What qualifications do you need to teach English in China?

What Chinese law actually requires

China's Z work visa for teachers is one of the strictest in Asia: a bachelor's degree is a hard legal requirement, not a preference, and there's no common workaround. You'll also need an authenticated, apostilled criminal background check, and most provinces enforce an age ceiling somewhere around 55-60.

Nationality matters here more directly than in Vietnam or Cambodia — many provinces restrict foreign English-teaching roles to citizens of a defined list of countries where English is the primary or official language, which employers check before they'll even issue an invitation letter.

Your certificate is the requirement you control fastest — see which TEFL course China employers accept.

Paperwork is where most delays happen; the full list is in our guide to China work visa requirements.

What schools add on top of the legal minimum

Beyond the degree and background check, schools uniformly want an accredited TEFL certificate of at least 120 hours, plus notarised copies of your degree translated where required. International schools may want a teaching license or several years of classroom experience on top of the baseline.

A demo lesson and reference checks are standard for training centres and bilingual schools alike, since the visa paperwork alone doesn't tell an employer how you teach.

Where the legal line is firm vs. where it's employer preference

The degree, background check, and age/nationality rules sit on the legal side — provincial labour bureaus check these directly, and there's little room to negotiate around them. TEFL hours, teaching demos, and reference checks are the employer layer, and quality varies a lot between a reputable training centre and one cutting corners.

Always verify current rules with your specific city's foreign affairs office or your employer's HR team before booking flights — provincial enforcement of degree and age rules can differ, and rules have tightened in several cities in recent years.