UK-qualified teachers · Australia
A Melbourne neighbourhood to make your own. A regional community to become part of. A teaching role that fits the life you want to build. If you qualified in the UK, start by bringing your career plans, qualifications and visa options into one clear plan.
For teachers trained in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including those currently teaching overseas.
Moving countries is a professional decision and a personal one. Think about the students you want to teach, the setting you enjoy and what a good week outside school looks like. Australia offers different possibilities across cities, coastal communities and regional centres. The right choice depends on your household, your budget and the work available in your subject or phase.
Build a shortlist around school locations, realistic commuting time and the neighbourhoods you could afford. Arts, food, sport and an established city life may be part of the appeal; compare the everyday costs before choosing an address.
Explore regional centres and smaller communities alongside Melbourne. Selected hard-to-fill government-school roles carry relocation incentives with eligibility and service conditions. Check the actual vacancy and payment terms rather than adding an incentive to every move budget.
Relief work can suit a flexible start; a fixed-term or ongoing role can offer more continuity with a school. Decide how much income certainty, travel time and classroom ownership you want before choosing an employment pattern.
If you hold an eligible UK passport and meet the age and other requirements, a Working Holiday visa may suit an initial stay. Check teacher registration and work conditions before accepting teaching work.
Look at the fit between your formal training, teaching occupation, preferred state and skilled or employer-sponsored visa options. Start the qualification evidence early, especially if your university must confirm placement details.
A job offer is a useful starting point. The employer still needs to be willing and able to support any required sponsorship, and the role, salary, registration and visa requirements must fit together.
Build the household plan alongside the teaching plan: each person’s visa position, work or study options, housing and arrival costs. A Working Holiday visa is an individual application and does not allow dependent children to accompany the holder.
Begin with what you studied and how your practical training was assessed. The name on a certificate is useful context; the academic award, transcript and supervised teaching evidence are what allow an Australian authority to assess your pathway.
QTS is professional status. It is different from an academic teacher-education qualification such as a PGCE or a teaching degree. Having QTS does not, by itself, satisfy AITSL’s qualification requirement.
Department for Education: Qualified teacher status · AITSL: Advice on United Kingdom qualifications
Teachers trained in Wales are awarded QTS through the Education Workforce Council; school-teacher registration with the EWC is a separate part of the Welsh professional framework. Australian assessment still looks at the underlying qualification and training.
Department for Education: Qualified teacher status · Education Workforce Council: School registration
GTC Scotland registration and Scottish teaching qualifications belong to a distinct system. A degree followed by a PGDE is one route; a degree incorporating teacher education is another. Provide the exact awards and transcripts rather than treating Scottish registration as an English QTS certificate.
GTCNI registration is required for teaching in grant-aided schools. Local training routes include a four-year BEd or a suitable undergraduate degree followed by a postgraduate teaching qualification such as a PGCE. Your Australian application needs the evidence behind that route.
A degree plus an appropriate postgraduate teaching qualification can be a promising starting point. For AITSL, however, a school-led or employment-based route must still result in a formal academic award, final transcript and compulsory supervised-practice statement from the awarding institution. Academic-only, in-service or top-up PGCEs can present difficulties. Review the actual programme before assuming either acceptance or rejection.
Successful iQTS completion leads to English QTS. Australian recognition is a separate decision. Record where you studied, where placements took place and whether you received an academic teaching award. These details can also affect the English-language evidence required.
Department for Education: iQTS provider criteria · AITSL: English language proficiency · AITSL: Advice on United Kingdom qualifications
Teacher registration, a migration skills assessment and a visa serve different purposes. You may need more than one application, even when some supporting documents overlap.
The regulator in the state or territory where you intend to teach decides registration or accreditation. In Victoria this is the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT); in NSW it is NESA. This is the professional approval for classroom work.
AITSL: Application FAQs · AITSL: Teacher regulatory authorities
AITSL assesses school-teacher qualifications for skilled migration. Its usual qualification criteria include at least four years of full-time-equivalent university study, incorporating relevant initial teacher education. A positive result does not itself grant teacher registration or a visa.
