The University values the special contribution our students bring when undertaking work for us. Our international students bring diverse global perspectives to our University. However, there are restrictions on how much work students can undertake when they hold a student visa. This guidance is designed to protect the University and our students from breaching UK immigration law. Managers / supervisors of workers and staff on student visas play a critical role in minimising the risk of visa breaches. It is therefore strongly advised that you read and understand the information provided

Student visa holders are only permitted to work a specific number of hours a week, from Monday to Sunday.This restriction includes paid and unpaid work as well as training.

Working over their permitted hours, even if for only a fraction of an hour in one week, counts as illegal working.

Student responsibilities

It is each student's responsibility to monitor the hours they are working each week and to ensure that they are not in breach of the terms of their visa.

If a sponsored student fails to comply with the terms and conditions of their visa it is a criminal offence and could result in their visa being withdrawn and them having to leave the UK. The Student Visa page offers more information.

Manager/Supervisor responsibilities

Engaging a student to work in excess of the hours permitted under their visa constitutes illegal working.The potential consequences for the University are serious. A breach could result in a civil penalty to the University of up to £20000 per worker or criminal proceedings. A civil penalty is also likely to impact the University's sponsorship licence, which could affect our ability to sponsor or continue to sponsor our employees.

Because many of our students work for multiple departments and other employers, you may not know how many hours they are available to work. When employing colleagues on a student visa it is essential that you take the following steps to protect both our students and the University:

In all cases a Right to Work check is essential and must have been completed by the individual before any work is agreed.

Casual Engagements

The casual worker system (Dashboard) restricts the number of hours student visa holders are available to work so that student visa holders cannot be booked in excess of their allowed hours across multiple departments.

• All paid and unpaid work must be booked in advance via Dashboard.
• Dashboard will check how many other hours the worker has committed to that week.
• You must not allow the person to work if they are not available to be booked via Dashboard.

Dashboard training is available, please see the Learning Management System for further details. In the event of any queries please contact hr-compliance@york.ac.uk

Salaried appointments

Where a student is paid a salary, on a fixed term or open contract of employment, you must take care to ensure that they do not inadvertently work in excess of their permitted hours. To do this:

• Discuss other work commitments before making any offer of work.
• Ensure all their planned work can be completed within the restrictions of their visa.
• Ensure that they don't work any additional hours without checking they are permitted to do so.
• Ensure that any additional casual work is processed correctly through Dashboard in advance. If the worker cannot be booked for work, do not allow them to work.
• Submit any GTA overtime requests prior to the work taking place to hr-compliance@york.ac.uk so that the worker's hours can be checked to ensure the overtime hours would not breach the terms of their visa.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with hr-compliance@york.ac.uk