The rules and regulations can be tricky to understand sometimes. Below we have broken down the most important information for you so you know what to expect.
- As a student visa holder at University of Staffordshire, you can work up to 20 hours per week during team time.
- Term time is the time when the university is open and teaching and when exams or other academic activities are taking place.
- You are allowed to work more hours during designated vacation periods like Christmas and Easter.
- Not all student have a summer holiday. If you are completing your dissertation, this is still term time and you cannot work more than 20 hours per week.
- Just because you do not have classes, that does not mean it's not term time.
- The Student Connect Team can help you with a letter for your employer, but it is your employer's responsibility to check your visa status.
- You cannot work as a professional sports person, sports coach, entertainer(musician, actor, performer) and you cannot be self-employed or engage in business activity.
- Work includes unpaid work but not volunteering
You can find more details about working on UKCISA's blog A Working Definition
Student visa holders can volunteer while they are studying. Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community while gaining valuable skills. International students, however must be sure they are volunteering and not doing unpaid or voluntary work. Voluntary work is distinct from volunteering.
A student can do voluntary work if they are permitted to work, but this work and any paid work must not exceed the total number of hours they are permitted to work during term time. For example, if a student is permitted to work 20 hours a week during term-time and has paid work of 15 hours a week, they cannot do more than 5 hours voluntary work. If they are not permitted to work, they cannot do voluntary work. Factors to take into account when considering whether a particular activity constitutes voluntary work or volunteering are:
- voluntary workers will usually have contractual obligations to perform the work(for example to attend at particular times and carry out specific tasks) with the employer being contractually required to provide the work – the contract does not have to be written - the worker is usually remunerated in kind
- volunteers do not have a contract - they must not be a substitute for an employee, and they must not be doing unpaid work – for example, receiving payment in kind (although they are sometimes reimbursed for reasonable travel and subsistence expenses)
- volunteers usually help a charity or voluntary or public sector organisation
Charities in the UK normally have a registered charity number. Always look out for this if you are volunteering with an organisation.
If you are looking for somewhere to volunteer, check out the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.https://www.ncvo.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/volunteering-opportunities/