Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana can no longer use the United Kingdom's direct application route for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England, following a change that took effect on September 9, 2026.

The UK Department for Education (DfE) removed both countries from the list of countries whose teachers are eligible for the overseas-trained teacher QTS service.

India was also removed under the revised rules.

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The department said the change followed updated eligibility requirements designed to ensure that the professional standing, qualifications and employment history of overseas-trained teachers can be properly verified.

Under the new criteria, countries seeking to remain eligible must have a national regulator capable of confirming teachers' professional standing and provide authenticated references.

The DfE said Nigeria and Ghana failed to satisfy the reference-verification requirement, citing the nature of employment references submitted by applicants from the two countries.

"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," the department said.

"This means assessors spend additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications," it added.

The department said the verification process was necessary because it must be confident that information supplied by applicants is genuine before granting QTS.

"We must be confident that the information applicants provide is genuine. This helps ensure that overseas teachers awarded qualified teacher status have the skills and experience needed to teach in schools in England," the department said.

QTS is an important professional status for teachers seeking employment in England and is required in many schools, although it is not legally required in every type of school.

UK government guidance says overseas-qualified teachers may teach in England for up to four years without QTS under specified conditions.

The revised rules do not, however, completely shut Nigerian and Ghanaian teachers out of teaching in England.

The UK government says teachers who cannot use the direct QTS service may pursue alternative routes, including assessment-only QTS, teacher training in England or international qualified teacher status (iQTS), depending on their circumstances.

To qualify through the direct route where available, applicants must meet requirements including holding a valid passport, a degree equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree, professional recognition as a teacher in their country of training, completed mandatory induction requirements and at least nine months of post-qualification teaching experience.

They must also provide references confirming their work history through school-domain email addresses.

The UK government currently lists South Africa among the African countries whose teachers can still access the QTS application route, subject to the applicable conditions.