WTO Internship Programme: Paid Geneva Internships for Post-Graduate Students

Yes — the World Trade Organization pays its interns.

The WTO Internship Programme gives post-graduate students and recent graduates a daily allowance of CHF 60, an internship of up to six months in Geneva, and intake with no fixed deadline.

There are actually three tracks, not one. The general programme is open to post-graduates from WTO member and observer countries. Two China-sponsored programmes target nationals of least-developed countries and developing economies, with a higher daily allowance. A third track, the PhD support programme, is currently on hold — so do not apply to it.

Three tracks, one table — start here

Detail	WTO Internship Programme	China-sponsored programmes	PhD support programme
Who it is for	Post-graduate students and recent master’s or PhD graduates	Recent graduates and young professionals from LDCs and developing economies	Doctoral students from developing countries
Duration	Up to 6 months	Up to 10 months	3 to 6 months
Daily allowance	CHF 60	CHF 90	CHF 60
Travel to Geneva	Not covered	Economy airfare covered	Economy airfare covered
Intake	Ongoing, no fixed period	Rolling (Accessions); 1 June to 31 August (General)	Currently on hold

Check yourself first: do you qualify?

For the general programme, you must:

• Be a national of a WTO member state, or of a country or customs territory negotiating WTO accession
• Have completed undergraduate studies in a relevant discipline
• Meet one of three study conditions: be enrolled in a master’s with at least one year completed; have completed a master’s and be enrolled in higher postgraduate study, including doctoral studies; or have completed a postgraduate degree within the past two years at the time of selection
• Be at least 21 years old at the time of the internship

For the China-sponsored programmes, you must:

• Be a national of a least-developed country or a developing WTO member, or an observer negotiating accession
• Have completed undergraduate studies in a relevant discipline — the page names economics, law, political science and international relations as examples
• Have completed at least one year of postgraduate studies
• Be no older than 30

Do not apply if you are still an undergraduate, if you are over 30 and eyeing the China programmes, or if your country has no WTO connection at all — neither membership, observer status, nor accession talks.

What CHF 60 a day really means

CHF 60 a day works out to about CHF 1,800 for a 30-day month. The China track’s CHF 90 a day is about CHF 2,700 a month.

One generous detail: the allowance includes weekends and official holidays. You are paid for days you do not work.

Now the honest part. Travel to and from Geneva is not covered under the general programme — that cost is entirely yours. Health insurance is mandatory in Switzerland, and you must arrange it yourself before you start. China-sponsored interns get economy airfare covered plus an extra CHF 100 per month toward their insurance premium.

The allowance is real help, not a salary — plan your budget before you accept.

How to apply without wasting your effort

Everything starts on the WTO external jobs platform, named on the official page. Submit your application there and follow the system’s instructions.

Three things most applicants miss.

First, only candidates selected for interview are contacted.

Second, good applications stay on a roster for one year. Selection happens from that roster.

Third, the China tracks need a second step. After completing the general online form, send a separate email — to accessionsintern@wto.org for the Accessions track, or to chinageneralintern@wto.org for the General track — with your CV, a motivation letter and a copy of the online form.

Watch the timing. The China General Internship Programme accepts applications from 1 June to 31 August. The Accessions track has no opening or closing date — internships can be offered at any time of the year.

The small print that decides applications

An internship does not entitle you to a job in the Secretariat. The page states this plainly. You may still apply for external WTO vacancies as an intern, but nothing is reserved for you.

Beyond trade law, economics and statistics, interns work in finance, human resources, language services, IT and communications. The division you are assigned to decides the exact work.

If Geneva is not your only option, look at other internship openings we have covered — including the IOM Labour Mobility & Social Inclusion internship in the Netherlands, the BlackRock 2027 Summer Internship Program in EMEA, and Google’s 2027 Software Engineering and Site Reliability Engineering internships.

Questions applicants ask

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