If someone has a student visa, can they sublet and not study and work self employed and have 2 Pt Tm jobs?

Question

The idea is they are renting a flat from an estate agent, and renting out a room of that flat for personal profit and do not pay tax on that.
They also do regular cash in hand work (which of course is tax free) and have two part time jobs.
Oh - and if they have dependents how are they affected?

Answer 1

No, on many levels. Each visa has certain requirements. A student visa requires being enrolled in a full course of study (minus holidays, breaks and between semesters). Most schools give you an optional summer break. Those are the only acceptable times to not be studying.

Not only should you be studying, but if you are working, it has to be approved by the SEVIS DSO. You have to get a work card, social security card, etc. It is supposed to be related to your studies, but that can be flexible. Even if you are studying real estate, there is no way you can work and not study.

All of this basically means that the person would be violating their visa status and be out of status. Same follows for any dependents.

Answer 2

What you describe is the commonplace abuse of our system by individuals that fraudulantly arrive in the UK under false pretences.

It's all illegal - they shouldn't be here and I hope they get returned to their own country. When the government says that immigrants are filling the gap doing jobs that others don't want - yes here's a perfect example - jobs which are all cash in hand and taking away from society rather than putting in.

And some wonder why we get fed up with it!! It wouldn't be normal not to feel resentful over individuals like this - they give the honest, hard working immigrants a bad name and in turn deteriorate the possibility of integration and of building healthily diverse communities.

Answer 3

No. That would be illegal. That person can be deported with their family.