By Jess Jeffrey, Southeast Asia Country Specialist, Premier TEFL. Reviewed by Katie Troy.
You can teach English in Cambodia on a 120 hour TEFL certificate and fluent English, without the degree most of Asia insists on. What you cannot skip is the paperwork. Every foreign worker needs a permit through the government's FWCMS system within 90 days of arriving, and your employer needs a quota in place before yours can be processed.
Key takeaways
- A 120 hour TEFL certificate and fluent English are the practical entry requirements. A degree is preferred by employers but is not the legal barrier it is in Korea or Vietnam.
- Work permits run through the Foreign Workers Centralized Management System, and you must apply within 90 days of first entering Cambodia.
- Employers need a Foreign Manpower Quota approved before your permit can go through. Ask whether theirs is in place before you sign.
- Language center pay typically runs 1,000 to 1,700 US dollars a month, with international schools paying considerably more.
- Enforcement has tightened since 2024, so cash in hand work carries real risk now in a way it did not five years ago.
- Language centers hire year round. International schools recruit for an August or September start.
Cambodia at a glance for English teachers
| Factor | Detail |
|---|---|
| Typical language center salary | 1,000 to 1,700 US dollars a month |
| Typical monthly savings | 300 to 600 US dollars |
| Degree required by law | No, though many employers prefer one |
| Permit deadline | Within 90 days of first entry, via FWCMS |
| Main hiring cities | Phnom Penh and Siem Reap |
What does the work permit process actually involve?
This is the part of Cambodia that has changed most, and older guides get it badly wrong. The country used to have a reputation for a shrug of a visa system. That reputation is now about five years out of date.
Everything runs through the Foreign Workers Centralized Management System, the online platform operated by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. Two things follow from that, and both matter to you personally.
First, the clock. Foreign workers must apply for a work permit and employment card through FWCMS within 90 days of first entering Cambodia. Miss it and the penalty is KHR 12,600,000, roughly 3,150 US dollars, per person.
Second, and this is the one that catches teachers out: your employer needs a quota. Companies apply for a Foreign Manpower Quota through FWCMS between 1 September and 30 November for the following calendar year, capped at 10 percent of their Cambodian workforce under Prakas 196. If your school has not applied, your permit application can stall or be blocked entirely, and there is nothing you can do about it from your end.
So ask. Before you sign anything, ask the school directly whether their foreign worker quota is approved for the current year and whether they will sponsor your permit. A school that answers confidently has done this before. A school that gets vague is telling you something.
The enforcement picture has also shifted. Since 2024 FWCMS has been linked to the Ministry of Interior's immigration database, which means visa status and work permit status are now checked against each other. Permits are employer specific, so changing jobs means a new one.
You enter on an ordinary E class visa, not a tourist visa, and extend it once you have a job. A tourist visa cannot be converted into a working arrangement, whatever anyone tells you in a bar in Siem Reap.
What do English teachers earn in Cambodia?
Modest by regional standards, comfortable in practice. Cambodia's cost of living does a lot of work here: a modern one bedroom apartment in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap commonly rents for 300 to 600 US dollars a month, local meals cost a few dollars, and the economy runs on US dollars so there is no currency risk on your salary.
The figures below come from Premier TEFL's own Cambodia placement records and aggregated 2025 to 2026 contract offers, cross checked against live employer listings. They are typical ranges rather than measurements, and they move with city, hours and qualifications.
| Employer type | Entry level | Experienced | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private language center | 1,000 to 1,300 | 1,300 to 1,700 | Most common first job, often hourly, afternoons and evenings |
| Private or bilingual school | 1,200 to 1,600 | 1,600 to 2,200 | Daytime hours, more structure |
| International school | 1,800 to 2,500 | 2,500 to 3,500 and up | Usually needs a teaching license or PGCE |
| University | 1,000 to 1,500 | 1,500 to 2,000 | Lighter load, daytime, master's increasingly preferred |
| NGO and community programs | 700 to 1,100 | 1,100 to 1,500 | Some roles stipend based, mission driven |
A word on how you are paid. Registered employers withhold Cambodia's monthly Tax on Salary at source. Plenty of smaller language centers pay in cash and handle tax informally, which is exactly the arrangement that leaves you exposed when an inspector arrives. Ask whether an advertised salary is gross or net, and whether the school is registered, before you agree to anything.
