The Departure Board
The Departure Board
The TEFL jobs magazine: every opening, salary and deadline that matters, reported from official sources and sent to subscribers first.
JET closes Nov · Spain shut
We read the official program sites, government schemes and the big recruiters every week, and publish only the openings we'd send our own graduates to.
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Read the full edition →The Departure Board is Premier TEFL's report on TEFL jobs, published on the 4th and the 18th. As of 17 October 2026: France's TAPIF is open until 15 February 2027. Japan's JET closes 5 November for UK applicants and 13 November for US and Canadian applicants. South Korea's EPIK is rolling. Fulbright has closed. Spain's NALCAP is shut.
ISSUE 006 · 17 OCTOBER 2026 · BY KATIE TROY
Latin America hires on a different calendar
- Mexico's school year began on 31 August. Chile, Peru, Argentina and Costa Rica start in late February or March, and none has published its 2027 calendar yet.
- Chile and Peru make you apply for the work visa from outside the country. All six countries we cover take a single US apostille.
- No government in the region publishes academy pay, so we print the official minimum wage as the floor instead.
- TAPIF is open until 15 February 2027. JET closes on 5 November for UK applicants and 13 November for the US and Canada.
Dispatches
Checked at source, datedTAPIF is open, and the deadline is 15 February
France's assistant program opened on 15 October as planned, and Villa Albertine now says the 2027 to 2028 cohort is open until 15 February 2027. There is a $149 application fee. Assistants work up to 12 hours a week from October to April for 1,010.67 euros a month gross, about 810 net. Applicants need to be 20 to 35, with three years of higher education and B1 French.
Latin America's school year starts in February and March
Mexico's 2026-27 year began on 31 August. Costa Rica's 2026 lessons began on 23 February and Chile's year on 2 March, and neither has published its 2027 calendar yet. Colombia's local authorities must issue their 2027 Calendar A before 1 November. Chile and Peru both require the work visa to be started from outside the country. Every route is on the Visa Desk.
JET's Canadian and UK deadlines stand
We went back to both official pages. JET Programme Canada gives Friday 13 November 2026 at 3pm EST, and the Embassy of Japan in the UK gives 5 November 2026, with no late applications accepted. US applicants close on 13 November at 11:59pm Hawaii time. First-year pay is still 4.02 million yen.
EPIK's pay line now starts at 2.2 million won
We had been printing EPIK as 2.1 to 2.8 million won a month. The 2.1 million figure is Level 3, and EPIK's salary page says the education offices are not currently hiring at Level 3. The lowest hireable rate is Level 2, at 2.2 million, so the main scale now reads 2.2 to 2.8 million. Chungbuk also pays 2.9 and 3.0 million at two higher levels. The Pay Desk has the full comparison.
Editor's note
This issue goes south. Latin America runs on a different school year from almost everything else we track, and the countries that start in February and March are the ones where the contract, the apostille and the visa have to be sorted before Christmas. The honest version of that story has fewer numbers than most, because no government there publishes what academies pay. So we printed what they do publish: calendars, visa routes and the legal minimum wage.
Two housekeeping notes. Our own check after the last issue could not read JET's Canadian and UK pages, so we went back to both, and both deadlines stand. And EPIK's pay line was still starting at a level EPIK is not hiring at, so it now reads 2.2 to 2.8 million won. Meanwhile TAPIF has opened with a real deadline, and JET's UK window shuts in under three weeks.
In every issue
Jobs first, always. But The Departure Board also tracks the things that decide whether a job is worth taking. The brief you'd read on the 4th and the 18th even if you weren't applying yet.
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Tap a route to apply · pay shown only where an official source publishes itKorea’s figure is EPIK’s own published main scale, 2.2 to 2.8 million won a month at the levels it is currently hiring, from its salary and benefits page dated 4 May 2026 (epik.go.kr). Japan’s is CLAIR’s first-appointment figure. France’s is the gross monthly stipend Villa Albertine publishes for TAPIF. All three checked 17 October 2026. The other routes carry no pay line because no government or program source publishes one: the dollar ranges previously shown here came from our own August research and could not be sourced, so they have been removed rather than carried forward.
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The archive
6 issues published, see them all →Coming next: JET's last days, and Latin America's 2027 calendars
Subscribers get it first, by email. Get on the Board to read it before it lands here.
Get it first →
Latin America hires on a different calendar
School years, work visa routes and official minimum wages for Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Costa Rica, plus TAPIF's deadline, JET's final weeks and a correction to EPIK's pay. By Katie Troy.
Read issue 006 →
JET is open, and Fulbright closes on Tuesday
JET's US, Canadian and UK deadlines, Fulbright's cutoff by time zone, TAPIF's opening date and stipend, EPIK's interview stage, and a correction on Spain. By Ola Flynn.
Read issue 005 →
JET has not opened, and the clock is already running
JET is still shut with only a fall 2026 line to go on, EPIK is open and reviewed in order of arrival, and Spain is closed until roughly February. Plus the document work that decides an application before it opens. By Tara Bourke.
Read issue 004 →
Five windows before January: the order to apply in
Fulbright closes 6 October, EPIK is open and reviewed in order of arrival, and JET, TAPIF and NALCAP have not opened yet. Plus JET's first-year pay, confirmed at source. By Jess Jeffrey.
Read issue 003 →
Japan is boarding: JET's 2027 application opens this fall
JET's fall window and the six documents it wants, France's TAPIF returns in November, plus Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and China hiring now. By Katie Troy.
Read issue 002 →
South Korea is boarding: EPIK Spring 2027 just opened
EPIK's rolling Spring 2027 intake, plus Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam & Thailand windows. By Ola Flynn.
Read issue 001 →
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Read our Editorial CharterCommon questions
What is The Departure Board?
The Departure Board is Premier TEFL's twice-monthly TEFL jobs report. On the 4th and the 18th it lists the teaching programs and schools hiring now, what they pay, and the application deadlines that are about to close, each checked against an official program source and dated. Subscribers receive it by email first, then it is published free on this page.
Which TEFL programs are hiring right now?
As of 17 October 2026: France's TAPIF is open until 15 February 2027, Japan's JET is open until 5 November for UK applicants and 13 November for US and Canadian applicants, and South Korea's EPIK is taking spring applications and reviewing them in the order they arrive. Fulbright closed on 6 October, and Spain's NALCAP is closed with no next window published.
Is the JET Program application open?
Yes. JET Program USA opened the application for 2027 departures on Monday 21 September 2026, with a US deadline of Friday 13 November 2026 at 11:59pm Hawaii time. Canadian citizens close on 13 November at 3pm EST and UK citizens on 5 November, through their own JET desks. JET runs on a one year term of appointment, extendable to a maximum of five years.
Do I need a degree to teach English abroad?
Government programs such as JET, EPIK and TFETP require a bachelor's degree in any subject. JET does not require a TEFL certificate but says a TEFL background may help in selection, and EPIK's pay levels rise with one. Some private markets are more flexible on the degree, but the visa rules of the destination decide it, not the school.
How do I read the back issues of The Departure Board?
Every published edition stays online. The full archive is at the Departure Board Archive, and each edition also lives in the blog so you can see what was open, and what it paid, on the date it was reported.
How often is The Departure Board published?
Twice a month, on the 4th and the 18th. Subscribers get each edition by email before it appears on the site, and deadline alerts are available separately for the programs you are tracking.
Subscribers read every issue first
One email on the 4th and the 18th with every opening, salary and deadline that matters, plus a heads-up before the big windows close.