By Tara Bourke, Europe Country Specialist, Premier TEFL. Reviewed by Ola Flynn.
JET's 2027 application is still not live. Korea's EPIK has been open since 1 August and is reviewing in the order applications arrive. Spain's next window is months away. If you are waiting for a portal to open, the useful work this fortnight is documents, not refreshing.
The Departure Board is Premier TEFL's fortnightly read on who is hiring, which application windows are open, and which deadlines are close enough to matter. It publishes on the 4th and the 18th.
This is issue 004, published 18 September 2026. Windows close and pay moves, so check the current issue for today's board.
Where the big three stand today
| Program | Status today | Closing point | What to do now |
|---|---|---|---|
| JET, Japan | Not open. Listed as opening Fall 2026 | November 2026, no date published | Request references and transcripts. Register for the opening alert. |
| EPIK, South Korea | Open since 1 August, rolling | None published. Closes when places fill | Apply. Position in the queue is the whole game here. |
| NALCAP, Spain | Closed. Next window expected around February | Usually April, assignments first come first served | Nothing yet. Revisit in the new year. |
Why has JET still not opened?
Because it is not late yet, even though it feels like it. JET Program USA's own pages still carry the same line they have carried all summer: the 2026 application is closed, and the 2027 application will open in Fall 2026. The signup at jetapplication.com exists to tell you the moment that changes.
The useful reference point is last year. The 2026 cycle's application became available on Tuesday 30 September 2025 and closed on Friday 14 November 2025 at 11:59pm Hawaii Standard Time. JET's published timeline for the 2027 cycle gives only months rather than dates: application available September 2026, deadline November 2026, interviews late January to early February 2027, results April 2027, placement notification May 2027, departures July and August 2027.
Read those two things together and the picture is calm. We are inside the normal opening window, not past it. If you are watching for it, the last week of September is the period to watch.
One thing worth putting in the diary in the meantime: there is a virtual session with JET alumni on 24 September, 8:00 to 9:30pm Eastern, run for prospective applicants. It is the cheapest way to get your questions answered before you are inside a live application with a deadline attached.
What does EPIK's September agency review actually mean?
Less than the rumor suggests, and it is worth being precise because this one circulates badly every autumn.
EPIK's Spring 2027 application opened on 1 August 2026 at 9:00am Korea Standard Time and is still open. EPIK does not publish a closing date for any intake. Its own explanation is that the process works like rolling admission, so the closing point moves with the number of positions and the number of applications received. The spring term has a main intake in late February with later intakes in March and April.
What changed this month is that EPIK told its partner recruitment agencies it would begin reviewing agency submissions in September. That is a schedule for processing work already submitted. It is not a cutoff, and an application submitted after it has not missed anything.
The part that genuinely does matter is order. EPIK processes applications in the sequence they arrive, which means the same candidate with the same documents is in a stronger position in September than in December, purely because of where they sit in the queue. There is no separate fast lane for stronger applicants. If Korea is the plan, being early is the strategy.
Is Spain worth waiting for?
It is worth planning for, but there is nothing to do about it this month. The portal is closed and the ministry publishes no date for the next application period, so an opening around February is an expectation drawn from the usual late January to early February pattern rather than a confirmed date.
The terms, from the Spanish Ministry of Education's own page: a monthly stipend of 800 to 1,000 euros depending on the region, 14 to 16 hours a week of assistant teaching, free medical insurance, and placements running from 1 October to 31 May for most assignments. Assignments are first come, first served, and most are made in April.
That timing has a practical consequence. Spain is a spring decision that lands you in a classroom the following October, so it sits a full year behind a Korea application made this month. If you need to be teaching sooner than next autumn, Spain is not the route this cycle.
What should you actually do in the next two weeks?
Collect the things other people control. Every application on this board asks for references and official transcripts, and both arrive on somebody else's timetable. Requesting them in October, once a portal is live and a deadline is visible, is how people end up submitting a weaker application than they could have.
| Task | Why it is first |
|---|---|
| Ask two referees this week | The single most common reason an application is submitted late. You cannot chase faster than a referee writes. |
| Order official transcripts | Registrars work to their own turnaround. If your degree is not yet conferred, request a statement of expected graduation at the same time. |
| Check your passport validity | Renewals are slow and every one of these routes ends in a visa application. |
| Finish the TEFL certificate | JET does not require one but states on its own FAQ that it is an asset in selection. EPIK expects one. |
| Register for the JET opening alert | There is no published date, so the notification is the only reliable signal. |
Get qualified before the portals open
The certificate is the one item on that list entirely within your control, and it is the one that stops being useful the moment a deadline passes. The 120 Hour Online TEFL Course is the standard entry qualification and most people finish it in four to eight weeks. If you are aiming at the more competitive end, the 180 Hour Level 5 TEFL Diploma is a regulated qualification and carries more weight with selectors comparing candidates on paper. Browse everything on our accredited TEFL courses page.
Sources and method: JET status, cycle timeline and the 2026 opening and closing dates are from JET Program USA's own application, eligibility and FAQ pages, checked 18 September 2026. EPIK's opening date, rolling review and intake months are from the EPIK application and how to apply pages at epik.go.kr. The September agency review schedule was communicated by EPIK to its partner agencies. NALCAP stipend, hours and placement dates are from the Spanish Ministry of Education NALCAP page. The JET opening date of 30 September 2025 is from the Consulate-General of Japan in Honolulu; JET Program USA publishes no day-of-month. NALCAP's next opening is described as expected rather than confirmed, because the 2027 to 2028 window has not yet been published officially. No salary figure is printed here for any program that does not publish one. Last reviewed 19 September 2026.
Update, 30 September 2026: JET's 2027 application opened on Monday 21 September 2026, three days after this issue, with a US deadline of Friday 13 November. Two NALCAP details here were wrong. The most recent call did not open around February: it was published on 19 May 2026 and took applications from 2 to 30 June. And the ministry's current call runs placements from 1 November to 31 May, not 1 October. Issue 005 has the detail.
Subscribers read this before it lands here
The Departure Board goes out on the 4th and the 18th with every opening, salary and deadline that matters, from official sources only.
