Guidance

Overseas-trained teachers: apply for qualified teacher status in England

Updated 25 February 2026

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Teacher training in England leads to a professional teaching qualification called qualified teacher status (QTS).

If you are an overseas trained teacher and meet the requirements set out in this guidance, you can use the Apply for qualified teacher status (QTS) in England service.

Many teachers will not meet the requirements for QTS. If you’re not eligible, you may be able to find an alternative route to QTS that better suits your circumstances.

Teaching jobs and visas

Having QTS means schools in England are more likely to employ you, but the service cannot:

• award you a teaching job
• help with your visa

Teachers in England are employed by individual schools, not by the Department for Education (DfE).

Teach in England if you trained outside the UK explains how to apply for a teaching job and visa.

Who can apply

If you qualified to teach in Wales, you hold QTS automatically and do not need to apply.

If you qualified to teach in Gibraltar, Northern Ireland or Scotland, you can apply for QTS if:

• you hold a teaching qualification that’s equivalent to a UK level 6 or higher – if this is equivalent to level 6 but is not a bachelor’s degree, you must also be able to provide evidence that you hold a separate bachelor’s degree
• you’re recognised as a teacher in the country in which you trained to teach

You can apply for QTS in England if you meet the requirements and have a teaching qualification from the countries and regions of:

• Australia
• Canada
• the European Economic Area (EEA)
• Guernsey
• Hong Kong
• Jersey
• New Zealand
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• the USA

If you have a teaching qualification from the following countries and are working in a valid teaching role in England, you can apply for QTS if you meet the requirements. Those countries are:

• Ghana
• India
• Jamaica
• Nigeria
• Singapore
• South Africa

If you qualified to teach in one of these countries and are not working in a valid teaching role in England, you may still be able to apply for QTS. You will need to give evidence that you have a subject specialism in mathematics, science or languages and are qualified to teach children who are aged between 11 and 16 years. You will also need to meet the other requirements.

Requirements you need to meet

Overseas-trained teachers can gain QTS based on an assessment of their qualifications and experience against strict requirements.

These requirements are mandatory. You must meet them in full, exactly as set out here.

To be eligible for QTS, you must:

• have a bachelor’s degree of the same academic standard as a UK undergraduate degree, as verified by UK ENIC, the UK national agency for international qualifications and skills
• have the full professional status needed to be a teacher in the country where you completed training that meets our requirements 
• have met all of the mandatory requirements (including induction period) that is required in the country where you completed training that meets our requirements
• have no conditions or restrictions on your teaching practice
• be qualified and suitable to teach children aged between 5 and 16 years

You will have completed teacher training in an eligible country or region that:

• leads to professional recognition as a teacher in that country
• is only delivered to trainees in the country where the provider is based
• meets the standard of a level 6 qualification
• is of at least the same length as English initial teacher training: one year and full-time equivalent (30 hours per week)

Your teaching training course must be either:

• a postgraduate qualification with 75% of course modules having a pedagogical focus (for example, a one-year qualification with 12 modules should have a minimum of 9 pedagogical modules)
• an undergraduate qualification with at least one year of study having a pedagogical focus (for example, 33% of modules should have a minimum pedagogical focus in a 3-year course)

Teaching experience

You must have at least the equivalent of one school year of experience employed as a teacher in any country after qualifying. This includes school holidays, but does not include time taken out for any other reason. Equivalent part-time work will be considered.

This experience must:

• have taken place after the date your teaching qualification was awarded and the date you qualified to teach in that country
• been carried out in a setting that provides mainstream compulsory education

During the experience, you must have:

• taught, unsupervised, primary or secondary pupils
• been solely responsible for planning, preparing and delivering lessons to at least 4 students at a time
• been solely responsible for assessing and reporting on the progress of those students

We will contact your references to verify your work history. Your references must meet the requirements as set out in the apply for qualified teacher status (QTS) in England service.

