter)
You will need written confirmation from your academic department of the date when you will finish all the course requirements for the academic year.
Once you have the above confirmations, you will need to attach them in the request for a letter by filling our form.
If you have a Student Visa, you are only allowed to work more than 20 hours per week after the course end date has passed (your course end date can be found on your CAS).
After the course end date on your CAS, you can full-time provided that it is on a temporary or rolling contract and not a permanent position (the contract must have a specific end date).
Please note: If your successfully pass and your degree in conferred then you will remain out of term however if you are required to do resit and repeat (degree not conferred) then you will be considered to be "in term-time" hence you will only be able to work a maximum of 20 hours per week. Your employer may ask you to provide a confirmation of degree conferral to lift the 20 hour work limit.
Once you have handed in all your work and any exams are finished, you can request a letter confirming that:
You have sat all exams and submitted all the work towards the degree, and
You are considered as 'out of term time' and therefore permitted to work full time
The earliest you can start work/request a letter is 4 weeks before the end date on your CAS.
You must request this letter from your academic department. Your academic department will provide the necessary confirmation to us.
Once you have this letter, you can provide it to your employer to show that you are permitted to work more than 20 hours per week, even if your course end date has not passed yet.
Please note: If your degree is not conferred, hence required to resit modules or resubmit assignment/project then you are considered to be in-term time, this means you can only work a maximum of 20 hours per week till successful course completion.
IMPORTANT
Requests for this letter will only be processed after your official submission deadline has passed, even if you have submitted your work early.
This ensures that your department can confirm you have completed all required assessments.
University term dates do not apply to you if you are a Postgraduate Research (PhD) student.
You must work no more than 20 hours per week until your degree is conferred by the University Senate. The only exception during the main part of your course is a time-limited period of Authorised Absence for work purposes.
Once your degree has been awarded, you can work full-time, provided this is not in a permanent role (the contract must have a specific end date).
Exceptions during the examination phase
If you are in "Limbo" (you have submitted your thesis but are waiting for your viva examination)
You may work full-time during this period by requesting a period of 'Authorised Absence' via your .
If the request is accepted, you will be sent an email which will confirm your right to work more than 20 hours during that period period.
Please note! If the outcome of your viva examination is 'corrections', you will revert back to the 20 hours per week limit.
If you have completed your viva examination and corrections are not required, or you have submitted your final corrections
You can request a letter to confirm you can work more than 20 hours per week. If you have received the letter, you do not need to wait for the conferral of your degree by the University Senate.
What you are allowed to do:
Once you are out of term time, the 20-hour-per-week limit on working does not apply. There is no limit on the number of hours you are allowed to work.
Your job will need to be for a specific length of time(have an end date). For example, the contract may specify that the job is for 3 months from your start date, or, that the job ends on a specific date.
What work you are NOT allowed to do:
This means that you cannot hold any job that has no specified end date (is not for a specified length of time) if it is also a full-time role (more than 20 hours per week).
You must check your employment contract makes the end date of your employment clear.
If you have submitted a valid application for a Graduate Visa and were granted your Student Visa in April 2022 or later, you can begin a full-time, permanent role while the application is in progress.
If you have submitted a valid application for a Skilled Worker Visa and it is no sooner than 3 months before the official end date of your course, you can begin a full-time, permanent role while the application is in progress.
The other conditions of your Student Visa continue to apply:
You cannot be self-employed
You cannot engage in business activity
You cannot work as an entertainer, or a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach)
Other things to consider...
Self-employment
While holding a student visa, you must not be self-employed or engage in a business activity. A business activity is defined in the as, "working for a business in which you have a financial or other significant beneficial interest in a capacity other than as an employee."
When can I switch to a Work Visa?
You can switch to most work visas after you have completed your studies.
If things don't go according to plan academically and you find out that you have a resit or resubmission, you will return to a limit of 20 hours of work per week. You may find that you need to extend your student visa to complete your studies.
Working illegally is classed as a criminal offence.
The student visa holder may be sent to prison for up to 6 months, fined up to 拢5,000, be liable to be removed from the UK and banned from returning to the UK for up to 10 years.
For this reason, it is vital to fully understand and remain within your Student Visa conditions.
