If you are allowed to work during study, you can apply for and accept jobs in most types of paid role, at any level. Below, we have set out the types of work you must not do.
If you earn a relatively high amount, for example around £15,000 a year or more, the Home Office might question your working hours. There are no limits on what you may earn or on your hours of work in vacations and after study, but make sure you never exceed your maximum weekly working hours in term time, and do not let work interfere with making progress on your course.
Self-employment and business activities are not permitted. However, the guidance for Start-up and Innovator endorsing bodies states that Tier 4 students are allowed to carry out preliminary activities such as writing business plans or negotiating contracts and they may incur pre-trading costs with a view to deciding whether to start a business under an immigration route such as Start-up, Innovator or the doctorate extension scheme - see Working after studies.
Our blog "A working definition" looks at many specific types of work opportunity, and whether the Tier 4 work restriction allows you to do them.
Volunteering, although not paid, offers the opportunity to undertake a wide range of activities and meet many different people.
There is a difference between unpaid employment (voluntary work) and volunteering, and you should always check with the organisation which offers you a volunteering opportunity whether it can be regarded as unpaid employment. This is because time you spend doing unpaid employment counts towards your maximum number of hours of work a week. Students with a work prohibition must be particularly careful not to undertake work that could be regarded as unpaid employment.
The Tier 4 policy guidance explains how the Home Office differentiates between 'voluntary work' and 'volunteering'. For example volunteers do not have a contract and are not paid, though reasonable travel and living costs can be reimbursed. Volunteers usually help a charity, voluntary organisation or public sector organisation.
There are many ways of finding volunteering opportunities, and your Tier 4 sponsor can probably help. Here are some links to get you started:
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (England)
Volunteer Scotland
Volunteering Wales
Volunteer Now (Northern Ireland)
There are some kinds of work you must not do:
- self-employment and business activity
- professional sportsperson including as a sports coach, though there is an exception from 1 October 2019 for students at higher education providers doing work placements on a degree-level course
- entertainer, which includes actors, musicians, dancers and other performers, though there is an exception for students doing work placements on degree-level dance, drama and music courses
- permanent full-time job, unless you have applied under a work route - see Work with Tier 4 leave when you are no longer studying
- doctor or dentist in training, unless you are on the foundation programme
Detailed UK government information about self-employment explains when you are likely to be self-employed, for example, running your own business and selling goods and services for profit, including online and through apps. You can check with the UK tax authority, HMRC, whether your proposed work would be self-employment by contacting them or by using their information and self-assessment tools.
You must not "engage in business activity" if you applied for your Tier 4 immigration permission on or after 6 April 2016. The Tier 4 policy guidance provides examples of what this means. For example, if you are not an employee, you must not work for a business in which you have a financial or other significant beneficial interest, and the guidance explains what this means in practice.
Your employer might suggest that you work for them on a 'self-employed', 'consultancy', 'contractor' or 'freelance' basis so that your employer does not have to do so much paperwork. You must not agree to this as you might end up breaching your work condition.
The definition of "professional sportsperson" is quite complicated because it refers not only to your current or proposed activities, but also what you have done in the past and your future intentions. Check the definition in the Tier 4 policy guidance, which also explains when you can undertake sports-related activities, and ask your Tier 4 sponsor if you do not understand how it applies to your situation. From 1 October 2019, you will be able to undertake sports activity as an amateur if you are studying at degree level with a higher education provider, or at a charity event. There are alternative immigration categories which permit you to work as a sportsperson and to study. For example, under Tier 2 or Tier 5 (Temporary Worker) or UK Ancestry. Work as an entertainer is permitted under these routes and also under Tier 1 and Tier 5 (Youth Mobility).
You may be able to work as a professional sportsperson or entertainer as an "amateur", which is defined as "a person who engages in a sport or creative activity solely for personal enjoyment and who is not seeking to derive a living from the activity".
