An open weekly planner on a desk with dates marked

Edition 530 September 20267 minute read

The deadline desk: two windows close inside a week, and the JET file you should already have open

Two dates land before our next edition, and both are the kind that cannot be argued with afterwards. HMRC’s registration deadline for anyone who earned over the trading allowance last tax year is Monday 5 October. The Fulbright competition, which is the only funded route into France with a fixed closing date this autumn, shuts on Tuesday 6 October. Behind them sits the biggest window of the year: JET is open until 13 November, and this is the edition where we take the required documents list apart line by line, because that list, not the interview, is where most applications quietly fail.

Jess JeffreyWriter at The TEFL Institute Group. Taught in South Korea and Vietnam, and wrote our Edition 1 on the EPIK opening.

Updated 30 September 2026. Four corrections after this edition went out. The EPIK row on our openings board read 2.2M to 3.0M KRW a month. EPIK’s own salary page, re-read today, runs from 2.2M to 2.8M, so the top of the range is now 2.8M and the 3.0M figure is withdrawn. The Fulbright France stipend and travel allowance were attributed to the Fulbright France page, which carries the ten awards and the 6 October close but not the money, so both figures are now marked indicative. The Australian JET closing date of 5 November could not be confirmed on an official JET page today and is now flagged unconfirmed. And the JET euro figure quoted below was described as the one on our openings board, which on the day carried 22,300 euros at the 22 September rate rather than 22,500 at the 16 September rate. The board has since been recomputed at the 29 September rate and reads 22,500 again.

The big oneFive dates, in the order they bite

The JET and EPIK rows were read on the programmes’ own pages on 30 September 2026. The HMRC, Revenue and Fulbright dates are published deadlines we verified for Edition 4 on 17 September, and the TAPIF and NALCAP rows are carried from that same check. Where an official page gives no date, the row says so instead of guessing.

Date	What closes or opens	Who it applies to	Source
Mon 5 Oct 2026	Deadline to register for Self Assessment for the tax year ended 5 April 2026	UK residents who earned more than 1,000 pounds in trading income last tax year, including from online teaching	HMRC
Tue 6 Oct 2026, 5pm ET	Fulbright US Student Program 2027-28 closes, including the France English Teaching Assistant awards	US citizens	Fulbright
Sat 31 Oct 2026	Irish pay and file deadline for the 2025 return, extended to 18 November only if both filing and payment are done on ROS	Irish residents with non-PAYE income above Revenue’s thresholds	Revenue
Thu 5 Nov 2026, 5pm AEDT	JET 2027 closes for Australian applicants	Australian citizens	JET Programme Australia, as reported in our 22 September update. Not re-verified at source on 30 September, so unconfirmed
Fri 13 Nov 2026, 11:59pm HST	JET 2027 closes for US applicants	US citizens, applying through jetapplication.com	JET Program USA
Not published	TAPIF 2027-28 opening. Last cycle opened 3 November, so early November is the pattern, not a promise	US citizens	Villa Albertine portal showed no open calls at our 17 September check; not re-read this edition
Not published	NALCAP 2027-28 opening. The window shut on 30 June and no new date had been posted at our 17 September check; not re-read this edition	US and Canadian citizens	Spanish ministry

If you only do one thing this week. UK readers who taught online last year and passed 1,000 pounds: register with HMRC before Monday. It takes minutes, and HMRC’s own page says a late registration can carry a penalty. US readers with a France plan: the Fulbright portal closes at 5pm Eastern on Tuesday, and its France page lists ten English Teaching Assistant awards and that 5pm Eastern close. The monthly stipend of roughly 1,250 to 1,550 euros and the 1,200 euro travel allowance come from the award description rather than from that page, and we could not re-verify either of them at source on 30 September, so treat them as indicative. There is no second window.

