• November 5, 2022

Keralite students’ home raided by immigration officers and police for breach of ‘working more than 20 hours’ rule

Keralite students’ home raided by immigration officers and police for breach of ‘working more than 20 hours’ rule

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON Nov 5: Immigration officers and Police arrived with search warrants looking for three Keralite students in London last week  in their home in London, this website has learn’t.

The enforcement letter states, “Warrant to enter and search premises. This warrant is issued under Paragraph 17 (2), Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971. This warrant authorises the person or persons indentified beneath to enter the specified premises on 1st Nov. Premises authorised to be searched (address). The persons authorised to execute the warrant were Immigration officer from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team and Police”.

The officers arrived with search warrants last week in the early morning hours looking out for the students who are supposedly breached the immigration rules.

By the time the immigration officers arrived the student had already moved out of the house two weeks back and therefore the officers werent able to question them.

The search warrant doesnt specify the nature of the offence the students may have committed. However, this website has learn’t that the students havent caused any other breach of rules i.e. driving offence or any other. Therefore it is to be assumed that the breach was only that the students were working over the 20 hours.

Speaking to this website, Advocate Geo George said: “In my opinion the said raids are a clear indication that the Immigration Enforcement Department have realised the massive breach carried out by  international students. I think during the pandemic the enforcement departments were not in momentum and majority of students from our community were taking undue advantage of the situation. Now things are back to normal and we can expect that the Home Office will be seriously working on for tougher curbs on international students working 20 hours or more in future”.

According to UK immigration law, if you are studying full-time at degree level, during term-time you may not work more than 20 hours per week. If you work more than 20 hours in any one week you will be breaching your visa and this could prevent you from obtaining a new visa in the future or completing your studies.

The law states that “further to Part 9 of the Immigration Rules, a breach of conditions such as undertaking work which is not permitted within a visa category may lead to the curtailment of leave to remain. This would result in the academic having no leave to remain in the UK”.

Advocate Geo George says: “As per the immigration rules a Tier 4 General Student Visa allows an overseas student to work for 20 hours a week during term time and full time at other times. You must not work more than the number of hours per week you are allowed, as this would be a breach of your immigration conditions and a criminal offence. My recommendation to the students from our community is that if you have doubts regarding your right to work in the UK or something that you don’t understand or confused, always consult an immigration advisor. It is very important that you check your permission to work and the permitted hours before you do any work in the UK”.

“Working more than the permitted working hours is undoubtedly a breach of law. If any student breach the working conditions of his/her visa, even by accident, both the student and their employer could be subject to a substantial fine and prosecution. Therefore when it comes to the time of applying for graduate route or any other visa switching it will be seriously taken into consideration, Geo concluded.

Leave a Reply