Supplementary employment and studying

Skilled Worker visa holders are sponsored to work in a specific role but can also undertake ‘supplementary employment’ with the same or a different employer alongside their main role, as long as they are still working in their main sponsored role and the supplementary work is:

  • a type of work which could be sponsored under the Skilled Worker rules at the relevant skill level depending - see below - (the salary thresholds do not apply to additional work, it is just about the type of work)
  • outside their normal working hours and does not interfere with their main role (it is not therefore possible to change or reduce a role to facilitate supplementary employment)
  • no more than 20 hours per week

As part of a right to work check before any supplementary work starts, the visa holder will need to discuss and check with the employer offering the work in question that it is a type of work which could be sponsorable to ensure they are permitted to undertake the work.

4 April 2024  and 22 July 2025 changes to supplementary employment for Skilled Worker visa holders

Originally supplementary employment had to be in the same type of work, under the same job code, as a Skilled Worker visa holder's main role.

The 4 April 2024 rules changes expanded this to permit any work which could be sponsored under a Skilled Worker visa as supplementary employment.

The 22 July 2025 rules changes split Skilled Worker job codes into skilled RQF 6 and lower skilled RQF 3 - 5 (mostly support roles) and resulted in different rules on supplementary employment for those sponsored before and after this date:

  • Those who have continuously held Skilled Worker visas since before the 22 July 2025 changes can continue to undertake supplementary employment in roles which fall under any (RQF 6 and RQF 3 – 5) sponsorable Skilled Worker job codes;
  • New Skilled Worker visa holders, whose visas were issued from 22 July 2025 onwards, can only undertake supplementary employment in roles which fall under RQF 6 job codes, or the same job code as their main role. They can only therefore undertake RQF 3 – 5 roles as supplementary employment if this is under the same job code as their main role.
 

What the 22 July 2025 changes mean in practice

Where you are offering supplementary employment when carrying out a right to work check on a Skilled Worker visa holder you will need to ask for and check:

  • copies of all the Tier 2/ Skilled Worker visas they have held – so you know if they have been under the Skilled Worker visa route since 22 July 2025 or before;
  • a copy of the CoS details for their current Skilled Worker visa – so you know what job code their main role falls under;
  • details of any other supplementary employment they are undertaking – so you can ensure the work you are offering (on top of any other work they are already undertaking) will not exceed the 20 hours per week limit.

SIT can help with queries on supplementary employment, but these changes basically mean that Skilled Worker visa holders cannot undertake lower level support roles, unless this is the same as their main role or they have held Skilled Worker visas since before the 22 July 2025 changes.

 

PLEASE NOTE: the Tier 5 supplementary employment rules have never changed, so Tier 5 visa holders are only permitted to undertake research (the same activity their visa was issued for) plus some teaching if the activities listed on their Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) included giving talks/ lectures on their research.

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Before the 4 April 2024 rules change Skilled Worker visa holders were only permitted to undertake supplementary employment which was the same type of work as their main role.

As there are different job codes for research and university teaching this meant that a Skilled Worker visa holder in a research role was only permitted to undertake teaching activities (giving lectures, tutorials, examining, or invigilating, for example) if their role also included teaching within the collegiate University. A Skilled Worker visa holder in a research only role who wished to undertake teaching had to ask their employing department/ faculty/ college to submit a request to SIT to report the new teaching duties before any teaching commenced.

Now that Skilled Worker visa holders can undertake supplementary employment in any type of work which could be sponsored under a Skilled Worker visa there is no longer any need to report teaching as an additional duty.

The 22 July 2025 Skilled Worker changes do not affect teaching as this falls under an RQF 6 skilled job code so any Skilled Worker visa holder should be able to undertake teaching as supplementary employment as long as the other normal rules (no more than 20 hours per week, and does not interfere with their main role - as discussed above) are met.

Skilled Worker visa holders are permitted to undertake voluntary activities (such as helping with a charity, or singing in a choir, for example) but this is not the same as unpaid work.

Activities would only be considered to be volunteering if:

  • The individual is not fulfilling a role normally undertaken by staff
  • There is no obligation on the individual to attend at particular times or have set hours, and
  • There is no payment, only reimbursement for reasonable travel and meals expenses actually incurred.

If there are defined hours, extensive training, required attendance, and someone else would have to be found to cover the activities if an individual did not turn up, this is unpaid work, not volunteering.

 

Activities, other than volunteering, which do not meet the supplementary employment requirements are not permitted, whether paid or unpaid.

In addition to considering the 'supplementary employment' requirements, Skilled Worker visa holders will also need to discuss with their employing department/ faculty/ college other issues around undertaking work outside their main role including:

University policy on additional (dual) appointments

While a Skilled Worker visa permits supplementary employment of up to 20 hours per week in addition to the visa holder's main role even if this is a full time role, University policy does not permit employment within the University for more than 1 FTE.

If a Skilled Worker's main role is full time this cannot be changed or reduced to accomodate other work they want to undertake as supplementary employment - as this must not interfere with, and must be outside the hours of their, main role. Additional work within the University will only be possible if the Skilled Worker visa holder's main role is part-time, or if an exception can be made to the University policy against working more than 1 FTE within the University.

 

Skilled Worker visa holders are permitted to undertake a course of study in the UK without prior approval from the Home Office; however, those undertaking studies in science, engineering, and technology subjects must check whether the course subject will mean they are required to first obtain an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) clearance certificate.

Further information can be found in relation to ATAS and applying for clearance in the University's student visa guidance.

Contact us


Medical Sciences / Humanities / GLAM / UAS / Continuing Education

Angelina Escott, Email: angelina.escott@admin.ox.ac.uk 

Paul Deeble, Email: paul.deeble@admin.ox.ac.uk

 

MPLS / Social Sciences / Colleges

Lyn Davis, Email: lyn.davis@admin.ox.ac.uk

Richard Birt, Email: richard.birt@admin.ox.ac.uk

 

 

 

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