The JET deskWhat is actually in the JET application, and what is not

You asked us, after Edition 4, to go deeper on how programmes are applied to rather than what they pay. JET is the right place to start, because the US office publishes the whole list and is unusually strict about it: an application missing any required document by the deadline is not considered. Here is that list, read from the JET Program USA required documents page on 30 September, with the traps we can see in it. If you are still deciding whether JET is for you rather than assembling the file, start with our guide to the JET Programme in Japan.

Document	What JET says	The trap
Application form	Completed in the online portal	Sections save as you go, so start it now and fill the transcripts in later
Self-Report of Medical Conditions	Completed in the portal	A yes to certain questions triggers the Statement of Physician below, which needs a doctor’s appointment
Statement of Purpose	A two-page, double-spaced essay on your motivation and qualifications. The exact prompt is inside the portal	Two pages double-spaced is about 500 to 600 words. Most first drafts are twice that
Two letters of recommendation	Academic or professional, from a professor, adviser or supervisor, submitted through the portal	Your referees need time, and the portal needs their details before it can invite them. Ask this week
Transcripts	Official transcripts from every college or university attended, including study abroad institutions	Unofficial transcripts and student portal screenshots are refused. If you did a semester abroad, that institution’s transcript is required too
Proof of graduation or expected graduation	Showing the degree conferred, or the expected date if still a student	For a summer 2027 departure the degree must be conferred by 25 June 2027. Early arrival candidates need it by late January
Proof of citizenship	US passport, birth certificate or naturalisation papers	You must apply through the JET office in your country of citizenship. Dual nationals with Japan face a separate renunciation requirement

Supplemental, only if they apply to you: a Statement of Physician form if you see a professional more than once for a condition, take a repeat prescription, or are having hospital treatment; a criminal history background check only if you declare relevant history, delivered unopened to your interview; and copies of any state teaching certification, TESOL or TEFL certificate, or JLPT result. Not accepted, and this catches people: resumes, headshots, photographs and any extra letters of recommendation. The page says so in as many words.

The timeline, as published. Application opened Monday 21 September 2026. Deadline Friday 13 November 2026 at 11:59pm Hawaii time. Interviews late January 2027, virtual, from home in the US or abroad. Results April 2027. Placements notified May 2027. Orientation June to July, departures in summer. Early arrivals leave from 22 May 2027, but JET itself says 97 to 98 percent of US participants go in the summer, so plan on that. The required documents page and the application and departure timeline.

The pay, read from JET’s contract information page, is 4.02 million yen a year. On the day this edition went out our openings board carried that as about 22,300 euros, converted at the ECB reference rate of 22 September, not the 22,500 euros at the 16 September rate first printed here. The board now reads about 22,500 euros again, recomputed at the ECB rate of 29 September. The yen figure is the one to plan with. JET contract, salary and benefits.

On the wireKorea is rolling, France is waiting, Spain is silent

EPIK Spring 2027 has been open since 1 August, and the queue is the point

The application for the Spring 2027 intake opened on 1 August 2026 and EPIK’s own Apply page still carries the line that the earlier you submit, the higher your chances of being processed for placement. EPIK reviews in the order received, more like rolling admission than a fixed deadline, and the Spring guide warns that essays and lesson plans are read closely by the Offices of Education, with AI-generated or copied content flagged as harmful to an application. The main Spring intake arrives in late February, with late intakes in March and April. On pay, nothing has changed since our Edition 4 correction: Level 2 starts at 2.2 million won in Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan and Gyeonggi, and the offices are not hiring at Level 3. EPIK, Apply Now and How to Apply.

TAPIF: the portal was shut at our last check, and we are not printing a date

Villa Albertine’s application portal showed no open calls for submissions when we read it on 17 September, and we have not re-read it this edition. Our own Paperwork Desk records the last cycle as running from 3 November to 15 March, so an early November opening would match the pattern, but a pattern is not a published date and we will not treat it as one. When the terms last appeared they were 1,010.67 euros gross a month, about 810 net, twelve hours a week, October to April, with B1 French. If it opens before our next edition, Deadline Alerts subscribers hear first.

