Who can participate in the Youth in Action Programme?

Age limits for participants

The age limits applying to each of the Actions are set out in the table below.

Upper age limits: Participants must not be older than the indicated maximum age at the application deadline. For example, if the upper age limit is 25 years, participants must not have reached their 26th birthday by the application deadline.

Lower age limit: Participants must have reached the minimum age at the application deadline. For example, if the lower age limit is 13 years, participants must have reached their 13th birthday by the application deadline. Esception: From 2012 an EVS volunteer must have reached his or her 18th birthday before the activity starts.

	lower age limit	upper agre limit	exception
Action 1
youth exchanges	13	25	26-30
youth initiatives	18	30	15-17
youth democracy projects	13	30	none
Action 2 (EVS)	18	30	16-17
Action 3	consult action 1.1. and action 4
Action 4	no age limits
Action 5	15	30

The exceptional lower age limits, foreseen for Youth Initiatives and for EVS, may only be applied under the condition that appropriate supervision is provided.

Programme Countries and Partner Countries

Most types of project co-financed by the Youth in Action Programme require a partnership to be established between two or more partners. A distinction is made between Programme Countries and Partner Countries.

Programme Countries

The following countries are Programme Countries:

Member States of the European Union (EU)
Austria	Germany	Netherlands
Belgium	Greece	Poland
Bulgaria	Hungary	Portugal
Cyprus	Ireland	Romania
Czech Republic	Italy	Slovak Republic
Denmark	Latvia	Slovenia
Estonia	Lithuania	Spain
Finland	Luxembourg	Sweden
France	Malta	United Kingdom

Programme Countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA)
Iceland	Liechtenstein	Norway

Programme Countries which are candidates for accession to the European Union
Croatia and Turkey

Participants from Programme Countries can participate in all Actions of the Youth in Action Programme.

Neighbouring Partner Countries

The Youth in Action Programme supports cooperation between Programme Countries and the following Neighbouring Partner Countries:

South East Europe	Eastern Europe and Caucasus	Mediterranean Partner Countries
Albania	Armenia	Algeria
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Azerbaijan	Egypt
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Belarus	Israel
Kosovo (according to UNSCR 1244/1999)	Georgia	Jordan
Montenegro	Moldova	Lebanon
Serbia	Russian Federation	Morocco
	Ukraine	Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
		Syria
		Tunisia

Other Partner Countries of the World

Cooperation with other Partner Countries of the world, having signed agreements with the European Community relevant to the youth field, is possible under Action 2 and 3.2 of the Programme.

Visas

In principle, Youth in Action Programme beneficiaries from non-European Union (EU) countries coming into the EU, and young people from the EU going to non-EU countries to take part in various youth projects have to apply for a visa of entry into the relevant host country. Young people resident within an EU Member State, who are holders of a non-EU nationality/passport, might also need a visa to enter another EU Member State.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure, in cooperation with all partner organisations, that any visa required is in order before the planned activity takes place. It is strongly recommended that the visa is arranged well in advance, since the process may take several weeks.

The Commission has published some General Recommendations for visa/residence permit applications for the Youth in Action Programme participants. This document has been prepared for the benefit of youth organisations, youth workers and leaders and young people with the aim of providing them with help and advice on advance preparation before applying for visas in the case of short-term (up to 3 months) and long-term (more than 3months) mobility projects. The document can be downloaded from the Commission website.

National Agencies and the Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency may give further advice and support concerning visas, residence permits, social security etc. The regional SALTO Centres (South East Europe, Eastern Europe and Caucasus and Euromed) may give further information regrding the visa procedures in their respective regions.