Unpaid Part-Time Internship/Would like to Work (Tier 5 maybe?)/French 1 yr visa

Hi all,
   I'm in a bit of a difficult situation. I've been offered an internship in London for 3 months, but it's only 4 days a week. I'm not sure if I need a tier 5 visa (voluntary work) since it's so short, but I am getting compensated for travel/lunch expenses. I'd also like to work part time for the other three days, legally. Do I need a tier 5 visa with my internship company as my sponsor, and will that allow me to work part-time at a shop?

A twist to this story is that I've been in Europe on a gap year. I thought I'd be spending most of my time in France, so I have a French long-stay visitor's visa (visa D), it's defined as
The "visitor" visa (or visa "D") allows you to enter France and stay for more than three months.

You need a long stay "visitor" visa if :

    you have suffficient income to stay in France without working (retired, sabbatical year…)

    you want to open a business in France and work as a self-employed

 I was told that I counted as a French resident for a year (I paid 340 euros of taxes and have the equivalent of a resident card in my passport), I have Schengen permission and the usual US Citizen 6 months in the UK. I had to register in France at the Office of Immigration and Integration, its website defines me as follows:
  visitors (foreigners who are not actively employed or foreigners engaged in a professional activity not subject to professional authorization, such as translators, architects, solicitors, etc.) with sufficient means of support who agree not to engage in any professional activity requiring authorization.

in summary
1) as a US citizen can I have an expenses-covered (unpaid otherwise) internship without a tier 5 visa if it's only for 3 months?
2) anyone know anything about the French long stay visa D and whether that give me EU residency for the year, and how i would go about explaining this to prospective employers?

You cannot work - paid or unpaid - on a visitor's visa.  So you must have some sort of visa to be able to take your internship. And you definitely could not work part-time at a shop on a visitor's visa.  As you can read on UKBA's site, you can apply for a Tier 5 visa with a licensed sponsor, but you cannot take a second job.

To be able to apply for a visa under most Tier 5 categories, you must have a job offer from a licensed sponsor, and you must pass a points-based assessment.

You can do extra work (supplementary work) to the job that you have a certificate of sponsorship for if:

    it is in the same sector at the same level as the job that your certificate of sponsorship is for;
    the work is no more than 20 hours a week;
    the work is outside the working hours that the certificate of sponsorship is for.

You do not need to tell us about any extra jobs you take, and can do voluntary work in any sector.

You must not be paid or receive other money for the voluntary work, except reasonable expenses as in section 44 of the National Minimum Wage Act. See the OPSI website on the right of this page for more information about the National Minimum Wage Act.

You cannot take a second job.

Your French visa, whatever it is, would have no impact on your permission to work in the UK.  You would only be able to use EU rules if you were an EU citizen. 

Geeta has covered the Tier 5 rules, however the volunteer category seems to be only for a charity.  If your sponsor is not one, then you wouldn't be eligible for the visa.  Here's the page with the Tier 5 categories:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/working/tier5/

If you were a student in the US, you could apply for the BUNAC program to do an internship for up to 6 months in the UK. It can be paid or unpaid. However, you can't work any other job outside your internship for the duration. You also need to be a recent student or graduate to qualify, which it sounds like you aren't. It might be an option for the future, though, if you intend to return to the US to study.

Your other option is scouring your family history for any possibility of EU citizenship by descent and getting an EU passport that would allow you to work with no visa in the UK.

Thanks for the help, but I'm still a bit confused.....

1) Geeta the quote you copied has this line,
 "You do not need to tell us about any extra jobs you take, and can do voluntary work in any sector. " the same sector/same level thing is a bit confusing, could you please clarify if you know more about this?
2) My sponsor is a registered non-profit, but I don't understand why I need a visa for 3 months for an unpaid internship--does this affect the non-profit's tax-exempt status or something? If US citizens can visit the UK for up to six months.... why is a separate visa necessary?
3) If I do actually have to get this tier 5 visa, can I do it once I arrive in the UK? I'm currently in Germany, how long would the process take? My internship starts on Feb 27, is this possible, or realistically should I tell my employers it takes a month? This all seems terribly complicated for a harmless 3 month internship....
4) Thanks for the tip about the BUNAC program, I'll definitely look into it. I just graduated from high school in June 2011 and deferred to a university (starting Sept 2012 instead of Sept 2011) so maybe I can whip something up.

Thanks!

2) My sponsor is a registered non-profit, but I don't understand why I need a visa for 3 months for an unpaid internship--does this affect the non-profit's tax-exempt status or something? If US citizens can visit the UK for up to six months.... why is a separate visa necessary?

Because visiting means just that -- visiting. It is not legal to do any paid or unpaid work on a visitor visa. Your non-profit would find themselves in a great deal of legal trouble by employing you without the proper visa.

1) Geeta the quote you copied has this line,
 "You do not need to tell us about any extra jobs you take, and can do voluntary work in any sector. " the same sector/same level thing is a bit confusing, could you please clarify if you know more about this?

If I'm reading it correctly, I think you can do another job that is related to your Tier 5 job (i.e. you could do some work for another part of the same company maybe), but you can't take a second unrelated job.

