student visa with work permit

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Considering a trip to Europe? Are you already there studying and want to stay longer? Touriago is here to help! Whether you need student visa information, a work permit or residence permit, we can help. Touriago was founded in 2014 in Paris and since then helped about 4 thousands people from all around the world

If you are planning to study abroad, find here the information about the visa requirements for study, internships and volunteer programs in Europe. A student visa with work permit means you can stay in a European country to work as well as to study.

One of the most common visa that people apply to travel, study, work and live in Spain is the student visa. Having decided that you want to study in Spain and become an international student you will need to choose which type of visa best suits your needs. It pays to do some research before applying for a Spanish student visa so that you are prepared when the time comes

Student visa with work permit

A student visa with work permit allows you to study in a country, as well as work part-time or full-time. Most countries require that you have a student visa with work permit before applying for a work permit. This means that you must first be accepted into a university abroad before applying for a student visa with work permit.

Once you receive your student visa and arrive in your chosen country, you can begin looking for jobs while continuing your studies. Once you find a job, you will need to apply for a work permit. Your employer will also need to apply for an employment license if they want to hire someone with a student visa who is not yet eligible for permanent residency (PR).

There are many benefits of having both a student visa and working permit, including the ability to save money and gain valuable skills from working part time or full time while studying. You will also be able to use your new skills after graduating from university by finding employment in the country where you studied or elsewhere around the world!

If you are a foreign student looking to work in the United States, you may be interested in applying for a student visa with work permit. This allows you to legally work in the U.S. while studying at a college or university.

It is important to note that there are strict rules regarding what type of job a foreign student can take while on this type of visa. In general, students can only be hired by an employer who has been approved by the Department of Homeland Security and has been granted an H-1B visa number by USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services).

If you would like to study as a full-time student in the United States, you will generally need a student visa. There are two nonimmigrant visa categories for persons wishing to study in the United States. These visas are commonly known as the F and M visas.

You may enter in the F-1 or M-1 visa category provided you meet the following criteria:

  • You must be enrolled in an “academic” educational program, a language-training program, or a vocational program
  • Your school must be approved by the Student and Exchange Visitors Program, Immigration & Customs Enforcement
  • You must be enrolled as a full-time student at the institution
  • You must be proficient in English or be enrolled in courses leading to English proficiency
  • You must have sufficient funds available for self-support during the entire proposed course of study
  • You must maintain a residence abroad which you have no intention of giving up.

F-1 Student Visa

The F-1 Visa (Academic Student) allows you to enter the United States as a full-time student at an accredited college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school, or other academic institution or in a language training program. You must be enrolled in a program or course of study that culminates in a degree, diploma, or certificate and your school must be authorized by the U.S. government to accept international students.

M-1 Student Visa

The M-1 visa (Vocational Student) category includes students in vocational or other nonacademic programs, other than language training.

Employment

F-1 students may not work off-campus during the first academic year, but may accept on-campus employment subject to certain conditions and restrictions. After the first academic year, F-1 students may engage in three types of off-campus employment:

F-1 students may also be eligible to work off-campus on a case-by-case basis as a result of special situations such as severe economic hardship or special student relief. M-1 students may engage in practical training only after they have completed their studies.

For both F-1 and M-1 students any off-campus training employment must be related to their area of study and must be authorized prior to starting any work by the Designated School Official (the person authorized to maintain the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)) and USCIS.

For more information on the Student and Exchange Visitors Program, see the Student & Exchange Visitor Program, Immigration & Customs Enforcement and the Study in the States Training Opportunities in the United States pages.

In general, only noncitizens who have permission from DHS to work can apply for a Social Security number.  Find additional information about  International Students and Social Security Numbers (PDF) on the Social Security Administration website. 

Special Instructions

If you are interested in changing to F or M Student Status, see the Changing to a Nonimmigrant F or M Student Status page.

Type of work

Students on a student visa can do most kinds of work, but you must not:

  • be self-employed;
  • engage in business activity;
  • filling a full-time permanent vacancy;
  • work as a professional sportsperson including as a sports coach, paid or unpaid, as defined by the Home Office on pages 94-95 of the Student route guidance;
  • work as an entertainer, paid or unpaid;
  • work as a doctor or dentist in training, unless you are on the foundation programme.

These restrictions apply throughout your time on a student visa. 

Self-employment

A student visa does not allow self-employment. This means in order to undertake work you should be given a formal document by the employer such as a ‘contract of employment’ or a ‘worker’s agreement’ or some other written statement confirming your employment status. This includes where you will be undertaking work for one or more of the Colleges, or for the University. Please note you may find that other students (who are not on a student visa) may not need to have the same documentation in place.

