Internships and part-time work on a student visa

If you are in Hong Kong as a non-local student, these notes set out what work you may do during your studies, what work you may not do, and how that sits with the statutory minimum wage. They follow the Immigration Department page on coming to Hong Kong to study (page revised 23 June 2025) and the Labour Department page on the statutory minimum wage. Checked 18 October 2026. Where your institution has its own internal procedure, the institution's rules prevail.

The basic rule: in principle, no work

The Immigration Department states that, in general, a person permitted to come to Hong Kong as a student is subject to the following conditions of stay.

1. You may study only at the specified school, university, or other educational institution, on a programme the Director of Immigration has approved.
2. You must not take up employment, paid or unpaid.
3. You must not establish or join in any business.

Keep these points in mind:

1. Unpaid counts. An unpaid internship, or voluntary help that is in fact doing the work, has to be checked first against what is allowed.
2. Establishing or joining in a business is restricted in the same way. That includes operating through a company registered in Hong Kong, and running a business in partnership.
3. The items below are the exceptions the Immigration Department sets out. Work that is not within an exception is a breach of your conditions of stay.

Exception 1: an internship tied to the curriculum

Bachelor's degree or above

It applies to a non-local student on a full-time locally accredited programme at bachelor's degree level or above, whether the programme is local or non-local, with a period of study of not less than 1 academic year.

The conditions:

1. The internship must be related to the subject or to the curriculum.
2. The internship must be arranged or endorsed by the institution you attend, and it must be endorsed by the officer the institution has designated. Endorsement by an individual office, a faculty, a school, or a member of a school does not count.
3. The internship may last at most 1 academic year, or one-third of the normal period of study of that full-time programme, whichever is shorter.

An internship that meets these conditions is not restricted in the nature of the work, the level of pay, the place of work, the hours, or the employer.

A worked example, calculated from the rules above:

1. A one-year taught master's: set 1 academic year against one-third of the period of study (about 4 months). The shorter period is about 4 months.
2. A two-year master's: one-third of the period of study is about 8 months, which is shorter than 1 academic year, so the cap is about 8 months.
3. A four-year bachelor's degree: one-third of the period of study is about 16 months, which is longer than 1 academic year, so the cap is 1 academic year.

Local sub-degree programmes

It applies to a non-local student on a full-time locally accredited local sub-degree programme, with a period of study of not less than 2 academic years.

The conditions:

1. The internship must be compulsory, it must be related to the subject or to the curriculum, and it must be arranged or endorsed by the institution (again, by the designated officer).
2. The internship may last at most 6 months. For a higher diploma, the count is in days, and the total must not exceed 182 days. For a sub-degree programme other than a higher diploma, the count is in weeks: however many days of the internship fall in a given week, the total must not exceed 26 weeks. The 182 days, or the 26 weeks, do not have to be continuous.

Time limits on an internship

1. You may not take an internship before you are formally registered as a student of the institution and have started attending classes in Hong Kong on the programme you are registered for.
2. Once you have completed the subjects or the credits required to graduate (for example, you have just finished the final year), you may not take a further internship as a student.

What this means in practice: coming to Hong Kong early to intern before term starts, or interning as a student after you have finished the credits and are waiting for the graduation ceremony, is not within what is allowed. If you want to work in Hong Kong after you finish the programme, apply under the IANG rules (see the briefing in this series on a first IANG application).

Exception 2: part-time work on campus

It applies to a non-local student on a full-time locally accredited local programme at bachelor's degree level or above, with a period of study of not less than 1 academic year. It does not apply to an exchange student.

The conditions:

1. Within your limit of stay, you may do part-time work on campus throughout the academic year in question.
2. Not more than 20 hours a week. Hours you do not use in one week cannot be carried to another week.
3. The work must be done on the campus of the institution you attend. That means only that institution's own campus. It does not include the campus of an affiliate, of a related organisation, or of a self-financing arm.
4. If the place of work is not on the institution's campus, the employer must be the institution itself.

The scope is narrower than for an internship. An internship may be on a local or a non-local bachelor's programme. Part-time work on campus applies only to a local programme at bachelor's level or above. It does not apply to a student on a non-local programme, or to an exchange student.

Exception 3: summer work

Who it applies to is the same group as for part-time work on campus: a full-time locally accredited local programme at bachelor's degree level or above, with a period of study of not less than 1 academic year. Exchange students are not included.

The condition: within your limit of stay, you may take employment in the summer from 1 June to 31 August, both dates included. There is no limit on the hours or on the place of work.

Note the following:

1. The dates are 1 June to 31 August, as the Immigration Department states them. They are not your institution's own holiday dates.
2. Exchange students are not included, and neither are students on a non-local programme.

A temporary exemption, and the no-objection letter

The Immigration Department states that non-local students on a full-time locally accredited local programme at bachelor's degree level or above, with a period of study of not less than 1 academic year, excluding exchange students, are temporarily exempted from the work restrictions above. They may take up employment in Hong Kong for the shorter of two periods: the limit of stay, or the validity period stated on the no-objection letter issued to them, where that letter applies.

