Nigeria, Ghana and India have lost access to England’s direct QTS application service, with the UK citing verification and regulatory requirements.

Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana can no longer use the United Kingdom’s direct application service for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England following changes introduced by the Department for Education on September 9, 2026.

India was also removed from the list of countries whose teachers can use the service.

The Department for Education (DfE) said countries must meet specific requirements for their teachers to remain eligible for the direct route, including having a national regulator able to confirm a teacher’s professional standing and providing references that meet its verification requirements.

The department said Nigeria and Ghana failed to meet the reference requirement, while India does not have a national regulator that can confirm professional standing.

Why Nigeria And Ghana Were Removed

According to the DfE, more than 70% of applications from teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana include work-history references sent from public email services such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than official school email domains.

The department said this requires assessors to spend additional time and resources verifying information provided by applicants.

“We must be confident that the information applicants provide is genuine,” the DfE said, adding that the verification process is intended to ensure teachers awarded QTS have the skills and experience required to teach in England.

The department said 90% of QTS applications are assessed within 12 months, although cases can take longer when additional information or verification is required.

What Is QTS?

Qualified Teacher Status is the professional status used in England for teachers who meet the required standards.

QTS is a legal requirement for teaching in many schools in England and is considered desirable by most schools. However, holding QTS does not itself guarantee employment or give a teacher the right to work in the UK. Teachers must separately secure a job and meet the relevant immigration or visa requirements.

The DfE said teachers from eligible countries must meet several requirements, including holding an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree and being recognised as a professional teacher in the country where they trained.

Applicants must also have completed mandatory induction requirements for full teacher registration and have at least one school year, or nine months, of teaching experience after becoming qualified.

They must provide references confirming their work history, with the referee’s email address using the school’s domain.

Depending on the country and circumstances, applicants may also need qualifications demonstrating that they can teach children between five and 16 years old and, in some cases, have a teaching specialism in subjects such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics and selected foreign languages.

Nigeria, Ghana Teachers Still Have Other Routes

The change does not mean teachers trained in Nigeria or Ghana are permanently prohibited from teaching in England.

The DfE specifically states that teachers who are no longer eligible to use the direct QTS application service can explore alternative routes into teaching.

The department also notes that teachers in England are employed by individual schools rather than directly by the DfE. Some schools may therefore consider alternative qualification routes, although QTS remains a status preferred by most schools.

There are also assessment-based routes through which teachers can demonstrate that they already meet the required teaching standards. Under the assessment-only route, for example, qualified teachers can have their teaching assessed in a school by an approved provider without completing a conventional teacher-training programme.

South Africa Remains Eligible

Following the latest changes, South Africa is the only African country whose teachers remain eligible to use the direct QTS application service.

The DfE’s updated guidance lists the countries whose teachers can apply through the service and states that the new eligibility rules took effect on September 9.

For Nigerian and Ghanaian teachers who had planned to use the direct route, the change means they will now need to examine other pathways if they want to teach in England.

The decision also places greater emphasis on the UK’s verification requirements for overseas-trained teachers, particularly the ability to authenticate professional standing and employment history.

For applicants already considering teaching in England, the distinction is important: the direct QTS application route has closed to teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana, but alternative routes into teaching remain available.