Are unpaid internships legal? US, UK, France, Germany and India

The short version

United States: the primary beneficiary test

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires for-profit employers to pay employees. An intern may not count as an employee if the intern, not the company, is the primary beneficiary of the arrangement. The Department of Labor lists seven factors courts weigh:

1. Both sides clearly understand there is no expectation of pay. Any promise of pay points toward you being an employee.
2. The training is similar to what a school would give, including hands-on training.
3. The internship is tied to your formal education through coursework or academic credit.
4. It fits around your academic commitments and follows the academic calendar.
5. It only lasts as long as it keeps teaching you something useful.
6. Your work complements paid staff rather than replacing them, while giving you real educational benefit.
7. Both sides understand there is no promise of a paid job at the end.

No single factor decides it. If you are doing work a paid employee would otherwise do, with little training, that points toward being owed wages. Unpaid internships at public-sector bodies and nonprofit charities, where you volunteer without expecting pay, are generally allowed. States can set stricter rules, so check your state labor department too.

United Kingdom: are you a worker?

In UK minimum wage law the word "intern" means nothing. What matters is whether you are a worker, for example because you have set hours or tasks and are doing real work. Workers are owed the National Minimum Wage. The main exceptions:

• Students on a required placement of under one year as part of a UK further or higher education course.
• Work shadowing, where you only observe and do no work yourself.
• Voluntary workers for a charity, voluntary organisation or statutory body who get nothing beyond limited expenses such as travel or lunch.

The government ran a call for evidence on ending unpaid internships in July 2025, so expect these rules to tighten.

France: two months is the line

A stage longer than two months (more than 308 hours with the same organisation in the same academic year) must pay a gratification. In 2026 the minimum is €4.50 per hour of presence. Shorter stages can be unpaid. Every stage needs a convention de stage signed by you, the company and your school.

Germany: minimum wage, with exceptions

Interns are owed the statutory minimum wage, €13.90 an hour from 1 January 2026, unless one of these applies:

• The internship is mandatory under your school or university rules (Pflichtpraktikum).
• It is voluntary, up to three months, and helps you choose a career or course of study.
• It is voluntary, up to three months, alongside your studies, and you haven't interned with that employer before.

India: no intern minimum wage

There is no minimum wage for interns. Apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961 must be paid a government-set stipend, but most college internships fall outside that Act. Internships done for course credit are often unpaid. If your offer letter promises a stipend, that promise is enforceable as a contract.

The UGC's internship policy now builds internships and apprenticeships into degree credits, so more students need placements and more of them will be short and unpaid. Get the terms in writing either way.

Before you accept an unpaid internship

• Get the terms in writing: hours, length and what you will learn.
• Ask what you get instead of pay: course credit, a stipend, travel, meals.
• Keep the hours short and flexible so you can still earn elsewhere.
• If you end up doing a paid employee's job, you may be owed wages. Your school's career office or labour authority can tell you.

How internd handles unpaid roles

Unpaid roles only appear if you switch on Open to unpaid roles, and each one says Unpaid on the card. Paid roles show the pay the company lists, in its own currency. When a company lists no pay, the card says so. See how it works.

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