Hello all!
I will be reapplying for the JET Program for the 2024 cycle after getting rejected this year. I was initially heartbroken after receiving the dreaded email, but my boyfriend is graduating this year, so he is interesting in applying with me this year too now. I’m curious if there are any couples on here that both made it into the JET Program, and what you guys put for the placement section. I know that JET won’t really consider your placements unless you’re married or have family. So how did you guys go about it? Did you guys put the same placement preferences and briefly mention it if asked in the interview? Or did you just not mention it at all, and hope for the best? I don’t want to sabotage either of our chances, but I’m hoping we can at least reach each other by the Shinkansen 1-2 hours in our free time.
If both of us get accepted, we will reach our three year anniversary by the time we move. So, we’re a long-term couple, and we can work through anything if we’re as strong as I believe we are. Obviously, this is me just assuming we both make it and our only concern is our placements. We’ve already discussed the possibility one of us makes it and the other doesn’t, or neither of us makes it.
So I guess I’m just curious about you guys experiences more than anything and if there’s any advice you can offer. If you both made it, how did your placements work out? If you ended up farther from your partner than anticipated, I’d love to hear about how you managed your time to see them. Or maybe one of you made it, and the other one didn’t, how did you go about that?
Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing from everyone!
11 comments
I know of two non married couples that were placed together (one couple was engaged). It’s less likely if you’re not married but it clearly does happen sometimes. There’s no harm in mentioning it and trying.
Be prepared for the interviewers to ask how you would manage if you were both accepted and placed far apart, or if only one of you is accepted.
You could apply as engaged as there is no official paperwork or really anything to prove that you’re engaged. If I were you I’d apply as “enagaged” and then if you don’t get placed together (assuming you’re both good enough to be accepted) then request a transfer on the ground that you applied as engaged but didn’t get placed together and have been apart for a year.
The non-married couple I know got placed in different prefectures. They recently got engaged, so once they are married, I’m sure one of them could apply for a transfer because of marriage.
I applied with my boyfriend this year and we were placed together so unlike a lot of people on here say I think they do take it into consideration it’s just not 100% guaranteed
My friends wrote down “no preference in placement just want to be together”. They were placed in the same town and lived together
I applied with my partner and we got placed together! It’s not unlikely, but I will say that we didn’t think we’d get placed together because I was shortlisted and he was an alternate (who was then later upgraded).
My now husband and I applied together. I got in. He was waitlisted. It worked out for the best because he got a private eikaiwa job in the same area as my placement and the company gave him a car as part of his gig.
I knew a couple who applied as engaged. They got placed on opposite ends of the country. They got married before departure, so they just applied for a transfer. Transfers take a years to process though so they didn’t end up in the same place until the start of their 2nd year. Even then, their placements were an hour away from each other. They ended up living in one placement and the other just commuted an hour each way.
All the non-married couples I know have ended up being placed 7-8 hours away from each other. So you can try, but I wouldn’t be optimistic
We applied as engaged and were placed together. We were both asked how we would respond to not being placed anywhere near each other, so be prepared for that as mentioned. No one checked our fingers. We also applied for a less popular prefecture, which I think helped.
I applied last year with my fiancé. I was shortlisted whereas he was an alternate who later got upgraded. We were placed in different prefectures but can reach each other within 2 hours by Shinkansen.
I’m in an unmarried couple and live here with my partner in the same apartment. Kobe houses a lot of unmarried and married couples. Put Kobe at the top of your list for placement preference.