Teacher in a staff room talking to two colleagues sat on a sofa.

Teach in England if you trained outside the UK

If you're a non-UK citizen interested in teaching languages or physics in England, you could be eligible for an international relocation payment worth £10,000.

Teach in England and you’ll benefit from working in a world-class education system.

You’ll earn a competitive salary, get supported in your professional development and have varied job opportunities.

You could also consider teaching in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Not qualified as a teacher yet? Find out how to train to teach in England as a non-UK citizen. If you don’t want to come to England to train, you should consider international qualified teacher status (iQTS), which leads to the automatic award of English qualified teacher status.

What you’ll need to teach in England

If you are already a qualified teacher, you do not need to retrain to teach in England. However, you will need:

  • to apply for English ‘qualified teacher status’, or be able to demonstrate strong non-UK qualifications and experience
  • a high standard of written and spoken English
  • to pass criminal and professional safeguarding checks (these will be organised by your employer)
  • a visa or immigration status allowing you to work in the UK

Get an international relocation payment (IRP) worth £10,000

If you are interested in moving to England to teach languages or physics in an English secondary school, you could be eligible for a single payment of £10,000 from the UK government to pay back some of your moving expenses, including visa costs and the immigration health surcharge.

The international relocation payment (IRP) will be available to non-UK citizens starting work in English secondary schools in the academic year August/September 2023 to July 2024. If you are eligible, it will be paid around the end of your first term working in England. You will not have to pay this money back. You can only receive the IRP once.

To express your interest in applying for the international relocation payment, email us at IRP.ExpressInterest@education.gov.uk.

Check your eligibility for the IRP

To be eligible, teachers must meet all 3 of the following requirements.

Firstly, you must have accepted a languages or physics teaching job in an English state secondary school on a contract lasting at least one academic year.

Teachers of all languages (except English) offered in English state secondary schools are eligible to apply for the IRP. The language or languages can be combined with another subject, but must make up at least 50% of teaching time.

Physics can be combined with another subject, but must make up at least 50% of teaching time. Teachers of general science are also eligible to apply for the IRP if they are teaching the physics elements of general science. It can be combined with another subject, but general science must make up at least 50% of teaching time.

Secondly, you must come to England on one of the following visas:

  • Skilled worker visa
  • Youth Mobility Scheme
  • Family visa
  • UK Ancestry visa
  • British National (Overseas) visa
  • High Potential Individual visa
  • Afghan citizens resettlement scheme
  • Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy
  • Ukraine Family Scheme visa
  • Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

Thirdly, you must move to England no more than 3 months before the start of your job.

How to apply for the IRP

You’ll need to have started your teaching job in a state secondary school to make your application – the guidance on this page explains how to find a teaching job and apply for your visa.

You will be able to apply for the IRP from 1 September to 31 October 2023. You can email us at IRP.ExpressInterest@education.gov.uk to let us know you are interested in applying for the IRP. You will be asked to fill in a form giving us your details and we’ll get in touch when IRP applications open. If your application is successful, you’ll receive the money around the end of your first school term of employment.

For information about IRP applications in 2024, check back to this page.

Please don’t send us your CV or enquiries about teaching jobs, as DfE does not directly employ teachers. Find a teaching job.

You will not need to pay an agent or any other third party to complete your application. If you have had a message asking you to apply or contact someone about the IRP, treat it carefully as it could be a scam. Find out what to do about suspicious messages.

Contact us

For general enquiries about the IRP, please email us at teach.inengland@education.gov.uk.

Apply for qualified teacher status (QTS)

Qualified teacher status (QTS) is the professional status teachers in England gain at the end of their teacher training. Schools use QTS as a measure of teaching skills and experience, so you will find it much easier to get a teaching job in England if you have QTS.

However, if you’re a qualified teacher from outside the UK, you can work as a teacher in England for up to 4 years without QTS.

After that, you will need QTS to teach in many schools in England, although it is not a legal requirement in some types of school (for example, academy schools, free schools and private schools).

It’s important to note that, even if you decide to apply for QTS, you will have to apply for your teaching job and your visa separately.

How to apply for QTS

From 1 February 2023, if you have a teaching qualification from the following countries and regions, you will be able to access a new service, called Apply for qualified teacher status in England, to check if you meet the requirements for QTS:

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • the EEA
  • Gibraltar
  • Hong Kong
  • New Zealand
  • Northern Ireland
  • Scotland
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • the USA

In addition, if you have a subject specialism in languages, mathematics or science and a teaching qualification to teach to teach 11 to 16 year olds from the following countries, you will be able to use the service to check if you meet the requirements for QTS:

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

You will not have to pay a fee or undergo further training. However, to be awarded QTS you will need to meet certain criteria. Learn more about the qualifications and experience you’ll need to get QTS.

Apply for QTS in England

If you’re not eligible to use the new service, you may be able to:

Find a teaching job

Once you’ve obtained QTS, you will need to find a teaching job in England. To do this, you must apply to individual schools (not the Department for Education).

Your professional qualifications

If you haven’t got QTS, schools you apply to will want to see alternative evidence of your teaching and academic qualifications. You can get a statement of comparability from the UK information centre for international qualifications and skills showing how your qualifications compare to English ones.

You can search and apply for jobs by region, subject specialism and age group. Most teaching vacancies are advertised in March, April or the first half of May, with jobs usually starting at the beginning of the school year in September.

Before you apply for a teaching job, contact the school to make sure it is a Home Office licensed visa sponsor. If the school is a sponsor, it can help you apply for your visa. Schools can also become sponsors to employ you. Submit your application, and if you are offered the job, you’ll then be able to apply for your visa.

You can set up a job alert to be updated about opportunities throughout the year.

Search for teaching jobs in England

Apply for your visa

You can apply for a skilled worker visa once you have been offered a teaching job at a school which can sponsor them. Find out how to apply for a skilled worker visa, what salary you will need to earn and other types of visa you may be eligible for.

You may have a pre-existing right to work in the UK, such as settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

If you’re an Irish citizen you do not need a visa.

If you’re not sure about your immigration status, you can check if you need a UK visa or contact UK Visas and Immigration for help.

You can also learn more about bringing your partner and children.

Learn about life as a teacher in England

You may be asked about your knowledge of English education in interviews for teaching jobs. To prepare, you can read other teachers’ stories and research the English curriculum and teachers’ standards.

If you’ve successfully applied for QTS in England, and have less than 2 years’ teaching experience, you can get valuable support and mentoring through the early career framework.

Meet non-UK citizens who have made the move to teach in England

Plan your move to England

The following suggestions and resources may be useful as you plan your move:

Contact

The Department for Education (DfE) does not employ teachers directly. Do not send us your CV, as we will not be able to help you find a teaching job.

Please do not email to ask when a country or subject will be added to the list for QTS in England. We’ll publish an update about eligibility for the service by May 2023.

If you have general questions about the information on this page, you can email us at teach.inengland@education.gov.uk.