Interstate or overseas teachers

Teachers who are registered interstate or in New Zealand or completed their initial teacher education (ITE) or early childhood (EC) education studies overseas are required to provide additional documentation when applying for teacher registration in Victoria.

Applying as an interstate or New Zealand registered teacher (mutual recognition)

Applicants who hold teacher registration in another Australian state or territory or in New Zealand can apply for registration in Victoria under mutual recognition.

To be eligible for mutual recognition, applicants must

• not be the subject of disciplinary proceedings in Australia or New Zealand (including any preliminary investigations or action that might lead to disciplinary proceedings)
• not have their registration cancelled or currently suspended in Australia or New Zealand as a result of disciplinary action
• not be otherwise personally prohibited from teaching in Australia or New Zealand 
• not be subject to any special conditions as a result of criminal, civil or disciplinary proceedings in Australia or New Zealand, and
• outline any special conditions they are subject to.

If the teacher holds provisional registration interstate or in New Zealand they may be eligible to obtain provisional registration via mutual recognition.

If they hold full registration interstate or in New Zealand they may be eligible to obtain immediate full registration via mutual recognition.

How to apply under mutual recognition

Teachers who wish to apply for registration in Victoria under mutual recognition can do so by creating a MyVIT account and completing an application online.

During the application process, the teacher will be asked to give VIT permission to verify their interstate or New Zealand registration. This is done via a statutory declaration.

• Statutory declaration (to be used by teachers registered in another Australian state or territory)
• Trans-Tasman statutory declaration (to be used by teachers registered in New Zealand)

Please note - a new scheme, Automatic Mutual Recognition, has been introduced by Commonwealth and State Governments aimed at increasing occupational mobility. This scheme does not currently apply to teachers. 

Visit the How to register page to find out more about registering to teach in Victoria. You can also find out more about the registration timeline on the How long does it take to register page.

Applicants who completed their studies or taught overseas

Applicants who have completed their initial teacher education (ITE) or early childhood (EC) education studies in a country outside of Australia or New Zealand may apply for provisional or full registration.

Overseas applicants with appropriate qualifications will be eligible for immediate full registration if

• they have completed at least 80 days of teaching in an Australian or New Zealand school or early childhood service in the past five (5) years, and
• have held full registration in Australia or New Zealand within the past five (5) years.

If an overseas applicant with appropriate qualifications does not meet these requirements, they may be eligible to obtain provisional registration.

Overseas qualifications

All overseas registrants – regardless of the registration category they apply for – are required to provide evidence of their overseas qualifications so VIT can undertake an assessment to ensure equivalency to an approved ITE or EC program.

The documentation provided should include an academic transcript and evidence of completion, which includes details about

• number of days spent supervised practice teaching (sometimes referred to as student teaching), and
• the setting (primary or secondary) where supervised practice teaching days were completed.

If this is not listed on their official academic transcript, they must provide an official letter from their university containing this information.

Read VIT's Qualifications Policy to find out more.

English language competency

If a teacher has completed any of their ITE or early childhood (EC) program studies outside of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada or the Republic of Ireland, they may be required to complete an English language competency test.

Visit the English language competency page for more information.

Overseas criminal record check

If the teacher lived continuously in any country other than Australia for 12 consecutive months within the last ten (10) years, while over the age of 18, they will need to provide a certified copy of an overseas criminal record check (CRC) issued by the national police service from each overseas country they lived in covering the time they lived there under these criteria.

Visit the Criminal history checks page for more information.

How to apply as an overseas registrant

Overseas applicants must create a MyVIT account and complete an application online.

Visit the How to register page to find out more about registering to teach in Victoria. You can also find out more about the registration timeline on the How long does it take to register page.