Part-Time Student Visa (PhD) & Working

[lizacrossthepond]

With the UK now allowing visas for international students to study part-time, I applied for a PhD program in London, planning to continue with my current job (US-based) remotely. The part-time visa guidelines state that a student cannot work in the UK on this visa, which I thought would be fine, because my job is in the US. But I've since been told that the visa means you cannot work ANYWHERE while physically in the UK on the visa.

Is that right? How can that possibly be right? What is the point of a part-time graduate visa if it is not to go to school while you are still working?

Does anyone know:
1) if there are exceptions to this rule?
2) if there aren't exceptions, what my next best options for a visa are?
3) if I am forced to study remotely (which is okay with the program), will immigration even let me in without a visa the few times a year I need to visit for school?

[sah10406]

But I've since been told that the visa means you cannot work ANYWHERE while physically in the UK on the visa.

Is that right? How can that possibly be right?

Yes, it's right. The work prohibition means you cannot work while you are in the UK on this visa.

1) if there are exceptions to this rule?

No.

2) if there aren't exceptions, what my next best options for a visa are?
3) if I am forced to study remotely (which is okay with the program), will immigration even let me in without a visa the few times a year I need to visit for school?

This is probably your only option, unless you can come to the UK with a work or family visa. If you do need to occasionally go to the UK for study reasons, you can use a Student visa or a Standard Visitor visa which (from 1 December 2020) allows short-term study.