English language proficiency

You must also meet a certain standard of English language proficiency. This means you must be able to show one of the following. You have:

• been born in, hold citizenship of or have studied at undergraduate level (or higher) in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or one of the exempt countries or territories
• been taught in English at undergraduate level or higher and you will need to provide evidence that the medium of instruction of your degree has been taught wholly in English
• sat a Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR) B2 level English language test at a secure English language test (SELT) provider and met a CEFR B2 level of English proficiency

Approved providers and tests

We accept English language tests from the 5 approved SELT providers below.

Each provider offers a number of different tests, so it’s important to know which we accept. We only accept the following tests that cover the disciplines of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Approved provider name	Tests we accept	Required pass score for each discipline
IELTS SELT Consortium	International English language testing system (IELTS) for UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)	5.5
LanguageCert	LANGUAGECERT Academic SELT and LANGUAGECERT General SELT On 1 January 2025, these tests replaced the LANGUAGECERT ESOL SELT 4-skills test – if you already have a LANGUAGECERT ESOL SELT 4-skills result, this remains valid	60
Pearson	Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic for UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) or Pearson Test of English (PTE) Home	59
PSI Services (UK) Ltd	Skills for English UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)	a pass
Trinity College London	Secure English language test (SELT) for UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) – Integrated skills in English (ISE) or Graded examinations in spoken English (GESE)	a pass

If you’re already in the UK when you book your SELT, you cannot use PSI Services (UK) Ltd. If you’re outside the UK, you cannot use Trinity College London.

Deciding which test is right for you

We cannot recommend which of the approved providers is right for you. Prices and locations vary between providers, so you should research costs, as well as the availability of an approved test location near you.

Additional requirements for teaching qualifications

If you are not working in a valid teaching role in England and have a teaching qualification from Ghana, India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Singapore or South Africa, you must also have either of the following.

Option 1

A teaching qualification that meets the standard of a level 6 qualification, qualifying you to teach children aged between 11 and 16 years mathematics, languages or science.

Your qualification should either:

• state mathematics, languages or science in the title
• have at least 25% of the modules in either mathematics, science or languages

Option 2

A teaching qualification that meets the standard of a level 6 qualification qualifying you to teach children who are aged between 11 and 16 years, and a bachelor’s degree made up of at least 50% mathematics, science or a language

Languages are defined as languages taught in English state schools (excluding English), examples being:

• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Latin
• Mandarin
• Russian
• Spanish

If you are already working in a valid teaching role in England

If you are already working in the following roles in England, you can apply for QTS without meeting the additional subject and age requirements set out above.

For example, an eligible teacher with a level 6 teaching qualification from Ghana that qualifies them to teach geography, will be able to apply if they are working in the following roles in England.

We will only consider the following settings and roles worked in England for any length of time in the past 12 months:

• a teacher, supply teacher, cover supervisor or teaching assistant in a state school
• a teacher or supply teacher in an independent school
• a teacher, tutor or lecturer in an Ofsted-registered further education and skills setting (for example, a college)
• a lecturer or tutor in an English higher-education provider registered with the Office for Students (for example, a university)
• a teacher in an Ofsted-registered early years setting (for example, a nursery)

Application timelines

We assess 90% of applications within 12 months. We aim to process applications from teachers who have valid experience in England faster.

It may take longer if we need to ask for further information or if external factors, or third parties, cause delays. This includes waiting for references, or verification of qualifications or professional standing. The time it takes to assess applications is regularly reviewed and subject to change.

Induction and support after you get QTS

If you have less than 2 school years’ teaching experience at the point you apply for QTS, you must complete statutory induction if you start teaching in England. You will also get developmental support based on the early career framework.

Some exceptions apply to teachers who qualified in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales or Gibraltar, who have already completed induction in the country where they trained.

Support for schools to recruit overseas trained teachers

Check what you need to do to employ teachers who are non-UK citizens in the Recruit teachers from overseas guidance.

Contact us

For any additional QTS queries, email: teach.inengland@education.gov.uk.

If you are eligible for QTS and would like help with your application, please email:professional.recognition@education.gov.uk.

This information is correct as of February 2026. Timelines are based on total applications completed since February 2023.