Check what you need to do to employ teachers who are non-UK citizens.

1. Check the rules on visas and immigration

Applicants for teaching jobs from overseas need a visa or other immigration status allowing them to work in the UK. This includes those from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

Applicants already have the right to work in the UK if they:

• are Irish citizens
• have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• have indefinite leave to remain in the UK

Most other applicants will need a skilled worker visa, which their employer must sponsor. The sponsor can be the school where they work, the local authority, or academy trust. Sponsors must have a ‘worker license’, sometimes referred to as an ‘employer license’.

Your school or organization may already be a licensed worker sponsor. Check the register of licensed sponsors: workers.

If you’re not already a sponsor, you can either apply to become a sponsor or recruit applicants who don’t need to be sponsored.

Apply to become a licensed worker sponsor

You can refer to UK visa sponsorship for employers to learn more about how to become a licensed worker sponsor.

To become a licensed worker sponsor, you will need to:

• show you’re suitable to be a sponsor
• appoint a member of staff to manage the sponsorship process
• supply supporting documents
• pay your license fees
• meet your responsibilities as a sponsor

Recruit applicants who don’t need to be sponsored

Applicants with the following visa or immigration status will not need to be sponsored.

Graduate visa

International students in the UK can apply for a graduate visa on successful completion of their degree.

To apply, they’ll need to have been sponsored by an eligible Home Office licensed student sponsor over the course of their studies.

The graduate visa allows holders to work, or look for work, in the UK for up to 2 years after completing their studies (3 years for Ph.D. students) without a sponsor.

This includes:

• working as a teacher
• training to teach on a salaried course or through a teaching apprenticeship

They can switch from a graduate visa to another visa (such as the skilled worker visa) without having to leave the UK if they meet the requirements for their new visa.

High-potential individual visa

To be eligible for a high-potential individual visa, teachers must:

• have a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, or PhD from a university listed in the global universities list
• have been awarded their qualification no more than 5 years before they apply
• have English language skills to B1 intermediate level
• have personal funds of £1,270
• pass a security and criminality check

They do not need an offer of a teaching job to apply for this visa and they’ll be able to stay in the UK for 2 years with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, and 3 years with a Ph.D.

Youth mobility scheme visa

The youth mobility scheme allows young people from certain countries to come to the UK each year to study or work without a sponsoring educational institution or sponsoring employer. This includes working as a teacher.

A youth mobility scheme visa lasts up to 2 years. Holders can switch from the youth mobility scheme visa to another visa (such as the skilled worker visa) without having to leave the UK if they meet the requirements for their new visa.

Family, UK Ancestry, and British National (Overseas) visas

Applicants with the following types of visa will not need to be sponsored:

• Family visas
• UK Ancestry visa
• British National (Overseas) visa

Dependents

People who have permission to live in the UK as a dependent (usually partner or child) of someone on a student visa or a skilled worker visa will not need to be sponsored. They can work without a sponsor for the duration of their partner’s or parent’s visa.

2. Check visa and immigration charges

The cost of international recruitment depends on the size of your school and is made up of the following charges.

Skilled worker license

This costs from £536 to £1,476 depending on the size of your school and is paid every 4 years. It covers all teachers recruited in that period.

Certificate of the sponsorship fee

This is a one-off payment of £199 for each teacher sponsored and is only paid again if the visa needs to be renewed.

Immigration skills charge (ISC)

This costs from £364 to £1,000 depending on the size of your school and is paid upfront for each year of a teacher’s visa (unless they are switching from a student visa).

Total costs

For example, a small school is likely to incur a one-off payment of £735 (£536 + £199) plus an annual fee of £364.

Multi-academy trusts are charged a single fee (not a fee per school within the trust).

You will not pay any fees to recruit someone with a visa or immigration status that doesn’t require sponsorship.

Visa fees are paid to the Home Office. You will pay:

• the license fee when you make your sponsorship application
• the certificate of sponsorship fee and ISC when you assign a certificate of sponsorship to that teacher prior to their visa application

3. Advertise your teaching job

You can use the Teaching Vacancies service to advertise teaching jobs and other school roles to applicants from all over the world. It is free to use for schools and applicants.

You can recruit teaching and education support staff from overseas for any subject or age range, as well as SEND practitioners.

To attract high-quality overseas applicants, you should be clear English schools require teachers with qualities beyond academic excellence and subject knowledge, for example:

• the ability to offer pastoral care
• an appreciation of the ethos of your school
• soft and communication skills
• willingness to participate in the extra-curricular life of the school

4. Shortlist and interview

Many schools now shortlist overseas candidates for potential employment using remote working technology.

