Hi guys, I am an international students who hold a tier-4 visa: winter/spring scheme usually overlap with my university term dates: and my tier-4 visa only allows me to work 20 hours maximum a week. I would like to ask how did past people try to resolve this problem and legally work on a winter/spring vacation scheme? Or International students can only do summer vacation scheme. Please help me out with this, thank you for your time to read this.
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International Students right to work during the Winter/Spring vacation scheme
- Thread starter sarahhhh
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Jessica Booker
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I have only heard it happening a few times by either:
1) the students gets a letter of exemption from the university - however most universities seem to avoid this now for fear of being audited on this and risking losing their international sponsorship visa licence (this happened to London Met some time ago now
2) the scheme is shortened to 2.5 days a week to make sure it is under then 20 hour mark. But many firms won’t do this as the scheme is tough to run on such a short timescale.
3) the candidate is moved to a summer scheme or direct TC recruitment process instead.
Most instances I have heard about, unfortunately the candidate has not been able to proceed with their offer where they haven’t got the right to work during the scheme.
1) the students gets a letter of exemption from the university - however most universities seem to avoid this now for fear of being audited on this and risking losing their international sponsorship visa licence (this happened to London Met some time ago now
2) the scheme is shortened to 2.5 days a week to make sure it is under then 20 hour mark. But many firms won’t do this as the scheme is tough to run on such a short timescale.
3) the candidate is moved to a summer scheme or direct TC recruitment process instead.
Most instances I have heard about, unfortunately the candidate has not been able to proceed with their offer where they haven’t got the right to work during the scheme.
Thank you so much, I am in a London Uni and even our spring term date overlaps a lot with Spring VS.
Thank you! Your reply is so insightful, I do heard about past students argued with uni with the option (1), I will try to ask more solutions with people in year2&3, and make sure the right scheme I can apply in the upcoming application circle.
Hi Jessica, I am currently preparing for applications and I am an international student. In terms of option one, how do you suggest I raise this with my university?
Jessica Booker
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You will need to speak to someone in your faculty office. Be aware very few universities do this - as I mentioned they are worried they will be audited on their student visa licence.
Hi Jess, I would like to ask if that I secure an offer in winter and clash with my school dates, could I ask recruitment team to do adjustment for me, like delay to summer vs? Does that normally happen? Since the winter vs is ready to open application window, I really don't want to miss this opportunity to apply. Thank you so much.
Jessica Booker
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It is another option to move to a later vacation scheme or alternatively a direct TC process, but they don’t have to offer this and I have seen some firms just say you won’t be able to go ahead with the offer.
Other firms have also changed the scheme so it’s effectively split over two weeks (eg start on Wednesday/finish Tuesday) to limit the 20 hours per week issue or they have made the scheme shorter.
I wouldn’t rush into applying to winter schemes you definitely know you cannot attend. Instead I would speak to the firm first and see what they advise you should do. Or maybe that they direct you to apply to other opportunities or can tell you about the adjustments they can make first. This may help you focus your time effectively and not waste it on applications you cannot accept offers for.
Hi, I suggest contacting grad recruitment ahead of the application cycle. This was what I faced in the previous app cycle - the vast majority responded that applicants are expected to complete the VS for the entire duration, so I was not eligible. 1/2 firms responded that if my application was successful, they would consider restructuring the VS so that it complies with the visa restrictions.
That being said, if you intend to sit SQE1 in Jan 2025, doing a winter VS will be quite tricky. Based on my experience, teaching runs until the first week of Dec and then you sit the BPP Summative about a week later (so the second week of December). This leaves you about a month to revise before the actual SQE1. Similar thing for Spring and Summer. I don't want to put you off but bear in mind that the LLM is pretty intensive so all the best!
Hi, thanks for the reply! I had similar thoughts about the intensity of the schedule and was also concerned that the graduate visa might be restricted in the future (unlikely, but not willing to bet it). Ultimately, I'll be applying for the graduate visa and hope for the best.
Also checked with BPP and confirmed that they won't make an exception even for a successful vac scheme.
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