The ‘Student visa’ replaced the Tier 4 visa in October 2020. The term ‘Student visa’ refers to both the Student visa and the Tier 4 visa.
The main purpose of the Student visa is for study in the UK. However, in certain circumstances and under certain conditions Student visa holders can work in the UK.
If you plan to work for the University you should make sure you understand the work conditions of your visa.
If you have a Student visa sponsored by the University of Southampton for full-time study, you can work in the UK but there are restrictions.
If your study is part-time, you are not permitted to work at all.
Students enrolled on an undergraduate programme of study may work full-time during the Christmas, Easter and Summer vacations as set out in the University Calendar. During term time students must not work more than 20 hours per week. This includes all paid and unpaid work. Even if you finish your exams or lectures etc. before the official end of the semester, you are still restricted to term-time work restrictions until the end of the semester.
Students enrolled on a postgraduate programme of study may work full-time during the Christmas and Easter vacations as set out in the University Calendar. During the summer months, you are expected to remain in full-time attendance as you are studying full-time to complete dissertations/final projects. You remain in full-time attendance until your programme end date as stated on your CAS statement, even if you have submitted your dissertation/final project. During the whole duration of study (except for Christmas and Easter vacation) you must not work more than 20 hours per week, this includes all paid and unpaid work.
Postgraduate research courses are deemed to be studying 52 weeks of the year except for the 26 days assigned vacation period as agreed by your Supervisor, plus University Closure Days and Bank Holidays. During the whole duration of study (except for when you are on agreed annual leave) you must not work more than 20 hours per week. If you have more than one job you are still restricted to working a maximum of 20 hours per week in total. This includes paid and unpaid work. When on annual leave and during University closure periods you can work full-time; if you need to work over 20 hours in a week during these periods you must take the whole week as annual leave or add annual leave to a closure period to make up a whole week.
Please see Student Services | Visa and Immigration | Visa Conditions for details on your work conditions.
If you have any questions about your Student visa, please contact the Student Visa and Immigration Team.
A week in terms of the Student visa is a seven-day period, starting from Monday and ending Sunday.
Student visa holders must ensure they do not work more than their permitted weekly limit for their visa. The weekly limit cannot be averaged out over a month and cannot be carried over into later weeks.
All students should be aware of the following Student visa work restrictions:
The restrictions on working hours explained above do not apply to volunteering but they do apply to voluntary work. If you want to volunteer to gain experience you need to be clear on whether you are volunteering or doing voluntary work. You should always check with the organisation which offer you a volunteering opportunity whether it can be regarded as unpaid employment.
The difference between unpaid employment (voluntary work) and volunteering is explained in the Student Guidance but as an overview:
Please see Student Services | Visa and Immigration | Visa Conditions for details on your work conditions.
While you are in the UK you must be very careful not to break the conditions of your Student visa
All the conditions of your Student visa will have been given to you when you received it, you can see this on your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) or on your UKVI account if you have digital immigration status. If you breach your Student visa conditions you could lose our visa and may not be allowed to stay in the UK.
Student visa conditions are very strict, and if your circumstances change your visa may become invalid. Please see Student Services | Visa and Immigration | Change of circumstances for details.
Any breach to working hours will not be tolerated and in accordance with Student visa sponsor licence requirements, the University must notify the Home Office if it becomes aware a student is breaking the conditions of their permission to stay in the UK. Please see Guidelines - Tier 4/Student Visa breach of working hours for further details.
If you have a Student visa sponsored by another University for full-time study, you may be able to work in the UK but restrictions are still likely to apply. You should check with your sponsoring University and on your visa for any work restrictions.
If you are offered work at the University of Southampton, as part of your right to work check the University’s HR team will check the number of hours your visa permits. The HR team may ask you to provide further confirmation from your sponsoring University that you are permitted to undertake the work.