Okay finally got around to making that call to the Buxiban Association. It was an eye-opener. I explained the question to him, and he said “The answer is simple.” He went on to explain how it depended on whether the language to be taught was an official language of the country. We specifically discussed Malaysia–impossible according to him–Singapore–okay–and the Philippines–okay. That squares with what is shown here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co … l_language
He mentioned that many would face practical problems getting a visa to come here and a job once here, but that getting an ARC if a job was offered would not be one of them. He said that official languages could be found in a list of countries on the Foreign Ministry website. I found this list; I think the “語言:” field is meant to imply “official” languages but not 100% sure. (EDIT–Someone at an MOFA service line confirmed that it should be, but that the information was only provided for reference and that one should check through the country in question.)
mofa.gov.tw/Regions/Index/?o … 276783163d
It does seem to specify in the case of Malaysia that while English is used there, it doesn’t have official status:
“馬來語為國語，英語及華語亦通行。”
As far as I’m concerned, based on what I heard from this guy, who should know, and the CLA, that settles it–no seven nation rule. Has anyone heard of someone specifically being rejected on these grounds?