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 still shut · Spain ↓
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.
Latest issue
Read the full edition →The Departure Board is Premier TEFL's report on TEFL jobs, published on the 4th and the 18th. As of 18 September 2026: Japan's JET 2027 application has not opened and is listed only as fall 2026. South Korea's EPIK is open and reviewed in order of arrival. Spain's NALCAP is shut. Nothing closes this month.
ISSUE 004 · 18 SEPTEMBER 2026 · BY TARA BOURKE
JET has not opened, and the clock is already running
- JET's 2027 application is still not live. The official line remains fall 2026, and the 2026 application is closed.
- The last cycle opened on 30 September and closed on 14 November, so the final week of September is the one to watch.
- EPIK's Spring 2027 intake is open and reviewed in order of arrival. September's agency review is a processing schedule, not a cutoff.
- Spain's NALCAP is closed until roughly February, which puts a Spanish classroom a full year behind a Korea application made now.
Dispatches
Checked at source, datedJET is not late. Last year it opened on 30 September
JET Program USA still lists the 2027 application as opening in fall 2026, with the 2026 application closed. The previous cycle became available on Tuesday 30 September 2025 and closed on Friday 14 November 2025 at 11:59pm Hawaii time. The published 2027 timeline gives months rather than dates: application September, deadline November, interviews late January to early February. We are inside the normal window, not past it.
EPIK's September agency review is not a cutoff
EPIK told its partner recruitment agencies it would begin reviewing agency submissions in September. That is a schedule for processing work already submitted, not an applicant deadline, and an application sent after it has missed nothing. EPIK publishes no closing date for any intake and describes the process as rolling admission, so the order applications arrive in is what decides placement.
Spain is shut, which makes it a spring decision
Spain’s NALCAP portal is not accepting applications and the ministry publishes no date for the next window, so the usual late January to early February opening running through to April is an expectation and nothing more. The ministry now states the stipend as 800 to 1,000 euros a month by region for 14 to 16 hours a week, on placements running 1 October to 31 May. Assignments are mostly made in April, so applying in spring means teaching the following fall.
Two figures corrected, and the salary board cut back
Three things changed on this page on 19 September. JET’s last cycle opened on 30 September 2025, not 29 September as this edition first said; JET’s own pages give no day, and the date comes from the Consulate-General of Japan in Honolulu. Spain’s NALCAP stipend and hours were carried at 700 to 1,000 euros for 12 to 16 hours a week, which is what an older embassy page said; the ministry now publishes 800 to 1,000 euros for 14 to 16 hours, and the higher figures are what this page now shows. And the Now Boarding board’s dollar ranges for China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and the UAE have been removed, because no official source publishes them and they should not have been presented as current.
Editor's note
The last issue was about sequence. This one is about the gap between windows, which is where most applications are quietly lost. JET has not opened. Korea is open but has no deadline to push against. Spain is shut until spring. There is nothing to submit this fortnight, and that is exactly why September goes to waste for so many people.
The work that pays off now is the work other people control. References and official transcripts arrive on somebody else's timetable, and no amount of chasing in late October compresses them. Ask this week. When JET's portal does open, and last year that was 30 September, the difference between a strong application and a rushed one will already have been decided.
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.
The desks
Kept live between editionsThe board changes twice a month. These four tools don't. They stay live so you can plan the whole move: what you'd earn, the visa you need, the paperwork it takes, and what you could make online.
Your say
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Upcoming departures
Set alerts →Now boarding
Tap a route to apply · pay shown only where an official source publishes itKorea’s figure is EPIK’s own published scale, 2.1 to 2.8 million won a month, from its salary and benefits page dated 4 May 2026 (epik.go.kr). Japan’s is CLAIR’s first-appointment figure. 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.
Most-read this edition
The archive
4 issues published, see them all →Coming next: does JET open, and what closes in October
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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 18 September 2026: South Korea's EPIK is taking Spring 2027 applications and reviewing them in the order they arrive, the Fulbright US Student Program is open with a 6 October deadline, and private centers in China and Vietnam hire year-round. Japan's JET 2027 application has still not opened, France's TAPIF returns in November, and Spain's NALCAP is closed until around February.
When does the JET Program 2027 application open?
The official US JET Program page states that the application for 2027 departures to Japan will open in fall 2026, and it had still not opened on 18 September 2026. The 2026 application closed on 14 November 2025, having opened on 30 September 2025. 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 plus a TEFL certificate of at least 120 hours. Some private language center 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.