How is professional photography viewed culturally in different nations?

As someone who teaches elementary school and is just now becoming a semi-professional photographer (meaning that I'll keep my day job, but am getting requests for paid services from people in my town--senior photos, events, etc.) I am just curious about professional photography internationally.

Here in the USA anyone can jump in and start in any capacity (small time like me, all the way up to high-dollar fashion, celebrity weddings, etc).

So, for those of you here and elsewhere, how did you go about becoming a professional or semi-professional? Did you take classes? Degrees? Are there unique licensing requirements in your nation? Are there forbidden subjects or forbidden events? Are there unique requirements for shooting weddings or births, etc.?

How is shooting in the Middle East different than, say, South Africa or the Netherlands?

Just me being curious.

New Zealand here.

...no legal requirement to register a photography business or to be licenced. I did a six month course at Photoschool and got the Certificate in Practical Photography: but there is no requirement to be certified. There are a wide range of photographic related courses/degrees/diplom​as that you can do.

You can start trading as a sole trader without notifying anyone, but you have to pay your taxes. Most photographers trade as sole traders, but a few from limited liability companies. Its very hard to make money here. There are a core group of photographers in the country who get the bulk of the commercial work, a larger group who do weddings and portraits, and plenty more who do all of the above, and other bits and pieces. I can count on two hands the full time photographers in Wellington: most have another form of income. If you are good at what you do and you have a reputation, you can keep busy. But you need to be constantly marketing/networking yourself and maintaining relationships.

There is no "senior" market down here. If you are shooting seniors in New Zealand, you are shooting very old people. Certain market segments, like editorial sports coverage, are dominated by single agencies and freelancers.

Getting gear is a hassle. I just priced out some Einsteins for a planned lighting upgrade next year. The easiest option is to import from Australia: so I've got GST (take off Australia GST and add NZ), import duties and exchange rates to deal with. There is a fair amount of stuff available locally (and the "grey market", known here as parallel imports) are popular, but there is a huge range of things that we have to get from overseas. I ordered a USB cover and stick from WHCC. It cost me $48.00 for the USB cover and stick, and $55.00 in shipping fees.