China hires foreign English teachers on a bachelor's degree plus two years of teaching experience or a recognized TEFL certificate, and the school sponsors the Z visa and work permit. A 120 hour accredited certificate meets the rule. The regulated 180 hour Level 5 TEFL diploma, Ofqual reference 610/1572/6, is the one Chinese employers can verify on a public register.
Written by Ian O'Sullivan, TEFL course specialist at Premier TEFL. Edited by Tara Bourke. Last updated 10 November 2026.
Key takeaways
- China's rule for foreign language teachers, set out in the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs notice WZF [2017] No. 40, is a bachelor's degree plus two years of relevant experience, with the experience requirement waived for holders of a recognized teaching certificate such as a TEFL.
- Legal teaching work requires a Z visa and a Foreigner's Work Permit, both sponsored by the employer. Working on a tourist or business visa is illegal.
- A 120 hour accredited certificate is the floor. Several provinces ask for the TEFL certificate itself to be notarized and authenticated, which is easier when the qualification sits on a public register.
- Since the 2021 tutoring reforms, foreign teacher hiring has shifted from private tutoring centers toward kindergartens, bilingual and international schools, and universities, which raises the bar on qualifications.
- China joined the Hague Apostille Convention on 7 November 2023, so US documents are now apostilled rather than legalized at a Chinese consulate.
- This guide sits under our pillar on which TEFL certification is best for which country, which compares China with the rest of Asia.
What does China legally require before a school can hire you?
A bachelor's degree, a clean criminal record, a health check and either two years of teaching experience or a TEFL certificate. Those are the inputs to a Foreigner's Work Permit, and the work permit is what unlocks the Z visa you enter the country on.
The Z visa itself is issued to people taking up paid employment in China, and the Chinese Visa Application Service Center lists the Notification Letter of Foreigner's Work Permit as the document that has to accompany the application. You cannot apply for the Z visa first and find a job later. The school starts the process by applying to the local foreign experts bureau for the work permit notification, and only then do you take your passport to a visa center.
The qualification rule that the bureau checks comes from the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. Its 2017 notice on foreign language teachers set the standard as a bachelor's degree or above plus two years of relevant teaching experience, and allowed the experience requirement to be waived for applicants holding a recognized international language teaching certificate such as a TEFL or TESOL. That one clause is why a first time teacher with no classroom history can still qualify, and why schools write "TEFL required" into job adverts.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Official source |
|---|---|---|
| Degree | Bachelor's degree or above in any subject, authenticated for use in China | SAFEA notice WZF [2017] No. 40, applied by the local foreign experts bureau |
| Teaching experience or certificate | Two years of relevant experience, or a recognized TEFL, TESOL or equivalent certificate in place of it | SAFEA notice WZF [2017] No. 40 |
| Criminal record check | National level check, apostilled since 7 November 2023 for countries in the Hague Convention | Work permit application, via the employer |
| Visa | Z visa for paid employment, applied for with the Notification Letter of Foreigner's Work Permit | Chinese Visa Application Service Center |
| After arrival | Health check at a designated hospital, then the physical work permit card and a residence permit within 30 days | Local Exit and Entry Administration, via the employer |
Source note: requirements summarized from the Chinese Visa Application Service Center and the SAFEA notice named above, checked 10 November 2026. Individual provinces and cities apply the national rule with their own paperwork, so confirm the local list with your employer. No salary figures appear on this page; they are in our dated China salary guide linked below.
Non native speakers are not shut out by the national rule, but many provinces ask for a degree taught in English or a passport from a majority English speaking country, and the rest want a proficiency certificate alongside the TEFL. Our step by step Z visa guide for China walks through the paperwork in order.
Which TEFL certification do Chinese employers accept?
Any accredited certificate of 120 hours or more satisfies the SAFEA rule. The better question is which certificate survives the paperwork, because China is one of the few countries that may ask you to notarize and authenticate the TEFL certificate itself, not just your degree.
That is where regulation earns its keep. A regulated qualification sits on a national framework and carries a reference number anybody can look up. The 180 Hour Government Regulated Level 5 TEFL Diploma is regulated by Ofqual in England under reference 610/1572/6 and awarded by Highfield Qualifications, which you can confirm on the register of regulated qualifications. When a notary in Beijing or a foreign experts officer in Chengdu wants to know whether your certificate is real, a public government register answers the question faster than an email to a training company.
| What China checks | 120 hour accredited certificate | 180 hour Level 5 diploma | 300 hour Level 5 advanced diploma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satisfies the SAFEA certificate clause | Yes, at 120 hours | Yes, 180 hours | Yes, 300 hours |
| Checkable on a government register | No, accredited but not regulated | Yes, Ofqual 610/1572/6 | Yes, Ofqual regulated at Level 5 |
| Survives notarization and authentication | Usually, with the provider's verification letter | Yes, register reference on the certificate | Yes, register reference on the certificate |
| Typical fit | First contract at a training center or kindergarten | Bilingual and international schools, public school programs | Universities, exam preparation, senior roles |
Source note: course hours and the 610/1572/6 regulatory reference verified against the live Premier TEFL product pages and the Ofqual register on 10 November 2026. Employer preferences are typical patterns and vary by school.
