“Can I freelance a few hours a week?”
Work a UK Student visa does not allow, whatever your hours
Short answer
ST 26.5 prohibits being self-employed or engaging in business activity, working as a professional sportsperson including as a coach, working as an entertainer, and filling a permanent full-time vacancy. These are absolute bars, not hour limits, and narrow exceptions exist only for certain pending applications.
Freelancing is the common mistake
Students often assume that a small amount of freelance design, tutoring or delivery work is fine because it is well under 20 hours. It is not. Self-employment is prohibited outright by ST 26.5, and the hour limit is irrelevant to it. Being paid through your own invoices rather than a payroll is the thing that matters.
Sport and entertainment are named specifically
Working as a professional sportsperson, which the rule extends explicitly to coaching, is barred. So is working as an entertainer. These are not hour-limited either.
The exceptions are narrow
A permanent full-time vacancy may be taken in limited circumstances under ST 26.6, tied to a pending Skilled Worker or Graduate application. Self-employment becomes possible under ST 26.8 only while an Innovator Founder application supported by an endorsement is undecided. Neither is a general permission.
Where this answer stops
Official sources
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