Where does teaching in Cambodia fit against its neighbors?
Hear it from teachers who did it: our graduate reviews on Google
★★★★★
“I completed Premier's comprehensive TEFL certification program in '22 and had a GREAT experience. The entire staff was very supportive. Sandra Lane was especially helpful. If you are serious about getting your TEFL certificate, please consider Premier TEFL.”
Michael Ripoll · 2024 · Google review
Cambodia is the easiest door into Southeast Asia, and the lowest paid of the obvious options. That trade is the whole point of it.
| Market | Typical salary | Typical savings | Degree required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambodia | 1,000 to 1,700 | 300 to 600 | No |
| Thailand | 1,000 to 1,800 | 200 to 500 | Usually |
| Vietnam | 1,400 to 2,000 | 300 to 700 | Yes, for the work permit |
| South Korea | 1,600 to 2,500 | 600 to 1,200 | Yes |
If you are weighing these against each other, our guides to TEFL certification for Thailand and TEFL certification for Vietnam go deeper on each, and the top TEFL destinations in Asia overview sets out the region as a whole.
Who actually gets hired, and where?
Cambodia does not restrict teaching work permits to a fixed list of native English speaking nationalities the way much of North Asia does, which makes it unusually open. Teachers from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand make up the bulk of the foreign workforce, South Africans are well represented, and fluent non native speakers can and do work legally. Cambodia does not publish a breakdown of foreign teachers by nationality, so treat that as what is visible on the ground rather than a measured share.
Geographically it is concentrated. Phnom Penh has the deepest market by a wide margin, Siem Reap comes second and trades salary for a gentler pace, and beyond those two the openings thin out quickly.
The employers worth knowing are the Australian Centre for Education, run by IDP Education with campuses in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, the British Council, and the larger local chains and international schools. Between them they account for a large share of formally sponsored foreign teacher roles, which in a market this informal is the thing that matters.
What is the government doing about English teaching?
Enough that it affects your job prospects, which is not always true of education policy. Cambodia treats English as a strategic skill for tourism, foreign investment and ASEAN integration, and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has been building out the institutional side rather than just the rhetoric.
In November 2025 the Ministry and UNICEF launched the Capacity Development Platform, a nationwide learning management system built to digitize and formalize teacher training across the country. There is also an Action Plan on Multilingual Education running from 2024 to 2028.
The practical read for a foreign teacher: the direction of travel is toward qualified, documented, formally employed teachers. That is good news if you arrive with a real certificate and a school that does paperwork properly, and bad news for the informal end of the market.
How long does it take to get qualified?
Teach English in Cambodia: Salary and Visa Guide
Most teachers certify online in four to eight weeks alongside work. The 120 hour Online TEFL Course meets what Cambodian language centers ask for. If you are aiming at international schools or want the qualification to travel with you, the 180 Hour Level 5 TEFL Diploma is regulated by Ofqual under reference 610/1572/6 and awarded by Highfield Qualifications. You can check any regulated qualification yourself on the UK government register.
When should you apply?
Language centers recruit continuously, so there is no season to wait for and plenty of teachers find work after arriving and interviewing in person. International schools are the exception and recruit three to four months ahead of an August or September start, so those applications go in around April or May.
Cambodia's own school year runs roughly from early November to August, with a long break over the hottest months, which is worth knowing if you are working with local bilingual schools rather than international ones.
Still weighing up where to go? Our personality based guide to choosing a country compares the main options side by side.
Get qualified for Cambodia
Cambodia rewards people who turn up prepared and legal. Get the certificate, pick a school that will sponsor your permit properly, and the rest of it is a genuinely easy country to land in. Browse the full range on our accredited TEFL courses page.
Sources and method: work permit rules, deadlines and penalties are from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training's FWCMS system and Cambodian Labour Law. Education policy items are from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and UNICEF. Salary and savings ranges are from Premier TEFL placement records and aggregated 2025 to 2026 contract offers, reviewed annually. Learner numbers and the nationality split of foreign teachers are not published by any source we consider reliable, so both are described qualitatively rather than given as figures. Last reviewed 15 September 2026.
