Tier 4 visa - self employed outside of UK

[neveli]

Hello,

I recently realised that I broke one of the visa rules by being self-employed.
However, I always remained under the max hour work limitation per week.
Also, I was self-employed in the US (worked online), so everything went into my US bank account rather than my UK account. Furthermore, I never made enough money for it to be taxed in the UK.

So my question is, what will the consequences be for this? And how likely is it that the UK will find out about this?

Thanks.

[sah10406]

There is lots of information about this on this recent blog by UKCISA, the UK Council for International Student Affairs, including the possible consequences of working illegally:

https://www.ukcisa.org.uk/blog/6257/A-w ... definition

The breach of your work conditions can come to the Home Office's attention in various ways, some more likely than others, for example:

* when you make a further immigration application in the UK. All applications ask you if you have worked illegally, and the consequences of lying about that are much more grave than the consequences of a minor breach of conditions.

* your Tier 4 sponsor becomes aware of the breach. They are obliged to report breaches of conditions to the Home Office.

* you are questions about it on re-entry to the UK, or just because you have the bad luck yo be randomly stopped or caught up in an immigration raid.

Separately, you would also have a problem for failing to register as self-employed and failing to declare the income (regardless of how much), but that is not an immigration matter.