Teaching English in Russia: The Current Position for Irish and UK Teachers

Teaching English in Russia is not a realistic option for Irish or UK teachers at present. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs rates Russia “Do Not Travel”, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel. That advisory status, not your qualifications, is the blocker: it can invalidate travel insurance, limits consular help, and complicates payments and flights.

Key takeaways

• The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs gives Russia its highest warning level, “Do Not Travel”, and states that “Irish citizens should not travel to Russia”.
• The UK FCDO “advises against all travel to Russia” and warns of “an increased risk of British nationals being detained”.
• Travel insurance is the practical sticking point. The FCDO states that cover “could be invalidated if you travel against advice” from it.
• The day to day mechanics of a job do not work either: European bank cards do not function, and there are no direct flights to Ireland, the UK or the EU.
• Consular assistance is severely limited on both sides, and dual nationals are treated as Russian citizens by the authorities there.
• We are not publishing visa steps or salary figures for Russia, because we cannot verify them from a primary Russian government source.

Can you teach English in Russia right now?

For someone holding an Irish or British passport, the honest answer is no, not in any way we would describe as a normal career move. It is worth stating clearly, because the question still gets asked and plenty of pages answer it as though nothing has changed since 2021.

Your qualifications are not the obstacle. A Level 5 TEFL certificate is a Level 5 TEFL certificate wherever you go. The obstacle is practical and legal: two governments telling their own citizens not to go, an insurance market that follows those advisories, a banking system your cards will not touch, and an air network that no longer connects Moscow to Dublin or London. Any one would make a placement awkward. Together they make it unworkable.

What does the Irish government advise about travel to Russia?

The Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice for the Russian Federation carries a security status of Do Not Travel, which the Department defines as “our highest level of warning. You should not travel to this country or territory.” The advice for Irish passport holders is unambiguous: “Irish citizens should not travel to Russia.”

The Department also sets out what it can and cannot do. On the Embassy in Moscow: “Due to staffing restrictions imposed by the Russian Government, the Embassy has significantly fewer resources to assist in any crisis.” On the risk to individuals: “You are at risk for arbitrary questioning and detainment by Russian officials while in the country,” noting that people have been targeted over social media posts.

One further line speaks to what happens if things deteriorate while you live there: “Irish citizens, seeking to leave Russia at short notice, should not rely on the possibility of an organised evacuation occurring.” For Irish citizens who also hold Russian citizenship, the Department notes that Russia “only recognises Russian citizenship for the purposes of local law enforcement and administration, including in areas of compulsory military service”.

What does the UK government advise?

The FCDO travel advice for Russia is aligned. It states that the “FCDO advises against all travel to Russia”.

On detention, the FCDO warnings and insurance page says: “There is an increased risk of British nationals being detained in Russia, including if the Russian authorities suspect you of engaging in or supporting activities against Russian law.” On what the UK could do about it: “Russia has a track record of targeting foreign nationals and holding them in detention as leverage over other countries. FCDO’s ability to assist you in these circumstances is extremely limited.” It adds that “Russian authorities are unlikely to allow UK consular staff to visit or assist you.”

On in country support generally, the FCDO says: “In-person UK government support in Russia is limited. It is very limited in parts of Russia.” The Embassy in Moscow and the Consulate in Ekaterinburg are open, but “the situation could change at short notice.”

The two advisories side by side

What are the practical barriers beyond the advisories?

Set the security warnings aside for a moment, which we would not advise doing in practice, and four everyday mechanics of the job still do not function.

Travel insurance

This is the one that catches people out. Insurers write policies against government advice, and the FCDO states the position directly on its warnings and insurance page: “Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.” Read that alongside the Irish Department’s reminder that it “cannot pay for emergency medical repatriation, repatriation of remains, or for expenses as a result of a personal emergency while you are abroad”, and the exposure becomes obvious.

Check the exact wording with your own insurer rather than taking anyone’s word for it, ours included. A few specialist providers will write cover for high risk destinations at a price. The general market will not.

Getting paid, and moving money

A teaching job is only a job if the salary reaches you. The FCDO safety and security page states: “International businesses and services have restrictions in place, including Mastercard and Visa, which means you may not be able to access money or other services.” The Irish Department is blunter: “it is no longer possible to use European bank cards in Russia, making payments by card, electronic bank transfers, and ATM cash withdrawals impossible.”

