Working during and after completing your studies
Working during your studies
If you are a sponsored international student with a Student visa, you are permitted to work in the UK during the university-s term-time periods and full-time during the university-s vacation periods.
Your term-time and vacation period as well as the number of hours you are allowed to work is based on the course you are studying.
Key academic dates
Key term-time and vacation dates can be found here.
Hours permitted
If you are studying a sub-degree level (pre-sessional or Foundation) course, you can work a maximum of 10 hours per week during term-time and full-time during vacation periods only.
If you are studying a degree-level and above course, you can work a maximum of 20 hours per week during term-time and full-time (in line with UK employment law) during holiday periods.
Please note that you are not allowed to do the following under your Student visa;
be self-employed (or engaging in business activity). To find out more about self-employment, please visit the GOV.UK webpage on Employment status;
claim public funds (benefits) and pensions;
work as a professional sportsperson (including as a sports coach);
study at an academy or a local authority-funded school (also known as a maintained school);
work as an entertainer; or
work in a position which would fill a permanent full-time vacancy
It is important that you are clear about your employment status before commencing work. If you are unsure whether a proposed job would be counted as self-employment you should discuss with your prospective employer and ask for confirmation of the employment status in writing.
Verification of your right to work in the UK
If you find a job in the UK during your studies, your employer is responsible for verifying your right to work by conducting a right to work check. Your employer would need your term and vacation dates to determine when you can work part time or full time.
You can download a work entitlement letter from your E:vision account by clicking on -Confirmation of work entitlement-. You will be required to confirm your personal and course details before the letter can be emailed to your university email.
Once the letter has been emailed to you, you can provide it to your employer for them to fulfil their right to work check obligations.
If there are any issues with submitting a request from your E:vision account, or for any queries regarding the work entitlement letter, please submit a case through the Student Hub online portal and ask for further assistance.
Please note: It is very important that you do not work more hours than your visa allows during term-time. Working extra hours can have serious consequences and adversely affect your immigration status in the UK.
Working after completing your studies
As a Student visa holder, you can work full-time after you complete your studies at the university. Your completion date is defined as the completion date of your course as stated on your CAS statement.
If you are resitting any assessment(s) or module(s), your completion date(s) would be after the submission of your assessment(s) or completion of your module(s). You will be sent a progression statement which confirms your resit(s). The progression statement will direct you to your Moodle account where your submission date(s) will be confirmed
If you have added a placement year to your course after you commenced your studies with us, you will receive a "Transfer Application" email which confirms your change of programme as well as your new expected course end date
You can work full-time up until your Student visa expires and you return to your home country. You must make sure however, that you do not overstay your visa and you leave the UK on or before your current visa expires.
If you wish to remain in the UK beyond the expiry date of your Student visa to work, you can apply for either a Graduate visa or a Skilled worker visa, if you meet the eligibility requirements of these visas.
The Graduate visa
The Graduate visa gives you permission to stay in the UK for at least 2 years after successfully completing an undergraduate or postgraduate degree course in the UK. Successful completion means that you must complete your course and obtain the full award.
At York St John University (YSJU), your results must be ratified by the School Assessment Board before you can be issued with the full award. Once the full award is issued, the Visa and Compliance team will notify the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) that you have successfully completed your course. You will be informed by the team by email as soon as the UKVI is notified, for you to make your Graduate visa application.
Receiving your final results
Your course results will be ratified by the university’s School Assessment Board. After your results have been ratified, your final results will be released and you will receive a notification from the Assessment team via your university email about your final results.
Reporting the successful completion of your course to the UKVI
After your results have been ratified by the university’s School Assessment Board and there is no outstanding balance of tuition fees on your account, the Visa and Compliance team will notify the UKVI that you have successfully completed your course and that you meet the eligibility requirements for the Graduate visa. You will also receive an email from the Visa and Compliance team confirming that the UKVI has been notified.
Clearance of any outstanding tuition fees
You must ensure you have cleared any outstanding tuition fees with the university. If you have any outstanding tuition fees, the Visa and Compliance team will not notify the UKVI about your successful course completion. This means you will be unable to apply for the Graduate visa.
If you clear your debt before your visa expires, please email the Visa and Compliance team at visa@yorksj.ac.uk to inform them. The team will then notify the UKVI about the successful completion of your course and send a confirmation to you by email. This must be done before your current Student visa expires.
If you have any questions about any outstanding course fees, please contact our Finance team at creditcontrol@yorksj.ac.uk to assist you further.
Making a Graduate visa application
Please ensure that you only submit your visa application after you have received an email from the Visa and Compliance team confirming that they have notified the UKVI about the successful completion of your course.
After you have received this email, you can then submit your Graduate visa application with the UKVI. You must submit your Graduate visa application whilst you are in the UK and before your current Student visa expires. If approved, you will be given permission to stay in the UK for at least 2 years.
Please note that anyone who applies for a Graduate visa on or after 1 January 2027, will get permission to stay in the UK for 18 months under the Graduate route. For further details about this immigration route please visit the UKVI’s Graduate Visa web page.
The Skilled worker visa
You can apply for the Skilled worker visa after you complete your studies and obtain a job offer and visa sponsorship from a UK licenced sponsor. You will receive a letter confirming your course completion from our Registry team, once you complete your course. You will need this letter in support of your visa application.
Although you are not required to pass your course to make this visa application, you will still need to meet the job offer requirements, which may require you to have successfully completed your course. Your prospective employer would be able to advise you accordingly about the job and visa application criteria.
More information about the Skilled worker visa can be found on the UKVI-s Skilled Worker visa webpage.
You can also visit the UKCISA website for further useful information about working in the UK after your studies.