J-1 Summer Work and Travel Program Dates by Country

Dates decide when you can work, when you must leave and how much of the summer you actually get. The window is set per country, so a student from Brazil and a student from Canada can have very different seasons. Start with your own window, then read the apply hub for the next steps.

The short version

1. Find your country’s season window in the 2026 chart below.
2. Remember the chart is a sponsor group’s list, not a government list.
3. Stay four months at most, or the length of your school break if it is shorter.
4. Do not plan an extension, because the rules do not allow one.
5. Go home before your university or college starts again.

How program dates work

Participants may take part for up to four months during the long break between academic years, as determined by the Department of State. The State Department program page repeats the four-month maximum. Extensions of program participation are not permitted under 22 CFR 62.32.

Sponsors publish the country windows. In IENA’s 2026 chart they are windows of opportunity for program participation. A participant may stay a maximum of four months or the length of the academic break, whichever is shorter. So the window is the outer edge, and your own school calendar can make your season shorter.

You must also return to your home country before your university or college starts. Participants can be admitted to the program more than once.

Summer Work Travel students must be

The program provides foreign students with an opportunity to live and work in the United States during their summer vacation from college or university. A Summer Work Travel student must be:

• sufficiently proficient in English to successfully interact in an English speaking environment;
• a post-secondary student enrolled in and actively pursuing a degree or other full-time course of study at an accredited, classroom-based institution outside the United States;
• someone who has successfully completed at least one semester or equivalent of post-secondary academic study; and
• pre-placed in a job prior to entry, unless from a visa waiver country.

Eligibility goes through each item and the sponsor’s screening.

Season windows by country, 2026 chart

The State Department page links a 2024 chart as its newest dates chart. For 2026, the chart below is IENA’s, updated 01/28/2026. It is a sponsor group’s own chart, so treat it as those sponsors’ published windows, not a government list. The “Visa Waiver Country” notes are the chart’s own labels.

Even when a window is longer than four months, a participant may take part for a maximum of four months or the length of the academic break, whichever is shorter. Japan, Malaysia, Namibia and Thailand are left out because the PDF text does not tie their dates to the country name clearly; read the chart itself for them.

Reading the windows

Canada runs 15-Apr to 20-Sep, the United Kingdom 1-Jun to 30-Sep, and Germany 1-Jul to 31-Oct. Other windows run across the new year. These open in October, November or December and close between January and April:

• Argentina, 1-Dec to 1-Apr.
• Australia, 15-Nov to 8-Mar.
• Bolivia and Brazil, 15-Nov to 15-Mar.
• Chile, 1-Dec to 5-Apr.
• Fiji, 9-Nov to 4-Feb.
• New Zealand, 23-Oct to 26-Feb.
• Paraguay, 16-Nov to 7-Mar.
• Peru, 1-Dec to 31-Mar.
• South Africa, 1-Nov to 1-Mar.
• Uruguay, 15-Nov to 1-Apr.

A longer window is not a longer season. Canada and Bulgaria show 5 months on the chart, but the four-month cap still limits your stay. Nepal’s window is 15-Oct to 15-Nov, 1 month. Within the window, students remain bound by their university’s break schedule.

If your country is not on the chart

For a country the 2026 chart does not list, write to the Office of Private Sector Exchange Designation at DesignationSWT@state.gov for guidance. The chart has a separate Countries Under Review table; Bhutan, Cabo Verde, Cambodia and Cameroon are listed there without dates. Egypt, Ghana, Kyrgzstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines appear in that table with windows, and they are marked in the table above.

The chart’s last tables, Countries with Restrictions of Entry for Foreign Nationals, mark countries as Full Ban or Partial Ban, with a note that as of 12/16/2025 Turkmenistan is no longer subject to a visa ban for non-immigrant visa categories. Check your country there and on the eligibility page before you rely on a window.

Arriving, leaving and the 30-day grace period

You may not arrive more than 30 days before the program start date shown on your DS-2019. For the 2025 season, Thai students had to report to the sponsor by the start date listed on the DS-2019, and could enter within the 30 days preceding the start date recorded in SEVIS.

When you complete the exchange program, you have a grace period of 30 days to depart the United States. You are expected to depart upon completion of the program. The grace period does not excuse you from the duty to be home before classes: students must return to their home country before the start date of their university or college.

The 30 days are not guaranteed to everyone. If a sponsor terminates your participation for just cause, the sponsor enters this in SEVIS and you are expected to depart the United States immediately. You are not entitled to the post-completion 30-day period, because you did not successfully complete your program.

Travel time and tourism

For the 2025 season, Thai students could stay up to four months and spend up to one month of that traveling. U.S. immigration law permits J-1 holders up to 30 days to depart after the program ends.

Students must return to Thailand before the start of the next semester, and SWT participants must be back in class before the next semester or graduation. The State Department page gives the same rule: go home before your school starts.

If your visa expires during the program and you do not plan to travel outside the US, you do not need to renew it. If you travel outside the United States after your J-1 visa has expired and during your program, you must apply for a new J-1 visa in your home country to re-enter. Your sponsor is responsible for authorizing travel outside the US and ensuring your J-1 documents are valid at all times.

What happens once you arrive

Several clocks start on arrival:

• Tell your sponsor within ten days after you arrive in the US.
• Tell your sponsor again within ten days after you secure or change your residence.
• If you find a job after arrival, the sponsor must vet it within 72 hours.
• Do not start any initial, replacement or additional job until the sponsor has verified its terms and vetted the host employer.
• A 2025 embassy text adds that the student must inform the sponsor about any change in job or address.

Sponsors may place you only in seasonal or temporary jobs. Seasonal means the work is tied to a time of year by an event or pattern, and temporary means the employer has a one-time, peak-load or intermittent need.

Your sponsor also has to weigh housing and travel when it places you. It must consider suitable, affordable housing and reliable, affordable, convenient transportation to and from work. Visit the how to apply page for the order of steps, and the sponsors page for how to choose one.

Visa waiver countries and arrival timing

Participants who are not from a visa waiver country must be pre-placed in a job before entry. Participants who enter without a job need enough money to support themselves while they search. If you are still without a job after one week, a sponsor must make reasonable efforts to secure suitable employment.

Insurance and paperwork over your dates

Your insurance runs on the same clock as your program. Sponsors must require sickness and accident coverage in effect while you take part, and the required period is your actual participation as recorded in SEVIS, under 22 CFR 62.14. So a shorter or longer record in SEVIS changes the dates your coverage must cover.

Before you leave home, your sponsor must give you a copy of the Department of State’s Summer Work Travel Participant Letter. It must also tell you that sponsors terminate the programs of participants who fail to comply with the program regulations.