I’m from the Middle East and I dream of living and working in Japan, but the general idea I usually get while searching for jobs is that they require Native English speakers. Is that true for the JET programme? Are there any othet programmes that I could apply for with a chance of passing?
6 comments
Probably half (?) of CIR are from countries where English isnt the primary language
You have to be from a country that participates in the JET programme, you don’t necessarily need to be an English speaker. But the vast majority of positions in JET are for an English speaking ALT position, and you do need to be from an English speaking, JET participating country for that.
I’d recommend becoming as fluent in Japanese as possible if you want to work in Japan, because then you could open up job more opportunities outside of the English teaching world.
You will probably have better luck gaining a skill in your home country that can bet used to gain employment here in Japan.
You have an advantage over Americans in that your country might be able to grant a “working holiday” visa. So you could be working online doing web dev and still live and work in Japan. Just something to consider.
I looked into the requirements for CIR for my motherland (asia) and its much more rigorous than what they ask for in US applicants. Applicants have to have near perfect jlpt scores (at least n2 is REQUIRED) and they have to take a JET sponsored test as well as submitting all other paper requirements
JET hiring is done through the Japanese embassies in each participating country. If the embassy in your country of nationality doesn’t participate then you can not apply to the JET programme.
[Here is a list of countries and how many people that the JET program allows to participate.](http://jetprogramme.org/en/countries/)