Non-EEA Students
Most international students on courses of more than six months will be given a passport stamp or visa sticker that allows them to work up to 20 hours a week during term time and any number of hours during vacations. The 20 hours includes time spent volunteering. You are not allowed to set up your own business. Be aware that to get a visa you will have to prove that you have enough money to pay your tuition fees and living expenses without needing to work. You cannot use expected income from part-time and vacation work as evidence of your financial resources when dealing with the UK immigration authorities.
When the entry clearance officer gives you your passport back, check it immediately. Make sure that your visa or entry certificate says that you are coming to the UK as a 'student', rather than as a 'visitor' and that your conditions include a 'restriction' (which allows you to work for 20 hours per week during term time) rather than a 'prohibition' on work (which does not allow you to work). If you have been given a 'prohibition' on work, ask the entry clearance officer to change it. If they refuse to change it, contact UWE Student Advice and Welfare Services, tel. (0117) 32 82822, or email saws@uwe.ac.uk and ask them to fax the entry clearance officer on your behalf.
Once you have been given your passport stamp or visa sticker, you will not require any further permission in order to work up to 20 hours per week. A student visa also allows you to undertake sandwich placements and internships.
EEA/Swiss Nationals
If you are a national of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia or Slovenia ('A8' Countries), you need to register as a worker under the 'Worker Registration Scheme' unless you are exempt from the requirement to register. Further details about the Scheme, including exemptions and requirements, are available at Worker Registration Scheme.
Bulgarian and Romanian nationals wishing to work in the UK should apply for a registration certificate on the Home Office's form BRI which you can download from www.workingintheuk.gov.uk.
The registration certificate should state that:
- you can work up to 20 hours per week in term time and any number of hours during vacations and;
- you can work unlimited hours as part of your vocational training course (for a degree's sandwich placement).
If you are a national of any other EU/EEA country and/or Switzerland, you are free to take employment without having to obtain permission to work.
For more information about working in the UK during your studies contact Student Advice and Welfare Services or download UKCOSA's 'Working During Your Studies' Guidance Note or the International Students Working in the UK leaflet.