Becoming a driving instructor gives you the opportunity to work almost anywhere in the world.
Thousands of Britons emigrate from the UK every year dreaming of clear skies, sunny beaches and palm trees.
Living an improved life in a beautiful climate is certainly appealing, but just like here in the UK, you need to earn a living to support yourself or your family.
Transferring your existing skills or starting a new career abroad can be one of the toughest challenges for newly arrived migrants.
Being a driving instructor is one of the few careers with very easily transferable skills. In fact, driving instructors from the UK are in a great position to work abroad as the testing and examinations required to work here are much more stringent and robust than in many other countries.
This puts UK driving instructors in a great position as their existing skills are often at a higher level than those of local instructors abroad.
Adapting to a new Lifestyle
Working as a driving instructor abroad is great as the flexible hours allow you to spend time adapting to your new surroundings and due to the nature of the work you will meet loads of new people straight away.
Spending time with people from a variety of different backgrounds (as driving instructors do everyday!) could enable you to develop a much better understanding of the new culture you’ve become immersed in, which may also help you settle much quicker.
What’s required to become a driving instructor?
In most countries you will need to sit a series of exams to prove you have the skills required to teach. If the country you are moving to speaks a different language then you will need to sit the exams in their language.
In most locations the exams will be based on your driving ability, teaching skills and theory of the road.
Popular destinations for driving instructors
New Zealand and Australia
Australia and New Zealand are two popular destinations many Brits migrate to every year.
In Australia, you are allowed to drive with a British license for three months before you are required to obtain the local documents.
As Britain and Australia have excellent diplomatic relations, British licenses are recognized in most states. So all you need to do to qualify is take the exams and pay the fees.
Travel tips for Australia
Travel Tips for New Zealand
- 15 Awesome Places to visit in New Zealand
- 11 Things to do in Queenstown, New Zeland
- Things to Do in Christchurch, New Zealand
- 15 Things To Do On New Zealand’s North Island
- What to do in Wellington, New Zealand
- Therapeutic Indulgence in Rotorua
- Tamaki Maori Village, Rotorua – Sharing Maori Culture with the World
- White Water Rafting the Tongariro River, Taupo New Zealand
- Whangarei Falls – The Most Photogenic in New Zealand >
- Freakin Out – Experiencing Auckland’s SkyWalk
- Discovering great beer and wine in Auckland, New Zealand
Europe
For many (particularly those who are bi-lingual) moving to Spain, France or other countries on the continent is extremely appealing.
Qualifying to a be a driving instructor in these countries can be a bit more difficult as you need to be confident in your ability to speak the language as well as simply passing the relevant exams.
However, in Spain there is often demand from the considerable expat community for driving lessons in English.
Another way to make the most of your skills is to train new arrivals who are qualified drivers but want to adapt to the driving cultures and styles of their new country.
Spain travel tips
- Things to Do in Barcelona – local’s tips
- Things to Do in Madrid
- 3 Day Itinerary for visiting the Unique Basque Region of Spain
- Don’t miss things to do in Valencia
- 6 hidden corners not to miss in Seville
- 8 things to do in the Canary Islands
Europe travel tips
- Check out this list of destinations in Europe on a budget!
- 10 Italy honeymoon destinations for an unforgettable experience
- 9 Best things to do in Lake Garda, Italy with kids
- 3 secret sun and sand destinations in Europe
- What to do in Bodrum Turkey
- How to Travel Europe on a budget
Business skills
It’s important to think about how you will set up your business before you move. If you are moving to a popular expat destination developing business links with other Brits would be a sensible way to start.
Make sure you understand how the tax systems work in your new country. If you are working as a self employed instructor making sure you know how and when to fill out the relevant tax documents is essential.
Aim to learn as much as possible about local customs and etiquette, especially those associated with driving.
For example is it considered polite to hold the door open for younger or older passengers? Should you display any religious mementos in your car? These points may seem trivial but it’s important to understand what’s expected locally.
A few business tips
- 10 key lessons learned from building a blogging business over 10 years
- 8 Key ingredients for a winning business
- 6 things to consider before becoming location independent
Moving forward
If moving abroad to work as a driving instructor sounds like the type of career change you need then now is the time to start thinking about moving forward with the idea.
