I’m a current ALT. At some point in the future I want to apply for a CIR position in the prefecture where my long-term boyfriend is living. Is this possible? Would I have to go back to my home country for the flight/interview?
Has anyone successfully managed to apply for a CIR position in another prefecture as an ALT already on the JET programme?
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When I was a JET I went through a period where I was offered a PA role in my third year.
I found out that for my prefecture at the time (maybe still like this but I don’t know for sure) municipal JETs were not permitted to become CIRs or PAs outside of our assigned city. The only option was to end our current contract with our city and JET, and start the application process over in our home country.
I have no idea how common this is or if it’s still relevant to Kyoto Prefecture.
Hello, current ALT here as well! This was a few years ago, but I was only able to apply to CIR openings from being a municipal ALT in the prefecture I’m living in. Didn’t get the option to go to other prefectures unfortunately. I ended up staying an ALT, but I think it might be difficult applying to a different prefecture unless it’s for health reasons or marriage.
There is a system in place for ALTs to apply and transfer to a CIR position given they have sufficient skills, I know a handful of CIRs who used to be ALTs, but this doesn’t necessarily allow for you to apply to a CIR position in another location. Typically, you will fulfill a vacant CIR position in your current prefecture, as ostensibly it’s for changing roles within your assigned location and not for changing locations.
Perhaps if you and your boyfriend were to get married you would be able to apply for the location transfer request based on wanting to be able to live together with your partner (one of the very few reasons that a location transfer request is allowed to be made), and it’s logical that when applying for this transfer you might also be able to merge it with transferring from an ALT to a CIR role, but there’s a lot of ifs and buts so it’s a bit of a grey area for what you’re hoping to achieve I’m afraid. I would advise consulting with your PA, both the JET PA and the local Japanese staff PA, for your region. They’ll be able to look further into this, and inquire directly with the people who make these kinds of decisions.
I’m a CIR PA and I deal with this kind of finicky placement/job changing stuff fairly regularly and this is what I’ve come to understand from my experiences.