Can a visitor to the UK work as volunteer?
Someone wants to visit their family in the UK for about 4 or 5 months. They have an entry clearance valid for 6 months. The host family is heavily involved in religious activities in their community.
As a part of their visit, the person wants to do volunteer work in the community. They will not get paid, but their lunch is provided as a courtesy. Is it OK for the visitor to do volunteer work in this context?
Best Answer
I'm assuming the person you mention has a 6-month Family Visitor Visa. The Governmental page on the do's and dont's states that with this type of visa you can't work or carry out any business:
What you can and can’t do
[...]
You can’t:
- work or carry out any business
In my eyes this is left intentionally vague to allow the authorities enough wiggle room when applying the rule. In conclusion the governmental website is of little to no help in this case.
I did however find some relevant pages on the matter. The thread on this expat forum discusses this same question, and the conclusion drawn there is that you cannot do any work, paid or unpaid, if entering the UK on a 6-month Visitor Visa. The underlying assumption is that volunteer work qualifies as work, and that by volunteering the person would be taking away that same opportunity from another legal UK worker.
Moreover, the existence of a dedicated Tier 5 Charity Worker Visa allowing you to carry out unpaid voluntary work for a charity implies that such activities cannot be carried out on a Visitor Visa.
On a similar note, the UK WWOOF website mentions people on a general visitor (tourist) visa being denied entry in the UK, when stating that the purpose of their visit it to WWOOF. Of course WWOOF'ing is not necessarily volunteer work, but I thought I'd add it nonetheless for completeness sake.
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Can I volunteer in the UK as a visitor?
"A visitor may undertake incidental volunteering (i.e. the main purpose of the visit is not to volunteer), provided it lasts no more than 30 days in total and is for a charity that is registered with either the Charity Commission for England and Wales; the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland; or the Office of the ...Are you allowed to volunteer on a visitor visa?
Yes, visitors to Canada are allowed to volunteer in Canada, with one stipulation: that they will not fill a practicum position that is intended to be part of a student's course of study.Can you do unpaid work on a tourist visa?
No. Those entering the UK as visitors are not allowed to undertake work of any kind, including job shadowing, and an unpaid internship is still considered to be work.Do you need a visa for volunteering?
Whilst many of our volunteering abroad projects do not require you to get any special type of visa to join as a volunteer (other than a standard tourist or visitor visa), this is not always the case, particularly for longer-term projects or internships, and so the visa you will need can vary between projects and ...CAN YOU WORK IN THE UK ON A VISITING VISA???
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