Student Union Sabbatical Officer
Student union sabbatical officers are paid, elected executive union positions. 51Âþ» can continue to sponsor your visa for up to two years while you undertake the role.
If you have enough time on your current visa, you do not need to make a special visa application for the time that you will be in the role.
The university will make a report to UKVI informing them of the change of circumstances. However, it is likely that you may need to apply to extend their Student visa in order to undertake this position. If your Student visa does not cover the full length of the Sabbatical Officer position, you will need to make a visa application for the Sabbatical Officer position, and then another visa application if you need to return to studies to complete your programme.
It is also possible to undertake a sabbatical officer role on a Graduate visa if you have completed your course and meet all other requirements of the Graduate route, please refer to our page on the Graduate visa for more information on the eligibility criteria for this visa route.
Documents required
Before applying you should check whether you are able to make your application in the UK, or whether you will have to allow time to leave the UK and apply in your home country.
You should be granted Student permission for a period to cover the duration of the sabbatical officer post, up to 12 months. You should also be granted an extra period of one month before the post starts and up to four months after your sabbatical officer post ends.
The endorsement on your biometric residence permit (BRP) or digital status will be the same as other Student endorsements. This means that it will not state on it that you are now a sabbatical officer and it will state that you are restricted to working 20 hours a week in term time. However, you can work full time as a sabbatical officer with this endorsement.
You do not have to meet any financial, funds or maintenance requirement. This means that you will not have to provide evidence of finance as part of your application in or outside the UK.