Part-time job CV for international students in the UK

Before you apply: check what your visa allows

A shop or café manager will ask two things before anything on your CV matters: can you legally work, and when. Answer both for yourself first. The Immigration Rules set the limits; your own permission says which limit applies to you.

1. Open your eVisa (or the endorsement in your passport) and find the work condition. The Home Office employer guide says it states whether you may work and the term-time hours, for example 10 or 20 a week. If it says no work, you cannot take a job.
2. Get your university's official term and vacation dates in writing. Employers must keep a copy of them for students with limited hours.
3. Add up every job you would do in one week, including unpaid voluntary work, which counts towards the limit.
4. Generate a right to work share code on GOV.UK when an employer asks; it starts with W and lasts 90 days.
5. Apply for a National Insurance number if you do not have one; it may already be on your eVisa.

How the Student visa work limits work

The conditions are in Appendix Student of the Immigration Rules, paragraph ST 26.1, read on 13 October 2026 (the page was updated on 8 October 2026).

What counts as a week

The Home Office employer guide treats a week as Monday to Sunday. UKCISA, the UK council for international student affairs, describes it as any seven-day period starting on a Monday and advises keeping a record of your hours, especially with irregular shifts or two employers. Neither source mentions averaging a long week against a short one, so treat each week on its own.

When term time ends

UKCISA defines term time as the period when your sponsor expects you to be studying; time before the course, after it and in official vacations is outside term time. The employer guide adds that full-time work can start the day after term ends, even on a Saturday, and asks students to confirm the end date with their sponsor and give it to the employer.

Work you cannot take

Under ST 26.5 a student may not be self-employed, work as a professional sportsperson or sports coach, work as an entertainer, or fill a permanent full-time vacancy. Self-employment rules out freelance or platform work where you would be engaged as self-employed, whatever the hours.

Volunteering and placements

The employer guide gives a worked example: a student allowed 20 hours who already works 15 paid hours can do no more than 5 hours of voluntary work. A work placement that is an assessed part of your course follows separate rules, covered in the placement year guide.

National Insurance number and right to work

The NI number

GOV.UK says you can apply if you live in the UK, have the right to work and are working, looking for work or have an offer. It can take up to 4 weeks to arrive, and you can only apply from inside the UK. You can start work before it arrives if you can prove your right to work. If you have an eVisa or a BRP, check first: the number may already be printed on the back of the BRP or shown in your UKVI account.

Keep it off the CV

GOV.UK lists your employer and HMRC among those who may need the number, and says not to share it with anyone who does not need it, to prevent identity fraud. A CV goes to people who do not need it yet. Give the number to the employer who hires you, not to everyone you apply to.

Proving your right to work

The employer checks your status online with a share code from the Home Office service, together with your date of birth. The code is nine characters, starts with W, and is valid for 90 calendar days. GOV.UK also says an employer cannot reject you for showing an eligible immigration document instead of a share code.

What a retail or hospitality CV has to show

The National Careers Service job profiles for sales assistants and waiters describe the work in similar terms: customer service, clear speaking and listening, staying calm under pressure, accuracy with money and orders, and using a till or handheld device. Both say the hours often include evenings, weekends and bank holidays on a rota. Your CV should prove those things with what you have done, in plain lines.

• Availability: the days and times you can work in term time, and the dates you can work full time in vacations.
• Customer contact: any job, internship or volunteering where you served, advised or handled complaints.
• Money and stock: cash handling, card payments, refunds, stock rotation, opening or closing duties.
• Pace: covers per shift, queues, peak hours, or anything that shows you kept up.
• Languages: a second language is a plain asset in a shop or restaurant with tourists or students.

Prospects says a student's CV for part-time work can be shorter than the usual two pages, and its example CV for someone with little experience fits on one, with no columns, icons or text in the header and footer. The sales assistant profile notes that selling alcohol and other restricted goods requires being over 18; that is checked when you are hired, so it is no reason to add a date of birth.

One-page part-time CV example

The person is invented: Emre, from Türkiye, starting a one-year master's at a university in Manchester, with café and retail experience from home. The availability line reflects a 20-hour term-time limit; write yours from your own eVisa and term dates.

No photo, date of birth, nationality or NI number. Those details reach the employer through the right to work check and your starter paperwork, not through the CV.

Sources and dates

Read on 13 October 2026. Rules on student work change; check the linked GOV.UK pages and your own eVisa before you accept shifts.

Who this page is not for

• Students whose eVisa says no work, or who study part time: the Rules allow no employment.
• Graduate route holders: that route has its own conditions; see the guide to the Graduate and Global Talent routes.
• Students looking for a placement year or internship tied to their degree: see the placement year guide.
• Anyone writing a full career CV for a graduate job: start from the UK CV format guide.

Where to look, and other ways to build the CV

• Your university's student job shop and careers service; Prospects says campus jobs in shops, bars and cafés run on shifts and are usually applied for by email with a CV and cover letter.
• Jobcentre Plus, Just Student Jobs and Totaljobs, which Prospects names, or handing your CV in at shops and cafés directly.
• Seasonal retail and hospitality work: Prospects suggests applying from early to mid November.
• CitedCV can write the CV in English with UK conventions from the facts you confirm, leaving out photo and date of birth. You still add the availability line from your own visa and term dates.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. GOV.UK: Immigration Rules, Appendix Student (ST 26 work conditions)www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-student
2. Home Office: Employer's guide to right to work checks (1 October 2026)www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide
3. UKCISA: Working during your studieswww.ukcisa.org.uk/student-advice/working/student-work/
4. GOV.UK: Student visa, what you cannot dowww.gov.uk/student-visa/what-you-cannot-do
5. GOV.UK: Apply for a National Insurance numberwww.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number
6. GOV.UK: Your National Insurance numberwww.gov.uk/national-insurance/your-national-insurance-number
7. GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rateswww.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
8. Prospects: Student jobs (August 2025)www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/work-experience-and-internships/student-jobs-at-university
9. Prospects: CV example for someone with no experience (December 2025)www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/example-cvs/school-leaver-cv-example
10. National Careers Service: Sales assistant job profilenationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/sales-assistant
11. National Careers Service: Waiter job profilenationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/waiter