Working in the UK during and after your studies

Working during your studies

If you have a student visa, you will be able to do paid or unpaid work in the UK during your studies, but you will not be allowed to work if you received an Immigration Healthcare Surcharge refund and have a passport from:

• the European Union
• the European Economic Area
• Switzerland

To work in the UK, student visa holders must have a National Insurance number.

Working hours

Weekly limits apply (Monday to Sunday) during term time:

• 20 hours a week if you are studying at degree level or above
• 20 hours a week if you are on a study abroad programme at an 'overseas higher education institution' in the UK
• 10 hours a week if you are studying a course below degree level

If you are permitted to work, you can work full time during University vacation periods. You can share the University semester dates with your employer. You can work full time after your course end date and until your visa expires.

Taught postgraduate students have a dissertation period over the summer. You can only work full time after your course end date.

To check the end date of your course, you can do any of the following:

• check your University offer letter
• log into MySaint and generate a student status letter
• email advint@st-andrews.ac.uk

Research students have different term time requirements, email advint@st-andrews.ac.uk to get more information.

If you are a PhD student, you:

• can work full time between submitting your thesis for examination and official notification of viva. This period is considered a 'vacation'.
• must return to working hour restrictions from date of viva. This is considered a return to full time study. You are considered to be in full time study until your corrected thesis has been submitted and corrections accepted.

Working restrictions

If you have a student visa, you cannot:

• start a business
• undertake business-related activity
• be self-employed (even if your business is registered abroad)
• work as an entertainer or professional sportsperson, including as a sports coach
• have a permanent full-time job
• work as a doctor or dentist in training, unless you are studying an International Foundation programme at the University of St Andrews

Developing a business idea

As a student visa holder, if you want to start a new business you can develop your business idea during your studies by conducting what is known as ‘pre-business activities’ by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

You can:

• carry out preliminary activities like writing business plans or negotiating contracts
• incur preliminary or pre-trading expenditure, such as incurring costs to decide whether to start your business

You cannot have a trading business if you are in the UK on a student visa.

This is the information that the University currently has on pre-business activities. The UK’s immigration rules and guidance do not offer any more details.

There are no specific examples we can provide on what is acceptable, and if it’s a grey area the advice would be to avoid it. The information we can provide at this stage is:

• Although small scale user testing on, for example, test webpages, test apps, or test products, could be carried out with peers, for free, to see if the concept works, you cannot trade. We would not expect to see products or services being marketed in any way to the public at this stage, such as, through a publicly available website.
• We would not expect to see any larger scale commercial trials being undertaken at this stage.
• You must not under any circumstances receive any financial gain from user testing. You must not buy and sell goods or services with a view to making a profit or surplus.
• You must not under any circumstances register or begin to register a business.

Visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs website for full information on working in the UK during your studies.

Difference between voluntary work and volunteering

Voluntary work (unpaid work) is not the same as volunteering. 

Voluntary workers will usually have a contract detailing their responsibilities including working hours and daily 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, for example, with rewards such as free items, or with a promise of future employment.

Students who are volunteering:

• will not have a contract
• must not receive payment in kind (except reimbursement for travel and subsistence expenses)
• cannot be a substitute for an employee

You can support a charity, voluntary organisation or public sector organisation but must not be doing any work related to the organisation’s charitable purpose, for example, working in routine back office administrative roles, retail or other sales roles, fundraising roles and roles involved in the maintenance of the organisation’s offices and other assets. You should always check with the volunteering organisation whether your work is voluntary work.

Student visa

As a student visa holder, you can do both voluntary work and volunteering, but voluntary work will count towards the maximum number of hours you can do per week. 

Visitor visa

Visitors can do volunteering when it is for a registered charity and it will be for no longer than 30 days in total. The 30 days do not have to be consecutive and can be split across the visitor’s period of permission to be in the UK. 

Visitors may not do voluntary work. You must be clear on the difference between volunteering and voluntary work.

Working after your studies

You cannot start a permanent job unless you have a visa that allows you to do that. The work restrictions detailed on your student visa continue to apply until you get a new visa that allows you to start a permanent job. 

If you apply to stay in the UK under a work route you may be able to work while you wait on a decision on your application, but this only applies in some cases so you should email advint@st-andrews.ac.uk to discuss your plans with the University’s International Advisers before applying.

Read more about the visa routes that may allow you to work after you finish your studies.