You can:

• set written tasks for candidates
• ask to see lesson plans
• request a video portfolio of applicants’ teaching practice
• talk to referees over a video conferencing service like Zoom

Qualification requirements for teachers from overseas

Qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement in maintained schools in England. The majority of teachers in academies and free schools also have QTS.

The 4-year rule exemption

Overseas applicants do not need QTS to teach in maintained schools in England for the first 4 years of their stay in the UK, an exemption known as the ‘4-year rule’.

In academies and free schools, there is no legal requirement for teachers to hold QTS, at any point in their employment.

To be eligible for the 4-year rule, the applicant will need to have:

• qualified as a teacher in a country outside the UK
• successfully completed a course of teacher training recognized by the organization that regulates teachers in the country where they qualified

If you are employing a teacher without QTS, including under the 4-year rule, note their salary will have to meet the minimum requirement for a skilled worker visa, which is slightly higher than an unqualified teacher’s minimum pay outside London.

The 4-year rule exemption does not apply to:

• pupil referral units (PRUs)
• alternative provision academies
• alternative provision free schools, where QTS is required from the beginning of their employment.

Extending the 4-year rule period

Overseas teachers can extend this 4-year period by the amount of statutory leave taken for:

• maternity leave
• paternity leave
• adoption leave
• parental or shared parental leave
• time off because of pregnancy

Exemptions for instructors and teaching assistants

Overseas teachers do not need QTS to teach if they are employed as instructors teaching vocational subjects that require special qualifications or experience. It is up to the school to decide whether an overseas teacher is suitable for an instructor role.

Overseas teachers do not need QTS to work as teaching assistants.

Apply for QTS in England

We are changing the way we award QTS to teachers from overseas.

Currently, teachers who qualified in the following countries and territories are eligible to apply to the Teaching Regulation Agency for QTS:

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

From 1 February 2023, teachers who qualified in the following 9 countries will also be able to apply to TRA for QTS:

• Ghana
• Hong Kong
• India
• Jamaica
• Nigeria
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Ukraine
• Zimbabwe

This change is part of the launch of a new service to apply for QTS in England.

From 1 February 2023, teachers from all eligible countries will have to show they meet a consistent set of criteria for the award of QTS. Over time, this route will be opened to qualified teachers from every country outside the UK.

This will ensure all non-UK teachers awarded QTS meet the same high standards, while also increasing opportunities for highly qualified teachers wherever they are trained.

Learn more about the application for QTS in England service and the new criteria for overseas teachers applying for QTS.

Other routes to QTS for overseas teachers

Teachers who are qualified or gained experience overseas can also continue to apply for assessment-only QTS.

Teachers working in England under the 4-year rule can apply for assessment only QTS alongside their work in school.

You can check whether an applicant has QTS using Teacher Services through DfE Sign-in.

Interviewing and appointing overseas teachers

Our research shows schools take a variety of approaches to final selection.

Some schools conduct interviews over a video conferencing service instead of in person. These online interviews are taken alongside all the other information provided about a candidate’s qualifications, experience, and suitability to work with children. They can be a successful and reliable way of ensuring candidates are a good fit.

Other schools will make an annual visit to university recruitment fairs in their target country or countries. This generates a shortlist of candidates who can then formally apply.

Schools will also use recruitment agencies to support them through the whole recruitment process, including sifting and interviewing candidates.

When recruiting high-caliber international candidates, in-person lesson observation may not always be possible. Especially in shortage subjects, schools may want to consider an alternative, online approach – for example, a lesson delivered via a video conferencing service.

5. Make a conditional offer and check suitability

Any applicant you wish to employ will need a job offer from you before they apply for their skilled worker visa. They can apply up to 3 months before they start work in the UK as long as:

• you as their employer are a licensed worker sponsor
• you have offered them a job
• they have met the English language requirements for a skilled worker visa
• their teaching role pays at least £20,480, or the relevant minimum rate for teachers in England, whichever is higher (minimum rates for teachers can be found in school teachers’ pay and conditions
• any part-time role pays at least £20,480 (pro-rata rates will then apply)

Safeguarding checks for teachers from overseas

Individuals who have lived or worked outside the UK must undergo the same checks as all other staff in schools. They should also undergo additional checks related to international recruitment and training.

Schools can use a range of information sources and evidence as part of their safeguarding procedures for international recruitment, including the items included in this section.

We expect schools to draw on a varying range of sources on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual in question. It is good practice to carry out a risk assessment, recording the evidence you have gathered to reach your decision and showing you have no grounds for concern about the applicant.