JFT-Basic is a computer-based test, so it is only held where there is a Prometric test centre equipped to deliver it. That is a shorter list than people expect, and it is the reason some candidates travel a day each way to sit a sixty-minute exam.
The countries where JFT-Basic runs
As things stand, JFT-Basic is administered in:
| Region | Countries |
|---|---|
| South Asia | Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan |
| Southeast Asia | Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar |
| Central & East Asia | Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Japan |
If your country is not on that list, you cannot sit the test at home. People in that position generally travel to the nearest country that does run it — which is legal and common, but adds a visa, a flight and a hotel to the cost of the exam, and is worth planning around rather than discovering late.
This list changes. The Japan Foundation adds countries as demand and capacity allow. Confirm on the official schedule before you make travel plans on the strength of a blog post — including this one.
How to find your actual centre
There is no single global map, and this is where people waste an afternoon. The reliable method:
- Go to the Prometric site for your own country’s Specified Skilled Worker tests — not the global Prometric homepage, which will route you to an unrelated test catalogue.
- Open the JFT-Basic listing.
- Start a booking for a date that has seats. The centre list appears during booking, not before it.
That third step is the one that catches people. The venue list is part of the reservation flow, so “I cannot find the centres anywhere” almost always means “I have not started a booking yet”. You can back out before paying.
Read the address before you confirm
A centre named after a capital city is not necessarily in that capital city, and a centre that appeared last month may not appear this month. Before you confirm a seat, check:
- The full street address, and how long it takes you to get there at the time of day your test starts.
- Whether you can reach it the night before if you need to. For anyone travelling more than about three hours, staying nearby the previous night is not luxury — it is insurance against a cancelled bus costing you the fee.
- The reporting time, which is earlier than the test time.
Demand is uneven, and that decides your date
Nepal, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines carry the heaviest JFT-Basic demand, and in those countries popular dates disappear within days of release. In lower-volume countries seats sit open, but sessions are less frequent — so the constraint is the calendar rather than the queue.
Either way, the practical advice is the same: decide your target date before you are ready, and book as soon as seats open. A date you can prepare towards is worth more than a perfect level of readiness with no seat available.
If no centre is near you
The honest options, in order of how much they cost you:
- Travel within your own country. Usually one overnight stay. Budget for it from the start.
- Travel to a neighbouring country that runs the test. Check the visa requirement first; that is the part people forget.
- Wait for a new centre. Reasonable only if you are not on a deadline — and most people reading this are.
Before you book anything
Whichever centre you end up at, the test is the same sixty minutes and the same 200-point bar. Find out where you stand before you spend money on travel: the free practice test gives you a section-by-section read in about fifteen minutes, and how to register on Prometric walks through the booking itself.