FBI Honors Internship 2028 - Paid Summer Program

It is the FBI's paid summer internship for students who are still enrolled, known internally as HIP. Interns work full-time for about 10 weeks from June to August alongside FBI professionals, on work the Bureau describes as analysing crime data, building tools that move information between law enforcement agencies and the FBI, supporting operations and helping with division audits. Placements sit at Headquarters divisions, at field offices across the United States and Puerto Rico, and at the satellite campuses in Quantico, Virginia, Huntsville, Alabama and Pocatello, Idaho. The FBI pitches it as a direct pipeline to full-time employment, and it is aimed at undergraduates between their junior and senior years and at graduate students taking a master's, a JD or a PhD.

Yes, on the federal General Schedule rather than a flat stipend. Interns who hold a bachelor's degree and are enrolled full-time in a graduate program are paid at GS-5. Every other full-time student is paid at GS-4, including dual-enrollment students and undergraduates enrolled in a graduate course. On the 2026 OPM General Schedule the base rate at step 1 is $31,103 a year for GS-4 and $34,799 for GS-5, before locality pay, which varies by duty station and is added on top. Housing and travel are not paid for, so budget for a summer of rent in whichever city you are assigned to.

The FBI has not announced the dates. Its students and graduates page currently states that the 2027 cycle for the June to August 2027 internship has closed and that the 2028 application cycle dates have not been announced, and it asks applicants to set up job alerts. The recent pattern is the best guide there is: the 2027 window opened on 9 February 2026 and the posting carried a deadline of 5 March 2026. Earlier cycles ran on different schedules, so treat February and March 2027 as a planning target and confirm on fbijobs.gov before you rely on it.

No. United States citizenship is a hard requirement for every FBI hiring program, including this one, and there is no visa sponsorship of any kind. Permanent residents, F-1 and J-1 students and anyone on a work visa are all out. The one nuance the FBI publishes concerns dual citizens: if you are a US citizen who also holds another nationality, you may apply provided you are willing to renounce the non-US citizenship, and if you are selected you will be required to execute a declaration form.

A 3.0 cumulative grade point average or better. The requirement is written more tightly than most: you must have it at the time of application, hold it throughout the application process, and maintain it for the duration of the internship. Since the process runs for well over a year from application to start date, that means your grades are still being watched long after you submit. There is no published test score requirement, no essay competition and no separate merit tier above the 3.0 floor.

No. The FBI states that it does not pay for or provide housing or travel expenses. It does offer housing recommendations for interns assigned to the National Capital Region, and it suggests choosing location preferences where you have family or friends who could host you for the summer. Interns at Headquarters or the Washington Field Office can use Metrorail and Metrobus, and transit subsidies are available subject to funding. Everyone else is expected to live within reasonable commuting distance and to cover their own travel. If you take roommates, be aware that all of them must undergo a security check and complete a roommate background data form.

Not automatically, but the odds are better than at most internships. The FBI publishes a figure of 60 percent of interns receiving a full-time job offer after graduation. Interns who have graduated and are recommended for hire may be extended an offer, and those who accept convert to a permanent position once they complete 16 hours of work a month at the field office for the rest of their academic tenure, which is what keeps the security clearance active under OPM guidelines. An intern who is still years from graduating can be invited back for another summer instead.

No, and the two programs are built for different people. The Honors Internship Program is for students who have not yet graduated, or who are not graduating until at least the autumn of the year after they apply. The Collegiate Hiring Initiative is the FBI's entry-level hiring route for people graduating through the summer of the year they apply, or who graduated within the previous 24 months. Work out which side of that line you fall on before the window opens, because applying to the wrong one wastes the cycle.