By Opeyemi Adelakun
The United Kingdom Department for Education has removed Nigeria, Ghana and India from the list of countries whose teachers can use the direct overseas route to apply for Qualified Teacher Status in England.
The change took effect on September 9, 2026, following an update to the Department for Education’s guidance on the “Apply for QTS in England” service.
Qualified Teacher Status, QTS, is the professional teaching qualification for teachers in England and is recognised by schools across the country.
Under the revised rules, teachers trained in Nigeria, Ghana or India are no longer eligible to use the service.
The decision followed the release of data on applications from overseas-trained teachers for the 2024–2025 academic year.
Nigeria recorded 1,076 applications during the period, with 364 resulting in QTS awards while 599 applications were declined.
Ghana recorded 1,067 applications, of which 196 resulted in QTS, while 749 were rejected.
The Department for Education said the updated eligibility requirements were designed to ensure that countries covered by the service have a national regulator capable of confirming teachers’ professional standing and providing references that meet UK requirements.
For India, the department said the country does not have a national regulator capable of confirming professional standing.
On Nigeria and Ghana, the DfE said more than 70 per cent of applications from teachers in both countries contained work-history references using public email addresses rather than official school domains.
The department said this created additional verification challenges for assessors.
“Our data shows that more than 70% of applications from teachers in Ghana and Nigeria include work history references that use public email addresses, such as Gmail or Hotmail, rather than a school’s official email domain,” it said.
It added that this meant assessors spent “additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications.”
The DfE said it needed to ensure that information supplied by applicants was genuine before awarding QTS to overseas-trained teachers.
“Teachers who are not eligible to apply for QTS in England service can explore other routes into teaching,” the department said.
Teachers seeking QTS through the applicable overseas route must have a valid passport, an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree and professional recognition as a teacher in the country where they trained.
They must also have completed any mandatory induction requirements required for full teacher registration in their country of qualification.
Applicants are required to demonstrate that they are qualified to teach children aged five to 16 and have at least nine months of teaching experience acquired after qualifying.
Employment references must verify their work history and use an email address connected to the school’s official domain.
Depending on the country of qualification, additional requirements may apply, including qualifications to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 and specialisation in subjects such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish.
With Nigeria and Ghana removed, South Africa is now the only African country generally listed among those eligible for the service, subject to applicable conditions.
Other eligible countries and regions include Australia, Canada, the European Economic Area, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States.
Teachers qualified in Jamaica, Singapore and South Africa may also apply under specified conditions.
The DfE noted that teachers who are no longer eligible for the QTS application service may explore other routes into teaching in England, particularly because individual schools, rather than the Department for Education, employ teachers.
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