What makes a student job legal

What you need to do

A student's work is not legal because it is paid into a bank account, nor because the employer «will sort everything out». It is legal when four things line up:

1. Your status allows work. The right to work comes from the permit you are in the country on. Tourist status and a family visit carry no such right at all.
2. Your mode of study fits. In some countries full-time and part-time study carry different rights, and a graduate differs from a student.
3. The right kind of contract. Somewhere any employment contract will do, somewhere only a particular one, somewhere a work authorisation from the employment authority is required on top.
4. Contributions are paid. Without official deductions, what you earn turns into neither a service record nor future entitlements.

All four must be checked. Three out of four is not «almost legal», it is illegal.

How this differs from «how many hours may I work»

The hour limit is the next question, not the first. First you establish whether the right exists at all and under which contract it holds; the limit only makes sense inside that right.

The order matters in practice: someone who starts with the limit learns about the employment authority's authorisation after already starting work — and that has to be fixed retroactively, which is exactly what cannot be done.

What goes wrong

«The employer said it was fine». The employer answers for their part, you for yours. Your residence conditions are not checked by them, and the consequences arrive at your address.

People work without a contract «for the first month, as a trial». That month yields neither record nor contributions, and under inspection it looks like precisely what it is.

A breach is taken for an employment dispute. Exceeding the limit or working without the right is a breach of residence conditions. The consequences land on the renewal of your permit — that is, on your ability to stay.

People expect record agreements to cover it retroactively. Interstate agreements on service record and contributions apply only to legal work with official deductions. Undeclared work simply does not exist inside them.

Where this is stated officially

• Your Europe — rights and obligations while residing in the union, employment included.
• IGI — Romania's immigration inspectorate: the section on studies and what a study residence allows.
• ANOFM — Romania's employment agency: when an employer needs authorisation to hire a foreigner.

How to check the requirement is still current

Check the conditions of your own permit rather than the country's general rules: the limit and the right to work are written there. The second address is the immigration authority where you live.

Current rules by country are collected below, each with its source and verification date.