Overseas Students: Employment

Mr. Hayes
To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps his Department takes to check the employment status of foreign nationals in the United Kingdom to study.

Mr. Byrne
I have been asked to reply.

Foreign nationals with permission to study in the United Kingdom may work up to 20 hours per week during term time or full-time during vacations without the need to seek permission from their local Jobcentre Plus office or to obtain a work permit. It is the responsibility of an employer to establish that a foreign national is entitled to take employment in the UK. The Border and Immigration Agency has provided a helpline for employers to check the status of foreign nationals who seek to work in the United Kingdom.