1. An eligible student is issued an individual no-objection letter. It sets out the categories of employment that student may take, and the conditions.
2. What work you may do, and until which date, follows the wording on the letter. It is not a general permission to take whatever work you like.
3. The Immigration Department page does not state an end date for this temporary measure, and it does not state how a student is to apply for the letter (checked 18 October 2026). In practice, ask the office at your institution that deals with non-local students first.
4. Keep the letter once you have it. When you start a job, the employer may ask to see it.

Dependants and a change of status

1. A spouse or a child who comes to Hong Kong as your dependant may study any programme here, but must not take up employment in Hong Kong unless the Director of Immigration has given permission beforehand.
2. If you have already changed to another status (for example, as a dependant, or under the Top Talent Pass Scheme), your right to work follows the conditions of that status.
3. You may apply to extend a student visa within the 4 weeks before the limit of stay expires. You must still meet the requirements for study. The institution must issue a confirmation that you are continuing your studies.
4. If the institution or you end the studies before the programme finishes, for any reason, the institution must notify the Immigration Department in writing within 7 working days.

The statutory minimum wage and students

The Labour Department states that the Minimum Wage Ordinance applies to every employee and to that employee's employer. It does not apply to an intern who has no employment relationship with the organisation. Separately, two categories of "specified student employee" are exempt from the statutory minimum wage.

Student interns

1. The student is on a full-time accredited programme offered by a local education institution listed in Schedule 1 to the Minimum Wage Ordinance, or is a Hong Kong resident on a full-time non-local academic programme at degree level or above.
2. The internship is arranged or endorsed by the institution, and it is a compulsory or elective part of the curriculum.
3. There is no age limit, and no limit on how long the internship lasts.
4. The employer must keep a document issued by the institution, confirming that this period of work was arranged or endorsed by the institution.

Work-experience students

1. The programme requirements are the same as for a student intern.
2. The work does not have to be arranged by the institution, and it does not have to be related to the curriculum.
3. The student is under 26 when the employment begins. The student and the employer may agree to treat a continuous period of at most 59 days as an exempt student employment period. In the same calendar year the student may begin at most one exempt period, whether or not it is with the same employer. The student must make a statutory declaration confirming that, and must give the declaration, or a copy of it, to the employer.
4. If the student and the employer have not agreed to treat a period as an exempt period, the exemption does not apply.

What this means in practice

1. Permission to work from the Immigration Department, and exemption from the minimum wage, are two separate sets of rules. The first decides whether you may do the work. The second decides whether the employer must pay the statutory minimum wage.
2. A student employee who is not within the exemptions above is paid at the statutory minimum wage. From 1 May 2026 that rate is HK$43.1 an hour.
3. Whether a person is an "employee" is judged on the facts. The Labour Department provides material on how to tell an employee from a person who is not an employee.

A checklist before you start any work

Before you start any work, confirm each item.

1. Are you on a local programme or a non-local programme? Is it at bachelor's level or above, or is it a sub-degree? Is the period of study at least 1 academic year (2 academic years for a sub-degree)?
2. Are you an exchange student? An exchange student is not covered by part-time work on campus, by summer work, or by the temporary exemption.
3. Which category is this work: an internship related to the curriculum, part-time work on campus, summer work, or work under a no-objection letter?
4. Has the internship been approved in writing by the officer designated by the institution? Is the accumulated internship time within the cap?
5. Does the part-time work on campus go over 20 hours in a week? Is the place of work on this institution's own campus, or is the employer the institution itself?
6. Does the summer work fall between 1 June and 31 August?
7. Have you registered and started classes? Have you already completed the credits required?
8. Is your student visa still valid?
9. Does the pay meet the statutory minimum wage, or does an exemption apply? If the work-experience student exemption applies, have you signed the agreement and made the statutory declaration?

Common mistakes

1. "If it is unpaid, it is not work." The Immigration Department's restriction expressly includes unpaid employment.
2. "A teacher in the department agreed, so it is allowed." An internship must be endorsed by the officer designated by the institution.
3. "I can keep interning while I wait to graduate, after the classes are finished." Once the credits are complete, you may not intern further. You should move to IANG.
4. "A non-local programme also allows summer work." Summer work and part-time work on campus apply only to a local programme at bachelor's level or above.
5. "I can do fewer hours on campus this week and more next week." Hours you do not use cannot be carried over.
6. "The temporary exemption means there is no restriction." The categories, the conditions, and the validity period on the individual no-objection letter are what govern.

Sources

• Immigration Department, Coming to Hong Kong to study, and Extension of stay, pages (page revised 23 June 2025; checked 18 October 2026)
• Labour Department, Statutory minimum wage exemption for student interns and work-experience students, page (checked 18 October 2026)
• Labour Department, Statutory minimum wage, page (checked 18 October 2026)