Ask Emma | Question 1 | Winter 2024/25

We are a charity. We have received applications for voluntary work from international students. We are not sure whether student visa holders are allowed to undertake voluntary work.

To answer this question, we need to consider the important distinction between voluntary work and volunteering. 

Voluntary work looks and feels like work. It will usually have contractual obligations which require the voluntary worker to undertake certain tasks and to fit into the organisation, for example by attending a workplace at a given place and given time. A contract can be oral or inferred; it does not need to be written. 

A student visa holder can do voluntary work if their visa conditions permit work, but importantly, any voluntary work counts towards any limit they have on the hours they can work in the UK. For most student visa holders, they can work for up to 20 hours a week during term time. If a student can work for up to 20 hours a week and they undertake 15 hours of paid work, they can only do up to 5 hours of voluntary work in addition to their paid work. If they are not permitted to work, they cannot undertake any voluntary work.

Voluntary work is distinct from volunteering. Volunteers do not have a contract and can undertake activities for a charity, voluntary or public sector organisation as and when they choose. They must not be doing unpaid work and must not be a substitute for an employee. Student visa holders are permitted to be volunteers, but they must take care to ensure that they recognise when an activity is volunteering and when it becomes voluntary work. 

This is important because working for more than the permitted number of hours, in paid or unpaid (voluntary) work, as a student visa holder is a breach of visa conditions. A breach of conditions can result in the Home Office taking action against the visa holder. This action would usually include cancelling the visa which would then require the visa holder to secure new permission to stay in the UK or to return to their home country. 

It can also result in action being taken against the organisation providing the work, such as issuing a civil penalty for illegal work.