The backdrop is EU sanctions. The Council of the EU’s summary of sanctions against Russia lists bans on transactions with over 100 Russian banks alongside restrictions on Russian payment card systems. In practice, a salary paid into a Russian account is difficult to move home, and money sent from home is difficult to access there.

Flights and route options

There are no direct flights. The FCDO states: “You cannot fly directly from Russia to the UK or through EU countries. There are limited commercial airlines with indirect flights including through the Middle East, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Georgia and Turkey.” The Irish Department describes “severely limited or no flight routes directly to the EU”, and notes overland departure options through Latvia and Estonia. The Council of the EU confirms the underlying measure as “closure of EU airspace to all Russian aircraft”.

For a teacher on a contract that is not a minor inconvenience. It affects the cost of every trip home, the ease of a family emergency, and how quickly you could leave if you needed to.

Consular support

Both governments say the same thing in different words: if something goes wrong, they may not be able to help you much. That is a very different footing from teaching in Spain or Japan, where an embassy is a phone call and a short journey away.

Why are we not publishing visa or salary guidance for Russia?

Because we cannot verify it, and a guide built on unverified rules is worse than no guide.

Work permission for foreign nationals in Russia is set by the Russian authorities, and the FCDO makes the same point about entry on its entry requirements page: “The authorities in Russia set and enforce entry rules,” with readers directed to the Russian Embassy or a consulate. At the time of this review we could not reach an official Russian government source setting out current work permit conditions for foreign nationals. Rather than reconstruct the rules from secondary sites and older articles, we have left them out. If we cannot cite a primary source, we do not publish the claim.

The same applies to pay. We publish salary ranges only where they come from an official or clearly authoritative source, and where a reader could realistically receive that salary and move it home. Neither condition is met here, so we are quoting no figures at all. Any Russian teaching salary quoted online in euro or sterling should be treated with caution, because the transfer routes those figures assume no longer work as described.

It is also why the Russia entry in our complete guide to teaching English abroad without a degree marks the country as not recommended rather than listing requirements. A confident sounding checklist would be easy to write. It would not be accurate.

What would have to change for this to be revisited?

We would look at this again if the following moved, and we would want to see it in the official sources rather than in the news cycle.

• The advisories. The Irish status would need to come down from “Do Not Travel” and the FCDO would need to stop advising against all travel. Everything else follows that threshold.
• Insurance. Mainstream travel and medical cover would need to be obtainable at ordinary prices.
• Payments. European cards and international transfers would need to work again, so a teacher could be paid and could send money home.
• Air links. Direct or simply routed flights between Russia and Ireland, the UK or the EU would need to resume.
• Consular capacity. Both governments would need to describe their in country assistance in ordinary terms.
• A citable source on work permits. An accessible official Russian government page setting out the conditions for foreign nationals to work legally.

Until those change, this page stays as it is. We would rather it read as unhelpful than as wrong.

Where should you look instead?

If what drew you to Russia was a large, literate, city based market with a real appetite for English and a European feel, that is a reasonable thing to want and it is available elsewhere. Central and Eastern Europe is the closest fit. Poland, Czechia, Hungary and the Baltic states all run established language school sectors with autumn and January intakes, and as EU and EEA countries they are straightforward for Irish citizens on the right to work.

Further afield, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan sit in a similar cultural and linguistic orbit and are open in a way Russia is not. Turkey has a long established private language school market, and Vietnam and Thailand remain the highest volume entry points in Asia for newly certified teachers.

Whichever you look at, check that country’s government travel advice first, and confirm work permission with its own immigration authority or embassy rather than with a recruitment site.

Getting qualified while you decide

The certificate is the part that stays useful regardless of where you land. An accredited TEFL qualification does not expire, is not tied to one country, and is the first filter most employers apply. If you are still weighing up destinations, it is the piece worth finishing now, so that when you settle on a country you are applying rather than starting.

You can compare the accredited options on our TEFL courses overview, including Level 5 courses and the specialist add ons that matter in European and Asian hiring. The TEFL Institute Group does not offer placements, so nothing here depends on us having a partner school anywhere. Our interest is that you are qualified and that the information you plan around is accurate.

Position last reviewed on 30 August 2026 against the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and UK FCDO travel advice for the Russian Federation. This article will be updated if either government changes its advice. It is general careers information and not legal, immigration or insurance advice.