Ben is the first teacher verified on this site, and he is doing it the long way so that the road is written down: the FBI background report, the online certificate that leads to a real US state teaching license, the exams, the Thai paperwork. Every step he has to take is on this page as he takes it. No referral fee, no affiliate link, no discount code. Just the way we got certified, so anyone can.
"I will be the first person to be verified, and I will show you what I am having to do to get my background report and certificate, so anyone can do it. We don't make anything — just an honest referral to a way we got certified. Anyone can do it with a college degree and a clean background report."— Ben Cunningham, October 1, 2026
A bachelor's or higher from an accredited US college or university. If yours is from outside the US, Moreland asks for a transcript evaluation. Order an official transcript now; you will need it twice.
The document that Thai immigration, the Teachers' Council, Moreland and this site all ask for. You request it from the FBI directly, or through one of the FBI-approved "channelers", which cost more and are faster. It needs your fingerprints; from Thailand that means a fingerprint card done at a police station or a channeler's partner, or an appointment on a trip home. The FBI's own fee is small (it was $18 at the time of writing); channelers charge their own. It must be dated within twelve months when you use it, so time it.
Moreland University is a US online graduate school of education in Washington, DC, accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission. Its Teacher Preparation Certificate Program (the program still known as TEACH-NOW) runs nine months, including twelve weeks of clinical practice — and if you are already teaching, the clinical practice can be done in your own classroom, including in Thailand. Admission: a bachelor's degree, a 3.0 GPA (with exceptions for experience and references), English proficiency, a photo ID and a short writing sample.
Tuition is $7,200, and you can pay by the month: Moreland lists two interest-free plans — $1,000 down and eight monthly payments of $775, or $875 down and eleven monthly payments of $575. Those are Moreland's numbers at the time of writing; check its page before you count on them.
Why this one and not a weekend TEFL: it is an educator preparation program approved for a state teaching license, which is what international schools ask for, not only a certificate.
The program is the educator-preparation step on the road to a DC teaching license. After it: pass the certification exams DC requires for your subject and grades, clear DC's own background check, and apply through OSSE's online credentialing system. Moreland publishes the same road for other states; whether a DC license is accepted where you want to work later is a question for that state, and we will not pretend to answer it for all fifty.
None of the above is a license to teach in Thailand. For that: a non-immigrant B visa, a work permit from the Ministry of Labor and, in a school, a teacher license or waiver from the Teachers' Council of Thailand. The checklist, in the order it actually happens →
Four documents, one video call, and your name goes up with a date on it. List yourself →
| Item | USD, roughly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Moreland University certificate program | 7,200 | Nine months; monthly plans from $575 a month after the first payment |
| FBI Identity History Summary | 18 + | Plus fingerprinting, plus a channeler's fee if you use one |
| Certification exams for the license | varies | Set by the testing body per exam; budget a few hundred dollars |
| Transcripts, notarizations, an apostille for Thailand | varies | Small, but they add up and they take weeks — start early |
| What USAEnglishTeacher.com makes from any of this | 0 | No referral fee, no affiliate link, no commission. If that ever changes it will say so here first. |
Nothing. USAEnglish has no referral agreement with Moreland University, the FBI channeler services or OSSE, and receives no payment if you enroll. The links are the ones Ben used himself. If that ever changes, this paragraph changes first, with the date. (Checked October 18, 2026.)
The ten-week TEFL/TESOL course in Udon Thani is cheaper, it practices you in real Thai classrooms, and it counts for verification on this site. It does not lead to a US state teaching license. If you want a Thai government school, a language school, private tutoring or a bilingual program, it is often enough. If you want an international school, the license is what they ask for, and Moreland is the road we know. Both are honest. Pick the one that matches the job you actually want.
Verification in progress. The founder goes through the same four checks as everyone else. His profile is up, showing each check as it stands; the "Verified" line goes on it the day all four pass and not before.
| Step | Status · as stated October 1, 2026 |
|---|---|
| US degree | Held. Transcript to be ordered for Moreland and for this site's check. |
| FBI background report | In progress. |
| Teaching certificate — Moreland University | In progress. Paying by the month. |
| Native US English | Oregon. The video call will be done by someone other than Ben. |
Updated November 4, 2026. The lines above say what was stated on October 1, 2026; when a step is done, the date it was done goes beside it.
"We have a brand, USA English, for a reason. It's more than the words. It's our cultural logos."— Ben Cunningham, October 1, 2026
Logos is the old Greek word for both the word and the reason behind it. That is what an American teacher brings into a Thai classroom or a family's living room that a textbook cannot: the way an American classroom argues and asks questions and speaks up; the habit of standing in front of a room and telling a story; the idiom of American business, film, sport and song; the accent that Thai parents ask for by name. The language and the reasons underneath it, together.
Our sister sites are free to every teacher on earth and always will be. This one isolates a single value — a real American degree, a real certificate, a clean record, a native speaker — and checks it, so that a parent in Khon Kaen or a head of school in Bangkok does not have to.
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