Almost everything written about teaching abroad is about teaching English, and almost none of the actual shortages are. If you are looking for teaching jobs abroad with visa sponsorship, the demand is in maths, physics, chemistry, computing and special educational needs, and in several countries it is backed by money rather than goodwill.
The UK will pay a physics teacher GBP 10,000 to relocate. Austria added inclusive early childhood educators to its shortage list this year. Germany cannot fill its early years posts. None of that requires a TEFL certificate, and all of it requires something harder.
The UK pays some teachers to come, and not others
The International Relocation Payment is a GBP 10,000 grant, not a loan, intended to cover visa fees, moving costs and the rest. It is also the most tightly targeted incentive in this field, and the targeting is the part people miss:
- You must not be a UK or Irish citizen. Both are excluded.
- You must teach secondary physics, general science with physics, or a language other than English. Not maths, not primary, not English.
- You need a contract of at least one year at an English state secondary school.
- You need an accepted visa, such as Skilled Worker, Youth Mobility or the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.
- You must arrive no more than three months before the contract starts.
So it is a physics and modern languages scheme wearing the clothes of a teaching scheme. If that is your subject, it is the single best financial offer available to a migrating teacher anywhere. If it is not, the UK is still open to you, just without the cheque. The scheme’s own guidance sets out the current terms, and our post on UK immigration changes covers where it sits among everything else that has moved.
One piece of good news specific to teachers. In July 2025 the UK raised the minimum skill level for a Skilled Worker visa to degree level, which knocked out around 180 occupations. Teaching was never one of them, so unlike most trades, teachers were not affected by that change at all.
Where else the shortages are
| Country | What is short | Route |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Secondary physics, science, modern languages, maths, computing | Skilled Worker visa. GBP 10,000 relocation payment for physics and languages |
| Germany | Early years educators, schoolteachers, special educational needs staff | Skilled worker route. Recognition is per federal state, and teaching is a regulated profession in each |
| Austria | Inclusive early childhood educators, added to the 2026 list | Red White Red Card as a shortage occupation, so no labour market test. 55 of 90 points, with German worth 25 |
| Poland | Schoolteachers and teachers of children needing extra support | Poland work visa. Both appear on the shortage occupations list |
| Ireland | Reported shortages in STEM, special education and early years | Critical Skills Employment Permit. Check the current list, as the eligible occupations are revised |
The pattern is worth naming. Nowhere on this list is short of history teachers or generalist primary staff. What is short everywhere is physics, computing and special needs, which are the three specialisms hardest to train domestically. If you hold one of them you are in a far stronger position than the general teacher shortage headlines suggest. If you do not, the headlines are overselling your prospects.
Registration is the barrier, as it is for nurses
Teaching is a regulated profession in every country above, which means a body has to accept your qualification before you can stand in front of a class. This is the part that takes months and the part nobody researches first.
Two specifics worth knowing. Germany assesses teaching qualification recognition state by state, so approval in one federal state does not carry to another, and its teacher training model expects two subjects rather than one, which catches out single subject specialists. Austria and Poland both want a formal comparison of your qualification before any points or permits mean anything.
Language is the other filter, and it is a harder one for teachers than for most occupations. A welder can work in a German workshop with modest German. A teacher cannot teach a German curriculum in English, which is why Germany and Austria are long projects and the UK and Ireland are not.
If you did want to teach English after all
It is a genuine route, it is just a different one: shorter contracts, lower barriers, less likely to lead to residency, and concentrated in Asia and the Gulf rather than in the countries above. We cover it separately in moving abroad to teach English. Do not conflate the two when you are planning, because they lead to very different places.
What to do next
- Check your subject against the shortage, not the headline. Physics, computing and special needs open doors that other subjects do not.
- If you teach physics or a modern language, look at the UK first. Nowhere else pays you to come.
- Start recognition before you apply for anything. It is the long pole, and in Germany it is per state.
- Be honest about language. If you cannot teach in the local language, your realistic list is the English speaking countries plus international schools.
Country detail: Germany’s bottleneck professions, the Austrian shortage occupation list, the Polish work visa, Ireland’s Critical Skills permit and the UK Skilled Worker visa.
Browse teaching and education roles with visa sponsorship on our board.
Last checked September 2026. Shortage lists and the terms of the International Relocation Payment are both revised, and the eligible subjects are narrower than the scheme’s name suggests, so confirm yours before counting on it.
