You are allowed to do most types of work, but you must not work in any of the following whilst holding a Student Visa:

• Self-employed role, or any business activity,
• Professional Sportsperson role,
• Professional Entertainer role,
• Doctor or dentist training,
  

• A Permanent, full time job - This is any job that does not have an end date in its contract and is not "part-time".

Read UKCISA's blog for more information about the type of work you must not do on a Student Visa.

You can work up to 20 hours per week during term time.

Please check your visa to ensure it has the correct work conditions.

You can only work more than your term time limit outside of the published term dates.

Postgraduate Taught students are considered to be in term-time from the start date of the course to the end date of the course, as per their current CAS.

Therefore, you can only work 20 hours per week throughout your whole course.

You can start working full-time only after you have completed all your academic requirements.

University term dates do not apply to PhD / Postgraduate Research students.

You generally cannot work more than 20 hours per week until your PhD is awarded.

This will be from the official degree conferral date by Senate and not from the thesis submission date or viva date.

The only exceptions are:

• You can request a time-limited period of Authorised Absence for vacation and work purposes. This can be requested for short periods during your study, and for the period between your thesis submission and viva, via your student records online account.
• If you have passed first-time after your viva (no corrections required) or if you have handed in your corrections and they have been approved, you can request a letter to be released from the 20-hour limit early.

After your PhD is awarded, you can work full-time, for more information please go to working on a student visa after course completion.

You can work up to 10 hours per week during term time.

Please check your visa to ensure it has the correct work conditions.

You can only work more than your term time limit if you are an International Foundation Programme student and it is outside of the published term dates.

If you hold a Student visa, it may be possible to undertake a period of 'work placement', during which time you can work full-time.

This is only applicable if your academic department considers this to be an 'integral and assessed' part of your course (meaning you are enrolled on a module which is credit-bearing and the work placement forms part of the assessment), and the total duration of the work placement is no more than 50% of the duration of your degree course. The modules need to be credit-bearing.

The only exception is for courses where there is a statutory requirement for more than 50% of the work placement (this usually includes professional courses such as PGCE and MBChB).

There is no prohibition on receiving pay during the work placement.

Letter confirming 'right to work' full-time during your placement.

Your prospective work placement employer may ask for a letter showing that your work placement is part of your course. Your academic department should be able to provide this letter.

The letter should include details of the work placement, for example,

• The start and end date of the work placement
• What has been agreed that you will do during the work placement
• A confirmation that the work placement is an integral and assessed part of your course and therefore, you are permitted to work full time within the duration of your work placement.
• The percentage of work placement (if it is 1 out of a 4-year undergraduate then it will be 25%)
• How the work placement will be assessed (you will usually be registered on a credit-bearing module on your work placement year and your department will be able to confirm the name of the module and how you will be assessed)

It is not possible for a Student Visa holder to take part in Warwick's Voluntary Year Out Scheme and retain their Student Visa. You must have gained approval from your department and Student Records before taking a year out under this scheme. If your department grants the permission, your Student Visa sponsorship will end. This will be reported to the UKVI and they will curtail your visa. You will need to apply for a new Student Visa when you need to come back to the UK to resume your studies.

You will need to ensure you have the relevant visa to carry out your Voluntary year out.

If you are an Undergraduate (Bachelor's) student, and the following applies:

• You have sat all required classes
• You have sat all required exams
• You have submitted all work for the academic year
• You have secured a summer internship which starts within the last 3 weeks of Term 3

Then, you can request a letter from us confirming that you have completed and submitted all the work and exams for the current academic year.

This letter can then be used as evidence to your employer that you are permitted to start your internship before the end of the summer term.

Please be aware that the earliest you can start your internship is three weeks before the end of the summer term.

If you request a letter to start an internship any earlier than this, it will automatically be deleted.

Example:

If the summer term ends on Saturday 29 Jun 2023, you may start your Internship on either 08 June 2023 or whenever you have completed all requirements of the academic year - whichever date is later.

To request a letter from us:

1. You will need a confirmation from your employer about the dates of your internship (you will have to provide us with the internship offer letter)
2. A Letter/Email from your department confirming the date by which you will have finished all the requirements (sat all exams, presented all work) of the academic year.

Once you have the above confirmations, you will need to attach them in the request for a letter by filling out our form.

Are you a Postgraduate Taught (1-year Masters) student seeking to work full-time after submitting all your work at the end of your course?

Check our information on the Working After Studies page.

Check our information on the Working After Studies page.