For example, you couldn't do your internship and also work a few hours a week in a bar or a shop... any other paid work you do must be directly related to the Tier 5 job. However, you can volunteer unpaid in any area.

2) My sponsor is a registered non-profit, but I don't understand why I need a visa for 3 months for an unpaid internship--does this affect the non-profit's tax-exempt status or something? If US citizens can visit the UK for up to six months.... why is a separate visa necessary?

You need a visa because it is illegal to volunteer on a visitor visa. All work, whether paid employment or unpaid internship/volunteering requires a visa that gives you permission to work (a Tier 5 visa in your case), otherwise you will be breaking the law.

3) If I do actually have to get this tier 5 visa, can I do it once I arrive in the UK? I'm currently in Germany, how long would the process take? My internship starts on Feb 27, is this possible, or realistically should I tell my employers it takes a month? This all seems terribly complicated for a harmless 3 month internship....

You have to apply from your country of normal residence, so if you are considered resident in France, you should be able to apply from France, but if you are not considered resident there, then you will have to return to the US to apply.

First your employer needs to secure a Tier 5 Certificate of Sponsorship for you. Then when you have received it in the mail and you have gathered together all the required documents, you can apply for the visa.

Current processing times for Tier 5 visas in Paris are: 63% processed in 5 working days, 80% in 10 days, 90% processed in 15 days and 100% processed in 60 days (processing time starts after you have applied online, attended a visa appointment in person in Paris and submitted all your documents in Paris).

Current processing times for Tier 5 visas in the US are: 85% in 2 working days, 90% in 3 days, 94% in 5 days, 99% in 10 days and 100% in 15 days (the processing time begins after you have applied online, attended a biometrics appointment at a local USCIS center and mailed in all your documents to the British consulate in NYC).

4) Thanks for the tip about the BUNAC program, I'll definitely look into it. I just graduated from high school in June 2011 and deferred to a university (starting Sept 2012 instead of Sept 2011) so maybe I can whip something up.

More info on the BUNAC Intern in Britain program is here: http://www.bunac.org/usa/interninbritain/

I don't think you'll be able to get this done by February 28. I think the thing you're missing is that unpaid work and/or volunteering violates the terms of a visitor visa. You may not do either without obtaining the relevant visa.

3) If I do actually have to get this tier 5 visa, can I do it once I arrive in the UK? I'm currently in Germany, how long would the process take? My internship starts on Feb 27, is this possible, or realistically should I tell my employers it takes a month? This all seems terribly complicated for a harmless 3 month internship....

A paid/unpaid/volunteer internship of 3 years or 3 months or 3 minutes or even 3 seconds requires both a Certificate and an entry clearance.  If somebody made you an offer without the capacity to issue a Certificate, they could face criminal prosecution and a fine of GBP 10k per instance.  Plus they go on the name and shame register and will NEVER get on the sponsor register.  If that's not believable, just print out this thread and send it to your employer.  

I hope you're glad you checked this out at UKY beforehand.  I'm aware that in your mind, it's a harmless thing, but illegal workers are part of the toxic cocktail that has the British public so upset.  

But to answer your question, since you're eligible to apply through the consulate in Paris, your T5 should take about a day once they see your CoS.

I'm really surprised nobody in the thread has mentioned the CoS so far.  

I mentioned it :

First your employer needs to secure a Tier 5 Certificate of Sponsorship for you.

Hat's off to you!  My post has been amended.   

Thanks ksand24, geeta and Transpondia! I now understand the absolute necessity of getting a tier 5 visa. The part time work bit is still a bit unclear the same sector section, so I'll just assume I can't do any outside work.

This is not really a US citizen-only question anymore.... but there's no way I'm going back to the US before the internship, if my visitor's visa is a French one, do I have to do it in France, or can I do it in any Schengen country (ie Germany, where I am currently, b/c I'm only 1.5 hours away from Munich?)?

also I checked out the BUNAC program, it seems like just a way to get the CoS through them versus the employer, plus an extra support system for the price of $750? Has anyone used it and found it useful? If it's extra paperwork/cost then I'd rather just talk to my employer and have her issue the CoS.

also I checked out the BUNAC program, it seems like just a way to get the CoS through them versus the employer, plus an extra support system for the price of $750? Has anyone used it and found it useful? If it's extra paperwork/cost then I'd rather just talk to my employer and have her issue the CoS.

Is your employer a registered sponsor for T5? If they're not, they can't issue a CoS.

You must get your visa issued where you are resident, which for you sounds like France.

if my visitor's visa is a French one, do I have to do it in France, or can I do it in any Schengen country (ie Germany, where I am currently, b/c I'm only 1.5 hours away from Munich?)?

It doesn't matter.  Everything goes through Paris anyway.  Based upon what you wrote, you qualify as being normally resident in France, and thus able to use the British consulate there and NOT have to submit an application stateside.

The part I don't get (which is completely parenthetical and unrelated to your T5 issues) is how can you be normally resident in France and yet be 1.5 hours from Munich?