AITSL: Skills-assessment application process · AITSL: Application FAQs
Your visa must permit the work you plan to do. Its conditions, expiry date and any sponsorship or regional obligations matter when you choose a role. A school offer and a registration decision do not replace this check.
Victorian Government: Applying for teaching jobs · Home Affairs: Skilled occupation list
Overseas-qualified teachers must have their qualifications pre-assessed by VIT before applying for registration. You can start the pre-assessment while overseas. The current equivalency principles include four years of higher education, at least one year of initial teacher education and at least 45 days of supervised practice.
UK professional status does not create automatic mutual recognition in Victoria. VIT’s mutual-recognition process applies to current registration in another Australian state or territory, or New Zealand.
VIT: Pre-assessment of overseas qualifications · VIT: Interstate or overseas teachers · Victorian Government: Applying for teaching jobs
Search for a role by phase, subject and location, then look closely at the employment terms. An advertised daily rate or annual salary is only part of the decision.
Often called supply teaching in the UK and CRT in Victoria. It can introduce you to different schools, but paid days depend on bookings. Ask about the employer, location, daily or hourly rate, cancellation arrangements and what leave or loading is included.
A role for a defined period can give you continuity with a class and a clearer income plan. Confirm the start and end dates, fraction of full-time work, holiday-pay treatment and any conditions attached to the appointment.
A longer-term school relationship may suit someone putting down roots. Check that your right to work, registration and any visa conditions align with the appointment; “ongoing” employment does not itself confer permanent residence.
A fixed-term or ongoing school-employed role may support sponsorship where the position, employer, proposed employment period and candidate meet the relevant visa and nomination requirements. Sponsorship is not limited to ongoing employment, and a fixed-term contract does not qualify automatically. Ask the school about sponsorship separately from the contract type.
There is no single UK teacher salary or Australian teacher rate. A useful comparison starts with your present role and an identified Australian job, with the same employment basis on both sides.
Compare gross full-time-equivalent base pay, your actual working fraction, recognised experience, allowances and paid leave. Keep GBP and AUD clearly labelled; record the date of any exchange rate you use.
Compare gross rates and the number of paid days you realistically expect. Include school-holiday gaps and cancellations. A casual day rate multiplied by every weekday of the year is not a reliable annual-income forecast.
Check whether superannuation is additional to the quoted salary or included in a package. Consider pension arrangements, tax, housing, transport, childcare if relevant, insurance and flights home. Compare disposable income after relevant costs rather than assuming a currency conversion shows purchasing power.
Ask which award or agreement, classification and pay-point date the employer is using. Confirm whether your prior teaching experience has been recognised before relying on a higher salary step.
Check Victorian government-school salary schedules
Victorian Department of Education: Salary rates · Victorian Department of Education: Remuneration
The relevant route depends on your passport, age, qualifications, experience, household and intended stay. These are options to assess, not a promise that every teacher qualifies.
PATHWAY 1
Eligible UK-passport holders aged 18–35 may consider subclass 417. The UK specified-work exemption does not remove employer work limits or teacher-registration requirements.
Explore this visa pathway →PATHWAY 2
Plan around a school role or an eligible training arrangement. These options use different sponsorship, nomination and visa requirements; choose the framework that fits the position and your circumstances.
For an eligible teaching role with an approved sponsoring employer. The position, salary, experience and registration requirements need to align.
Explore this visa pathway →Eligible graduate or early-career teachers may work in a paid school-based role with genuine, tailored occupational training. A stay of up to two years may be available, subject to the training category, supervision, registration, approved Temporary Activities Sponsorship and nomination where required.
Explore this visa pathway →A permanent pathway with stream-specific employer nomination and personal criteria. Holding a temporary visa does not automatically lead to permanent residence.
Explore this visa pathway →A provisional pathway for eligible roles in designated regional areas. Assess the role, employer and teacher together; any later permanent pathway has its own requirements.
