Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) Fall 2026 Innovative Entrepreneurs Program for International Leaders (Fully Funded to the United States)

Application Deadline: February 14, 2026

Applications are actually open for the 2026 Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) Innovative Entrepreneurs Program. EF will choose ascendant, progressive worldwide entrepreneurs, ages 32–45, who’ve demonstrated success in main for-profit enterprises that generate optimistic social affect. These Fellows will spend almost six weeks in the United States in October and November 2026.

A defining function of the Fall 2026 program is the integration of worldwide Fellows with their American counterparts from the 2026 USA Program. The mixed cohort will convene in Austin, Texas, one in all the nation’s main entrepreneurial hubs, for a number of days of residence, workshops and conferences. 

During this shared time, Fellows will pair for one-on-one change, work collectively in small teams and attend joint conferences with innovators in associated skilled fields who deliver various views to related challenges. Afterward, worldwide Fellows will embark on their individualized journey throughout the U.S. to meet prime leaders of their fields and advance their fellowship tasks.

Eligibility Requirements

• Eligible candidates will need to have citizenship and/or present residence for at the very least 5 years in the nation that they’re making use of to signify on fellowship. If an applicant doesn’t reside in or have citizenship in a rustic the place EF is at the moment lively, they have to reveal that their work has regional affect and acquire a letter of advice from a member of the EF world community so as to be thought of. Please see here for an inventory of nations the place the EF Network is at the moment lively.
• Selected International Fellows have to be eligible for a J-1 visa.
• Priority is given to candidates inside our age vary of focus: 32-45 years of age at the time of the program. This is one in all many standards we think about. Candidates who’re barely above or beneath the goal vary will nonetheless be thought of in the event that they excel in the different standards.
• Strong proficiency in the English language is required.
• Selected Fellows should get hold of approval from their office to go on go away and make a full-time dedication for the period of the in-person program at the time of acceptance. Breaks from program are solely permitted in the occasion of a dire emergency. 
• We tentatively anticipate this program going down over almost six weeks from early October 2026 via mid- November 2026. All Fellows have to be ready to convene in individual in Austin for a number of days in early October.
• Children usually are not permitted on fellowship beneath any circumstances. EF doesn’t at the moment fund spousal journey.
• We won’t think about a candidate who has had any fellowship inside the earlier two years of making use of to EF.
• Fellows can not use the fellowship to make enterprise offers, solicit funds for his or her tasks or search any form of monetary help. EF already covers their bills whereas on fellowship.
• Please be aware that use of generative AI/ChatGPT in the writing of the EF application is prohibited. All exterior sources have to be correctly cited. An applicant suspected of utilizing generative AI/ChatGPT won’t advance to the subsequent stage of consideration for the fellowship.

Application Timeline

• Apply: December 8, 2025 – February 14, 2026
• Interviews and Application Review: March – May, 2026
• Selection: June 2026
• In-Person Program: Fall 2026

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) Innovative Entrepreneurs Program.