The United Kingdom’s Department for Education (DfE) has removed Nigeria, Ghana and India from the list of countries whose teachers can use the direct Apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England service.
The change took effect on September 9, 2026, following an update to the department’s official guidance on overseas-trained teachers.
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is the professional teaching status used in England, and having it can make it easier for teachers to secure employment in many schools across the country. However, QTS itself does not guarantee a teaching job or provide a visa.
Under the revised rules, teachers trained in Nigeria, Ghana and India can no longer use the direct QTS application service.
The DfE said countries must have a national regulator capable of confirming a teacher’s professional standing and must be able to provide references that meet its requirements.
For India, the department said it does not have a national regulator capable of confirming professional standing. Regarding Nigeria and Ghana, the DfE said more than 70 percent of applications from teachers in both countries contained work-history references using public email services such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than official school email domains.
According to the department, this resulted in assessors spending additional time and resources verifying information supplied by applicants. The DfE said the revised requirements are intended to ensure that information submitted by overseas-trained teachers can be properly verified.
The move followed the publication of DfE data covering applications made during the 2024–2025 academic year. The figures show that Nigeria recorded 1,076 applications, of which 364 resulted in QTS awards and 599 were declined. Ghana recorded 1,067 applications, with 196 resulting in QTS and 749 declined. India recorded 649 applications, with 208 resulting in QTS and 309 declined.
The DfE previously required overseas-trained applicants to have a valid passport, an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree, recognition as a professional teacher in their training country and completion of any mandatory induction requirements.
Applicants also needed qualifications showing they could teach children aged five to 16 and at least nine months of teaching experience gained after qualifying as a teacher. Work-history references were required to verify their employment.
Following the latest changes, the countries and regions eligible for the main QTS service include Australia, Canada, the European Economic Area, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States. Jamaica, Singapore and South Africa may also qualify under additional conditions, including being in a valid teaching role in England.
The DfE said teachers who are no longer eligible for the direct QTS service can consider alternative routes, including assessment-only QTS, teacher training in England and International Qualified Teacher Status (iQTS).
South Africa is therefore currently the only African country among the countries listed for the main direct service, while Jamaica and Singapore have separate eligibility conditions.
