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I have my doubts whether or not this is true.Firstly, correct me if I am wrong but the 20 hour rule only applies during term time so during holidays there is no limit
According to section 57 of the immigration rules a student should be able to meet the costs of his course and accommodation and the maintenance of himself and anydependants
without taking employment or engaging in business or having recourse to public funds.
Hence, students are allowed to work not more than 20 hours because it is assumed that they /their sponsor had fulfilled the requirement that they would be able to meet the cost of their course without working. Where a student works for more than 20 hours it would be assumed that he did so to meet the cost of the course and is a breach of immigration rules.
Also the information provided by your NI will not say how many hours one has worked. It will only say how much tax and nat. insurance has been paid
That would qualify as one of the understatements of the year. Never underestimate HM Revenue and Customs. If you have ever prepared Payroll returns for a company you would see a long self-check calculator in the Tax Returns form that assess how much Tax and NI is due,conversely this also calculates the average hours worked. It is very very simple, and is the bread and butter of any Admin Officer working for them.
I agree that a large amount of tax would suggest one is working more than the stipulated 20 hours
That answers the question itself.
I just don't think there is sufficient manpower for the Homeoffice to start checking all students work status. I think they will only pursue an individual student if that student gives them cause to suspect which has always been the case.
Apart from the NHS Department the Home Office (now Department for Security) is the largest employer within the civil service and the IND (now Border and Immigration Agency) still has lots of vacancies within the Managed Migration Directorate that deal with in-country extensions for further leave to remain (FLR)-lack of staff is not a problem for them. Each application for FLR is allocated to a Case Worker (an Executive Officer) who goes through the application based on a check-list of boxes that need to be ticked. It is part of the vetting process to verify if that student had not breached his immigration conditions and he will cross check with the Inland Revenue (now Customs and Revenue) using the NI number.Before the Case Officer goes ahead to issue the FLR he has to get clearance from his Line Manager (the Higher Executive Officer) who will go over the application again.
If the Home Office staff can check from each students Universities if the students are continuing students or meeting minimum attendance requirements then that same staff can also check with the Inland Revenue concerning the students working hours status using his NI.Its just a phone call away-it doesn't cost them anything to make that call.
The point I would like to make here is that it is not compulsory for students to obtain NI numbers, it is obtained only if the student wanted to work. Hence, it is possible to put N/A on the NI column if i does not apply to them.
Secondly, the Home Office is more interested in fishing out overstayers,failed asylum seekers and illegal workers than in fishing out legitimate students who happended to have over-worked. so I don't think that the introduction of the NI section in the new form was a deliberate intention, afterall the student is still paying his taxes to the government while the illegal workers don't.
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