Well its official... The "New" 2015 China foreign teacher requirements are exactly the same as the 2013 and 2014 requirements even if some shady job agents and TEF: sales reps want you to believe otherwise. The official Chinese government requirements for a foreigner to teach in China today are:
- A bachelor degree in any major
- A valid passport with a Z visa
- 2 years previous work experience
- English fluency
- Age 21-60 years
- Police certificate for Beijing
These are the official 2015 MANDATORY legal requirements to teach in China and anything more is optional according to SAFEA, the U.S. embassy, Chinese Embassy in Washington, and China Ministry of Education as you can check yourself at these links:
SAFEA.com
beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/acs_teach.html
moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_2803/index.html
Teaching certificates (TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA) are not mandatory unless you work for the EF chain that requires them. But if you have never taught before getting one is a damn good idea and may help you find a position faster. At present about 8% of expat teachers in China have one and the trend is growing.
If some China job agent or recruiter tries to tell you something different, just send him these three links below and tell him he is badly misinformed:
scam.com/showthread.php?t=616386
bjstuff.com/profiles/blogs/mystery-news-article-about-new-china-foreign-esl-tefl-teacher
chinascamwatch.org
New 2015 Foreign ESL - TEFL Teacher Requirements & Qualifications
Hi CFTU,
Thank you for this sharing of information. 
Priscilla
Gosh.
First post and it's a cracker.
What an excellent start for any new member.
Welcome to the forum.
Does anyone know the most reasonable and reliable online TEFL, TESOL, or CELTA training with certificate? I've searched around and there are so many, yet most of them are priced way out of my budget range :-). Any good references on these ?
SAFEA have a very cost-effective TEFL course.
http://tefl.chinajob.com/
I suspect, maybe wrongly, though that it will only be valid in China
Thank you, it looks great and sure useable elsewhere, but it does not fit my schedule. I may have to resort to an online version.
Are you sure that the age is correct? Last I heard it was around 23 or 25 as teachers needed two years of post graduate work experience to get a Z visa.
http://www.eslinsider.com/qualification … iwan-japan
good
Hi, I'm not sure if anybody has recommended i-to-i's TEFL course but I have been in contact with them and they provide and online course with an extra 20 hours weekend class optional. The web site is onlinetefl.com. Hope it helps.
This may be a dumb question, but is the work experience post-degree only or is part time work while you were at university accepted? I have not been able to find a straight answer on this anywhere.
I think it is post degree, yet I would start applying to jobs in China and see what you find out. Different provinces can have slightly different requirements.
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