Explore this visa pathway →PATHWAY 3
For teachers exploring independent, state-nominated or regional pathways, including 189, 190 and 491. Check occupation, skills assessment, points and invitation requirements; meeting minimum points does not guarantee an invitation.
Explore this visa pathway →Eligible UK-passport holders can apply aged 18–35 inclusive. For applications lodged from 1 July 2024 using a UK passport, specified work is not required for the second or third visa. The maximum ordinary stay is made up of three separate 12-month visas, with a new application and eligibility check each time.
The usual six-month limit with one employer still applies unless an exemption or permission covers the work. Home Affairs identifies different school addresses as a possible different-location exemption, provided work at any one location does not exceed six months. Check the actual arrangement before accepting a longer placement.
Home Affairs: UK-passport Working Holiday arrangements · Home Affairs: Six-month work limitation
Training in the UK does not automatically mean you qualify for UK-passport visa arrangements. If you hold a different passport, assess the rules that apply to it.
Gather the records once, then follow the document requirements of each application. This is a preparation list; it is not a direction to upload every item to every authority.
Australia’s school year does not follow the UK’s September start. For Victorian government schools, Term 1 in 2027 begins on 27 January, with students starting on 28 January. Mid-year moves may also be possible where a suitable vacancy and your approvals align. Check the employer’s induction and reporting dates as well as published term dates.
Ausdirect helps teachers understand their Australian migration options and the evidence their pathway requires. We can discuss how your qualifications, intended teaching role, timing and family plans fit together, and explain the immigration steps within an agreed service scope.
Schools and recruitment providers handle hiring, teacher regulators decide registration, and Home Affairs decides visas. Ausdirect provides migration assistance; employment placement, salary levels and visa outcomes are not guaranteed.
Bring the names of your qualifications, where you trained, your teaching phase or subject and the places you are considering.
Book ConsultationYou need the relevant Australian registration or accreditation and permission to work. QTS is useful professional background, but Australian authorities assess the underlying education and training. Check your qualification pathway before you make firm plans.
AITSL: Advice on United Kingdom qualifications · AITSL: Application FAQs
It may provide the right structure, but it is not an automatic result. The study duration, academic level, teaching content, age range and compulsory supervised practice must meet the relevant criteria. AITSL and the state regulator make their own decisions.
AITSL: Skills-assessment application process · AITSL: Advice on United Kingdom qualifications
VIT is the registration authority for teaching in Victoria. AITSL is a migration skills-assessment authority for school-teacher occupations. Whether you also need an AITSL assessment depends on your visa pathway; one approval does not replace the other.
AITSL: Application FAQs · VIT: Pre-assessment of overseas qualifications
You can start the overseas qualification pre-assessment before moving. Check VIT’s separate timing rules for the registration application, including its limited offshore application arrangements.
For eligible applicants using a UK passport for applications lodged from 1 July 2024, the second and third subclass 417 visas do not require specified work. Other eligibility rules still apply.
Check condition 8547 before agreeing. The usual employer limit is six months unless an exemption or permission applies. Changing agencies does not allow someone to remain in the same position at the same location with the same employer beyond the limit.
Ask the prospective employer how it recognises overseas service and what evidence it needs. Have your classification and starting pay confirmed in writing. Immigration assessment, registration status and salary recognition are different decisions.
Ausdirect’s role is migration assistance. You can pursue roles with schools or recruitment providers while we help you understand the immigration pathway connected with your plans.
This page focuses on primary and secondary school teachers. Early childhood qualifications, migration assessment and registration can follow different arrangements. If your PGCE spans early years and primary, have the course and placement details reviewed for the exact occupation you intend to pursue.
AITSL: Advice on United Kingdom qualifications · VIT: Pre-assessment of overseas qualifications
Information checked on 16 October 2026. This is general information, not an individual eligibility assessment. Rules and pay schedules can change; use the linked official sources and advice about your circumstances before committing.
Review note: this draft awaits owner and qualified professional approval for replacement of the main website.