Tier 4 visa working hour question - urgent please help

Hi there,

I'm an international student on tier 4 visa. My term ends today and holiday starts tomorrow.

I know that the working hour cap for term time is 20 hrs per week, and I can work full-time during my holidays. I've worked 16 hrs this week so far. And now I plan to work another 7 hrs tomorrow, which is the first day of my holiday.

I've asked advices from both my university student advice team and my employer.

My uni advise team didn't give me any definite answers. According to them, it can be said that I'm within my right by doing so because I didn't work over 20 hrs during my term time, and I'm entitled to work as much as I want during my holiday. But at the same time, it can also be said that a working week is calculated as from Monday to Sunday, and the majority part of this week is still my term time... and the government will have issues of me working 23 hrs altogether within this working week. In the end, they just said that if I really want to work, I "will have a strong argument but not 100% out of trouble".

My employer goes with the first argument the uni gave me, and is confident that I won't be in any trouble.

But still I'm not sure... I'm now doing my PhD and hope to continue working in the UK after graduation, so I really don't want anything that can affect my future in any sense. Do I really breach my visa conditions or not? I hope that I can get some advices from you guys. I really need to give my employer some answer this afternoon so it's very urgent...

ps. I know that I previously have an account, but this is urgent and I couldn't remember any info about my previous account... so hopefully moderators won't lock or question my post. Thanks.

ireallydontknow wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:28 pm

Do I really breach my visa conditions or not?

As your university appears to have advised, there is nothing specifically in the Immigration Rules or in any guidance for migrants or for employers about such a situation, where a working week is split across term-time and vacation.

An employer has a lot to lose by employing someone illegally, so I assume their HR has checked it already with whoever advises them about their own compliance. if they are clear that they are happy for you to work more than 20 hours this week, that seems fine.

If you are still concerned about it, why not just say you prefer to to stick to <20 hours across the whole week in question, and only work more than 20 hours from the following week.

Thanks Sah. So you reckon the decision is still mine to make? Well this is tricky... But thank you.

ireallydontknow wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:08 pm

So you reckon the decision is still mine to make? Well this is tricky...

Sort of. It is your decision in that as well as your employer checking that they are employing you legally within your visa's work conditions, but you also should be satisfied that you are working legally.

The employer's HR checks are normally good enough for most people, but if you feel your employer has not done it properly, or if you are in any doubt that you can do this work under your Tier 4 conditions, just hold off working more than 20 hours until your full working week falls in your vacation time.