NALCAP: three months closed, no reopening date

The Spanish ministry’s North American page, at our 17 September check, showed the window shut since 30 June, terms of 800 to 1,000 euros a month for 14 to 16 hours, and no 2027-28 date. We have not re-read that page this edition. Worth knowing if Spain is your plan: the ministry’s separate 2026-27 call for its main cohort puts the allowance at a flat 800 euros for 14 hours, so the higher figure on the North American page reflects regional top-ups rather than a national rate.

The UK sponsored board: not re-checked this edition

We have not re-read the Teaching Vacancies board this fortnight, so it is off the openings table rather than carried forward from 17 September. Last time it held nine sponsored teaching posts and no ESOL role. Search it yourself rather than working from a stale count: the official board, filtered to visa sponsorship.

Openings board

Programme	Pay, as published	Deadline	Status
Fulbright ETA France	About 1,250 to 1,550 EUR / month plus 1,200 EUR travel	6 Oct 2026 5pm Eastern	HARD DEADLINE 6 DAYS
JET Japan	4.02M JPY / year	13 Nov 2026 US, 11:59pm HST	LIVE WIRE 44 DAYS
EPIK Korea	2.2M to 2.8M KRW / month by level and region	Rolling since 1 Aug	LIVE WIRE APPLY EARLY
TAPIF France	1,010.67 EUR gross / month last published terms	Not open	CLOSED PORTAL WATCH IT
NALCAP Spain	800 to 1,000 EUR / month	Closed	LINE CLOSED NO 2027-28 DATE

JET and EPIK rows read on the programme’s own page on 30 September 2026; the Fulbright, TAPIF and NALCAP rows are carried from our 17 September check. Pay is shown in the currency the programme publishes; where we convert we say which ECB rate and date we used, and this edition uses none. Days-to-deadline are counted from 30 September.

The tax deskThe two registrations, in plain numbers

Edition 4 set out the tax rules for online teachers in full. This is the short version, because one of the dates is next week.

UK. The trading allowance is 1,000 pounds a year. Above it, you register for Self Assessment, and for income earned in the year to 5 April 2026 the registration deadline is 5 October 2026. The return and the payment are then due by 31 January 2027 online, or 31 October 2026 on paper. HMRC’s page warns that telling them after 5 October can mean a penalty. HMRC deadlines and the trading allowance.

Ireland. You file a Form 11 as a chargeable person if your net non-PAYE income is 5,000 euro or more, or your gross non-PAYE income is 30,000 euro or more. Pay and file for 2025 is 31 October 2026, extended to 18 November only when both the return and the payment go through ROS. Revenue is explicit that doing one of the two on ROS does not earn the extension. Revenue, pay and file.

Reader favouritesYou asked for walkthroughs, so JET was first

Edition 4 closed with a question: platform application walkthroughs, or the rates question taken further? The JET desk above is our answer to the first half, and EPIK’s document chain is the natural next one. If you would rather we went back to rates, the poll on the hub is where to say so, and we will print the count in Edition 6 the way we printed the online result in Editions 3 and 4.

CV corner: the Statement of Purpose, in the order the reader reads it

1. Answer the prompt that is in the portal, not the one on a blog. JET says the exact prompt is released inside the application once it opens. Write to that wording and nothing else.

2. Two pages, double-spaced, is a hard shape. That is roughly 500 to 600 words. Cut the paragraph about loving Japanese culture and keep the one about a specific classroom, a specific problem and what you did.

3. Match the eligibility language. The ALT criteria ask for interest in working with students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade and motivation to learn about teaching English as a foreign language. If you hold a TEFL certificate, name it once here and upload it as a supplemental document, which JET explicitly allows.

4. Brief your two referees this week. They are invited through the portal, so it cannot be done the night before. Give them the two-page draft and the deadline, and tell them JET screens for adaptability rather than grades.