Carry out as much research on driving and running your own business in your chosen destination as possible.
Try to make contact with expat community groups as they may be able to put you in touch with important contacts to help establish your business.
Finally, remember there will almost certainly be set backs and regrettable surprises, so try to be as prepared for the unexpected as possible.
Starting a new career in a new country can be difficult and intimidating but also highly rewarding.
However hard it may seem remember just how far you’ve come and what you have already achieved. If things are looking bleak, to cheer yourself up, just think how much worse everything could be back in the UK with the grey skies and cold drizzle!
More Work Abroad tips
- How to teach English online to Chinese students from wherever you are
- 20 ways to work and travel in Australia
- How to teach English overseas (from a teacher who has done it)
- 9 ways to protect and prepare yourself when moving abroad
This article was written by Laura Harris of RED Instructor Training who provide driving instructor training all across the UK
Wow! Driving instructors, English teachers… Those guys can really enjoy life of nomadic existence. No matter where you are in the world – people want to learn to drive and want to learn English 🙂 Although, I can’t complain – we, the programmers, actually don’t have the problem adapting to new places either. Most of the times we don’t even need to learn new skill set 🙂
Never really thought of being a driving instructor! That’s a new one for sure.
I have a friend that is planning on doing exactly this. Finishing her diving instructor courses this fall is Canada and hopefully moving to Thailand in the spring.
A great idea. Something I never thought of before
driving instructor
“to become a good driver is not only to be able to manage a car and know traffic rules, It is also to observe and check the road and surrounds to be able to recognize a way out in dangerous situations.
While we are dealing with items within the vicinity of Working around the World as a Driving Instructor | yTravelBlog, Driving aggressively but with total control is the best style possible. Putting your car near its limit as long as possible and avoiding damage the car will be a great challenge. A driver’s consistency and smoothness are major concerns when tuning your car to the highest standards.
I am an instructor here in England, I must say I hadn’t thought of doing it abroad! Mind you, a lot of the places I have been, I am not sure I’d want to drive myself there, let alone teach someone else! Dubai for example had 7 lanes of traffic all passing eachother on both sides and swerving from one lane to the next – it was a bit scary!
Yeah! There are some places that would be frightening enough to drive- I can only imagine teaching
when i started my first driving instructor, i was so very happy and so proud of myself..i strolling everywhere whenever i want..a lots of place i strolled and discover and eventually i forgot to went back home.
it’s good to know and enroll this course not only for financial supplements but its your way of enjoying your self together with your special someone.:)
I would love to work in spain as a driving instructor but cant seem to find a driving school willing to give me a start I am a qualified instructor already.
Having done this myself and my husband can’t agree that this is as simple as you have suggested. Perhaps you should do some hard research beforehand, having been an instruct or for 20+years your blog suggests it’s a walk in the park-it isn’t…
I think everyone is different and people experience different things. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
I appreciate a response but it would be helpful if you had actually made some concrete and valid input rather than some generic off the cuff comment. As a driving instructor yourself I find your comments of no value.
I’m not a driving instructor Kim. I’m Caz, the owner of this blog. As you can see from the post, the author is guest writer, meaning I didn’t write it. I can’t offer you any valuable comments as I don’t know anything about this type of work. Which is why I offered an off the cuff comment, just to let you know I appreciate you sharing. Perhaps you can elaborate more on the problems you experienced, which might help anyone else who should happen across this post. It was written a long time ago, and I cannot track down the author to add his further comments.
I think the authors point is that you should open your own driving school rather than work for someone else.
Here in Australia the driving schools that will employ you want you to have your own dual control car.
I as a driving instructor see very little point in working for them except to get experience.
Exactly. I agree with you. One can only work for them only to gain experience which is also very important. Opening own driving school may not be a very easy thing to do but it can bring a lot of profit. 🙂
What is the salary for an American to teach internationally
Been an HGV/PSV & B plus E driving instructor for the last five years in the UK..but previously had over 30years experience with over 20 of that driving all over Europe…currently living in Spain & thinking about starting a new off road course for those who want or need to improve their reversing skills using trailers & caravans