Student Visa

[Ivailo Todorov]

Hi all,

I am a Bulgarian and I got a student visa recently.
All is all right but there someting that I can not understand.

Does "No recourse to public funds, Work (and other changes) must be authorised" means that I can not work 20 hours per week. If it is may I get permission when I am there or there is no way I can work.


Regards,
Ivailo

[John]

There are two separate restrictions on your visa :-

• No recourse to Public Funds
• Work (and other changes) must be authorised

As regards the second one, there is a general permission for student visa holders to work, but work during term-time is limited to 20 hours per week. So the good news is that you are already authorised to do that amount of work.

[Ivailo Todorov]

Hi John,

Thank you very much for your response.
I though it is a prohibition, but it seems that this is the restriction all international students have.

Best Regards,
Ivailo

[John]

Ivailo, that is right, your Student Visa is totally standard. That is, you have exactly the same conditions as other Student Visas.

[Jeff Albright]

Actually, no one knows what "must be authorised" means... Authorised by who?! Where?
I know the case where a Nigerian guy applied to work for the Royal Mail. When they looked into his passport they did not know what "must be authorised" means so they have denied him a job and said "go find out what it means then come back. We are not taking any risks".
Also, visa does not state that you are only allowed to work 20 hours during term time. Unless you go into detail of immigration rules you would not know anything about that.
Plenty of students work more and know nothing that they are not meant to work that much. Also there is no way of checking how many hours you work (tax office does not know that) also the term time may vary from place to place.

[John]

Jeff, leaflet INF5 might prove useful :-

Guidance - Students (INF 5)

You will see that that Government-issued leaflet details the ability of a student to work.

Having said that, I looked on the www.workingintheUK.gov.uk website and failed to find any guidance for employers about the ability of student visa holders to work. Not helpful!

But have a look at :-

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/international-st ... ituk.shtml

Indeed ... print that page ... should help alleviate the fears of potential employers.