Self-employment normally includes activities such as freelance writing or publishing, private tutoring or selling goods or services directly to an end customer, for example as a consultant. If you are not on the employer or agency’s employee payroll, it is likely the work being offered is on a self-employed basis. If you are unsure, it is important you check your employment status prior to starting work.

Engaging in Business Activity

Your student visa does not permit you to engage in business activity. The Home Office defines this as working for a business in which you have a financial or other significant beneficial interest in a capacity other than as an employee. The Home Office provides some examples of the types of circumstances in which you would be considered to be engaging in business activity: setting up a business that is trading or has a trading presence; being employed by a company in which you hold shares of 10% or more; or working for a company where you hold a statutory role, such as a director. However, this is not an exhaustive list. If you are unsure whether this restriction would apply in particular circumstances, you should seek further guidance from the International Student Office prior to undertaking the activity.

Undertaking an internship / work placement

A student visa would only permit you to undertake an internship in the following circumstances:

Undergraduate students are able to undertake an internship during the official University vacation periods. The employer will need evidence of the academic calendar as confirmation of the vacation dates when you are permitted to work full-time. Acceptable evidence would be a printout of the academic calendar from the University’s website. Medical students undertake work placements as part of their course and the International Student Office provides details of these placements to the Home Office at the beginning of the relevant academic year.

Masters students are able to undertake an internship during the official vacation periods. These dates will vary depending on the course so you should consult your Faculty and Department for further details regarding the official vacation periods. A small number of Masters courses include the option of a short internship as part of the course. If this applies to your course it will be included in the course handbook. As an embedded part of the course, this is permitted on a student visa but the International Student Office will need to provide the internship details to the Home Office in advance so it is important that you keep your Faculty or Department informed of the details and any subsequent changes. 

Information for PhD students is outlined on our ‘PhD – Internships and visa considerations’ webpage. 

Volunteering

You can volunteer on your student visa but the Home Office makes a distinction between volunteering and voluntary work. Voluntary work is considered unpaid employment and is therefore restricted on a student visa, along with any other paid work, to 20 hours a week during term-time (note the University’s working restrictions are greater and information on defining term-time is outlined under ‘Working hours’ above). Even if the opportunity is advertised as ‘volunteering’, it could still be considered voluntary work.

The Home Office advises taking the following into consideration to help determine if it is voluntary work or volunteering:  

• Voluntary workers will usually have contractual obligations to perform the work (e.g. to attend at particular times and carry out specific tasks) with the employer being contractually required to provide the work – the contract does not have to be written. The worker is usually remunerated in kind. 

• Students who are volunteering do not have a contract, they must not be a substitute for an employee and they must not be doing unpaid work – i.e. receiving payment in kind (although they are sometimes reimbursed for reasonable travel and subsistence expenses). 

It is advisable to check with the organisation offering the volunteering opportunity whether it would be regarded as unpaid employment.

For PhD students – working after submission of thesis for examination

​After you submit your thesis for examination, the number of hours you can work on a student visa will depend on the stage of the process:

  • The period between submission of thesis for examination and official notification of viva outcome is considered to be ‘vacation’ and you can work full time.
  • The period between official notification of the viva outcome and unconditional approval of degree, which includes time working on corrections if applicable and submission of the hardbound thesis, is considered a return to full-time study. You can only work for up to 20 hours a week unless the viva outcome is ‘revise and resubmit’ in which case the University’s 10 hour working restriction applies.

The restrictions on the type of work you can undertake on a student visa, as outlined above, continue to apply. 

Working after studies

After your course has ended and whilst your visa remains valid, the Home Office allows you to work full-time. The restrictions on the type of work, as outlined above, continue to apply. 

For PhD students, the end of the course is official notification of unconditional approval of degree.

For Masters and undergraduate students, the end of the course is either receiving official notification of approval of your degree OR the course end date as stated on your CAS as long as you have completed all required assessment for your course by this date, whichever is earlier. For students studying on an MPhil by Research examined by thesis and oral, when you can work full-time depends on the stage of the examination process and you are advised to contact the International Student Office for further guidance.

Conclusion

If you think it’s impossible to be able to work in Canada while studying here at the same time, think again. But you won’t find it on forums, or even uploaded on sites like Youtube, and you won’t even hear about it from your university’s career center. There is a way to do it, if you know where to look.

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