We're here to help you navigate the sometimes confusing rules surrounding working in the UK with a visa.
Before looking for work, you need to check that you have permission to work in the UK. Working without permission can have serious consequences.
The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) also give detailed guidance on working in the UK while studying.
Once you start looking for a job, you can apply for a National Insurance (NI) number.
This is your personal reference number for the UK's benefits and tax credits system.
You must have an NI number before you can start working in the UK. Your NI number ensures your NI contributions and tax are recorded against your name.
You can find your number in:
Middlesex University does not provide ‘work letters’ to confirm how many hours you are allowed to work. It is your responsibility to ensure you do not breach the conditions of your Student route (formerly tier 4) visa.
You can request a ‘Student Status Letter’ via myUniHub (view video guide) which will confirm your enrolment status. You can also provide the additional information guide below which contains all necessary information including relevant term dates to help your potential employer make a decision regarding your work hours.
If your employer has any questions about your work conditions, they need to contact the Home Office.
If you undertake any work that is not allowed or work more hours than you should, you will be considered in breach of your immigration conditions and this can have very serious consequences. If you are concerned that you may have broken the rules please contact International Student Advice team. The number of hours you are allowed to work will depend on a number of factors such as the time of the year or what course you study.
As a Student route (formerly tie 4) student, your visa comes with a number of conditions relating to working in the UK such as the type of work you can do and the number of hours.
You can find the permitted work hours written on your vignette (visa in your passport) or Biometric Residence Permit card and it is your responsibility to ensure you do not breach the conditions of your visa.
Please read carefully the employment restrictions that apply to Student route visas. You must not:
“Engagement in a business activity” is defined in the Student route Policy Guidance (paragraphs 306, 307, 308 and 309) as ‘working for a business in which you have a financial or other significant beneficial interest in a capacity other than as an employee’.
Below are several example of what the Home Office considers as engaging in a business activity. This is not an exhaustive list:
As a Student route visa student, you can have multiple contracts. However, during term-time, you must not work any more than 20 hours paid or unpaid work each week.
This means 20 hours in total rather than 20 hours per employer.
There is a legal distinction between volunteering and paid or unpaid work. However, the definitions are complex so to avoid any implication we recommend that volunteering should be considered in the same way as part-time work.
You should not volunteer more than 20 hours in any seven-day period.
In cases where you undertake volunteering and paid work during term time, this should not exceed total of 20 hours between them.
The number of hours you are allowed to work will depend on a number of factors such as the time of the year or what course you study.
Please note the term time dates for this academic year 2023/2024, including the Christmas and Easter vacation periods.
Where you are following a course of degree level study or above, the following work is allowed:
If you have pending assessments over summer, you are not entitled to work full-time and only allowed 20 hours per week until the outcome of any outstanding assessment is reflected on your student account and confirmation to progress to next academic year.
Where you are following a course of study below degree level, the following work is allowed:
For master's students, the University term dates are irrelevant and you are in term time until all elements of the programme have been completed and the programme has officially ended.
This means that you are only entitled to work part-time (up to 20 hours per week) until the course end date has passed.
Please note that the dissertation period until official programme end date stated on the CAS is not vacation. You are still expected to be academically engaged with writing your dissertation at this point.
Any full-time work completed during the dissertation period without permission is a breach of Student route visa conditions.
It is not possible to bring forward the course end date, even in the case that all elements of the course are completed and dissertation submitted before the official end date.
The only exceptions to the above are the official dates when the University is closed, such as Christmas and Easter.
Term dates do not apply to Postgraduate research students.
You are only entitled to work part-time (up to 20 hours per week) until your course end date has passed.
This will be from the date that your degree is officially awarded and not from the thesis submission date or viva date.
The only exceptions are the official dates when the University closes, such as Christmas and Easter or during a period of Annual Leave taken as a 'vacation' (this is limited to 28 days per year).
You will receive a letter confirming the dates of your annual leave and this should be presented to your potential employer.
After the official course end date, you are able to work full-time, provided that it is not a permanent position.
Student route (formerly tier 4) visa students, are able to undertake work placements as part of the course if the work placement is:
Before you can start your work placement, the university must inform the Home Office of your intended work placement. Once this has been submitted and approved, you will be able to work full-time and maintain your Student route visa.
You cannot begin your work placement until this process is completed. If you do, you and your employer will be in breach of the responsibilities and the Home Office can take action against you and them.
Middlesex University does not provide ‘work letters’ to confirm how many hours a student is allowed to work. It is the responsibility of an employer to ensure correct allocation of working hours.
Please refer to Right to Work guidance published by the Home Office.
