Defining "term time" (working on student visa, mainly for postgrads)

If you work 21 hours a week then there is a risk that you will be removed if caught, as you are in breach of your visa. 

You need to show on application that you can afford your studies.  However, when you come to extend your visa, if you have a part time job then you can ask for the earnings from this to be taken into account when the application is made.  You are not in breach of your visa if you have a guaranteed income from a job which is legal and you rely on this job to support your stay.

Vicky

Just to throw a wrench into the works:

Here's a (not quite hypothetical) situation.  An international student is enrolled on a Postgraduate Diploma course that starts in September and finishes in May. He/She has a student visa valid until 31 October.  All lectures and assignments finish on 21 May.  The exam board for the course meets on 12 June, at which point results are certified and the student has earned the Postgraduate Diploma.  The official university end of term (following the undergraduate schedule) is 29 June. (Graduation day, when the student actually receives the piece of paper with "Postgraduate Diploma" on it, is in July.)

In this situation, when would "term time" be considered to have ended (and thus, when this student would be allowed to work full time)?  After all the work is handed in and it's just a wait for results? After the results are in? Or after the official end of the university's academic year?

I think that it would have finished 21st May, and I think the UKOSA guidance would back this up.

Vicky

However, when you come to extend your visa, if you have a part time job then you can ask for the earnings from this to be taken into account when the application is made.  You are not in breach of your visa if you have a guaranteed income from a job which is legal and you rely on this job to support your stay.

Not sure where you got this information, but it is incorrect, and could lead to a refusal.  There are only two types of personal UK earnings that can ever be taken into account (whether for a student visa or an extension):

(1) earnings from employment provided and underwritten by the university or college, and the institution must provide evidence of how much the student will earn

(2) earnings from a placement on a sandwich course.

Wise words, but unfortunately there really isn't any recognition by UK Immigration authorities that someone needs supplementary income just to live.  On the contrary, students must always be able to pay their fees and living costs without needing to work.  You need to think of the income from working as paying for the extras, luxuries, etc.  If you cannot get by without working, you are in breach of the conditions of your visa.

This argument can also be used for British students as well. A friend of mine on my course applied for a 'Hardship Fund' from the university, as she was living off a budget of £8 a week (she is a hall tutor in one of the residence halls and gets a 60% discount on rent and food, but still only has £8 left over per week). However, the university refused to give her the grant because she 'doesn't have enough money to qualify'. They had to refuse was because she couldn't afford to pay her tuition fees for the rest of the course, so they weren't allowed to give her any money to help out!! She is now considering changing to part-time so that she can afford to finish the course.

Just to confirm, a Hardship Fund (now called Access to Learning Fund) grant is government money specifically earmarked to help with living costs.   It is not meant to help with tuition fees, there are loans for that.  If your friend is not entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan, they need to look at a Career Development Loan to help pay their fees, not the Hardship Fund. 

If you think about it, it is hardly surprising that a university will only consider for grants those students who are fully enrolled.

Just to confirm, a Hardship Fund (now called Access to Learning Fund) grant is government money specifically earmarked to help with living costs.   It is not meant to help with tuition fees, there are loans for that.  If your friend is not entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan, they need to look at a Career Development Loan to help pay their fees, not the Hardship Fund. 

Oh, I know that - she's not actually going to be getting any more money from anywhere as far as I know (I think her research is being partly funded by the Duchy of Cornwall anyway), but we just found the whole thing kind of stupid - the fact that she applied for government help because she didn't have enough money, but she then couldn't qualify for the grant because she didn't have enough money! If she had enough to qualify, she wouldn't have needed to apply for a grant in the first place - it's like a catch-22 situation !!

Not sure where you got this information, but it is incorrect, and could lead to a refusal.  There are only two types of personal UK earnings that can ever be taken into account (whether for a student visa or an extension):

(1) earnings from employment provided and underwritten by the university or college, and the institution must provide evidence of how much the student will earn

(2) earnings from a placement on a sandwich course.

That is the interpretation which the Home Office like to use; however, it is contrary to the rules and I have had student extension refusals overturned by arguing that earnings from guaranteed employment should be taken into account.

Vicky

That is the interpretation which the Home Office like to use; however, it is contrary to the rules and I have had student extension refusals overturned by arguing that earnings from guaranteed employment should be taken into account.

Vicky

True, but by definition, guaranteed employment means employment that is provided, underwritten and guaranteed by the institution, like a Teaching Assistantship for example.

The last application of this nature I made, the applicant had tried to extend her student visa but the Home Office had refused to accept the application (she went on the same day service) on the grounds of funds.  She has a 12 month contract for a part time job with Transport for London, working fewer than 20 hours per week, more during vacations, and she has been in the job for six months already.  I made her fresh application, insisting that they must take her job and (extremely good) salary into account when assessing her application, and they did, and the application was approved.  The instutution were never involved.

Although I see where you are coming from, this is one of those occasions where the Home Office like to pretend that their interpretation of a law is the one which holds firm, wheras actually judges have overruled them in the past and it is the judges decision which is paramount. Section 3.17.14 of the IDI suggests that such earnings will not be taken into account, but reading it carefully it does not say that they will not be - it only rules out taking into account potential earnings for those applying for leave to enter.

Having said that, if an applicant were without any funds from elsewhere, I would certainly be reluctant to rely on the Home Office using their discretion in this way, so it is a good idea to continue to recommend they have funding from elsewhere.


Vicky

Intriguing.

That's the Home Office all over.  They don't want people to know the full story, and few applicants actually read the IDI's.  I thought as you did until I made this application - I certainly wasn't sure of success at the time!!!


Vicky

An applicaton outside the rules is always a risk, but as long as someone is prepared for possible refusal, why not try.

Along these same lines...what's considered a week?? Is it Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat?? I have two part time jobs and this will make a difference with scheduling.

Thanks!

There is no definition, so you have to assume it is any 7-day period.  The spirit of the 20-hour a week restricition is that a student has come to the UK to study full-time, not work, and so you need to apply that 20-hour guideline to any definition of work (voluntary work, part-time work for an employer, etc.)