If you are still weighing certificates in general rather than China in particular, our hub on how to choose the best TEFL certification runs through the criteria in order, and the best TEFL certification for teaching in Asia puts China beside Korea, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam on the same yardstick.
How did the 2021 tutoring rules change who hires foreign teachers?
They moved the jobs. In July 2021 China's State Council issued the policy commonly called the double reduction, which barred for profit tutoring in core school subjects, including English, for students in compulsory education and prohibited online tutoring companies from employing foreign teachers based outside China. The private tutoring center market that had absorbed thousands of first time teachers shrank sharply.
What remained, and in several segments grew, was everything that is not after school tutoring: kindergartens and preschool English, bilingual and international schools running foreign curricula, public school programs and universities. Those employers hire on qualifications and classroom readiness rather than on accent alone. Our explainer on China's private ESL tutoring ban covers what changed, and our China salary, visa and best cities guide shows where the hiring is now.
Best TEFL Certification for China
Do you need a degree to teach English in China?
Yes. The degree is written into the national work permit rule and no school can waive it, because the file goes to the foreign experts bureau rather than staying in the school's own HR folder. The degree can be in any subject. China is checking that you completed a bachelor's, not that you studied linguistics, which is exactly why the teaching certificate carries so much weight in the same application.
If a degree is the obstacle, our guide to countries where you can teach English without a degree legally is the honest version of that conversation, and China is not on the list.
Which Premier TEFL course fits which China job?
Three courses, three fairly clean answers.
If your plan is a first contract at a kindergarten or a training center in a second tier city, and you want to be on a plane for the next intake, the 120 hour accredited online TEFL course satisfies the SAFEA certificate clause and takes weeks rather than months. It is the standard entry point and it upgrades later.
If your plan is a bilingual school, an international school or a public school program in Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen, the 180 Hour Government Regulated Level 5 TEFL Diploma is the one to buy. Reference 610/1572/6 on a public register is the difference between a recruiter taking your word for it and a recruiter checking, and in a country that may authenticate the certificate, that matters twice.
If you are aiming at a university post or a senior classroom role, the 300 Hour Level 5 Master TEFL Advanced Diploma adds the specialist material those roles screen for. Our breakdown of what a Level 5 TEFL course is and who needs one explains where that line sits.
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What does the paperwork actually look like, in order?
Here is the sequence that works, because most of the pain comes from doing the right things in the wrong order.
Start with your degree, your criminal record check and, if your province asks for it, your TEFL certificate while you are still at home. Since 7 November 2023 China accepts apostilles from other Hague Convention countries, so a US applicant gets each document apostilled by the relevant Secretary of State or the US Department of State rather than queuing at a Chinese consulate for legalization. This step takes weeks and it cannot be done from a hotel in Hangzhou.
Get certified while the documents are in transit. A 120 hour course fits comfortably inside an apostille window, and a Level 5 diploma taken at a steady pace fits inside a normal job hunt.
Then interview. Chinese schools move fast and usually want a demo lesson on video, so read our guide to the TEFL demo lesson before you agree to a date.
Once the school has your documents it applies for the work permit notification, you apply for the Z visa at a visa center, you fly, you do the health check, and the school converts the notification into the physical work permit and a residence permit within 30 days of arrival. Budget two to three months from signed contract to residence permit. The Paperwork Desk covers apostilles and police checks for every country, and The Visa Desk compares the routes side by side.
Does the city change the certification you need?
Not the certification, but it changes the competition and sometimes the paperwork. Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen are the most selective markets and the ones most likely to ask for an authenticated TEFL certificate alongside the degree. Second tier cities such as Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Xi'an have fewer international schools but far more kindergarten and bilingual roles, and they tend to move faster.
In the first tier cities a regulated Level 5 diploma is what shortens a long shortlist. In the second tier a 120 hour certificate opens most doors. Our guide to the highest paying cities in China for TEFL teachers breaks the markets down, and the cost of living in China for English teachers puts rent beside pay. If you are choosing between countries rather than cities, the best TEFL certification for Vietnam and the best TEFL certification for South Korea apply the same test to China's neighbors.
Start with the certification China can verify
China is a rules first market. The degree rule and the certificate clause are national, the paperwork is thorough, and a qualification that a government register can confirm is worth more in that file than one that depends on an email to a training company.
The strongest single thing you can put in that file is the 180 Hour Government Regulated Level 5 TEFL Diploma, Ofqual reference 610/1572/6. If you want to start sooner and upgrade later, the 120 hour accredited online TEFL course meets the SAFEA clause and counts toward the same career. You can compare every option on the Premier TEFL courses page.
How to cite this guide
Premier TEFL. Best TEFL Certification for China. Written by Ian O'Sullivan, edited by Tara Bourke. Last updated 10 November 2026. Retrieved from https://premiertefl.com/blogs/posts/best-tefl-certification-for-china
Last updated 10 November 2026. Chinese work permit rules are applied province by province and change without much notice, so confirm the current document list with your employer and the local foreign experts bureau before you commit.
