National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)
The U.S. Department of State’s NSLI-Y is part of a U.S. government initiative to foster international cooperation by ensuring that Americans have the linguistic skills and cultural knowledge necessary to effectively communicate. NSLI-Y provides overseas critical language study opportunities to American youth through merit-based scholarships to spark a lifetime interest in critical foreign languages and cultures.
Languages & Program Experiences
NSLI-Y provides intensive language immersion programs in a variety of locations around the world. Beginners are encouraged to apply for any of the target languages; previous language experience is not required.
NSLI-Y offers the following languages:
Programs may take place in the following locations:
Egypt, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Latvia, Morocco, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and other locations around the world, as conditions allow.
Please note that programs, host locations, and schedules are dependent on local health and safety conditions and are subject to change.
Receive NSLI-Y Application Updates!
The 2023-2024 application is closed. All finalist notifications have been released for the 2023-2024 application cycle. Details about the program timeline can be found on the How to Apply tab.