Carrying over unused holiday, by country
What happens to annual leave that is not taken by the end of the leave year. Sweden is the most generous on paper: days above twenty can be saved for five years. Austria lets the claim run for two years after the year ends, and Australia says only that leave accumulates from year to year. At the strict end, Germany allows a carry-over only for urgent reasons and only until the end of March, and the Netherlands lets the statutory minimum lapse six months after the year closes. France and Spain tie a longer carry-over to illness.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Can it be carried over? | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | Yes, until the claim lapses | 2 years after the end of the leave year |
| Australia | Yes, leave accumulates | |
| Canada | Leave may begin in the following year | Must begin within 10 months after the year of employment |
| Germany | Only for urgent operational or personal reasons | First 3 months of the next year |
| Spain | Only after sickness or pregnancy-related absence | 18 months after the end of the year (sickness) |
| France | Only after illness or accident, or if a collective agreement allows it | 15 months after illness; 31 December of the next year under an agreement |
| Netherlands | Statutory minimum, for a limited time | 6 months after the end of the calendar year |
| Norway | Up to 12 days by written agreement; compulsory when leave could not be taken for stated reasons | Into the next holiday year |
| Sweden | Days above 20 may be saved | 5 years from the end of the leave year in which they were saved |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- Urlaubsgesetz § 4
- Applies to employees under the Urlaubsgesetz. The employer and employee are to agree the leave so that it can be used by the end of the leave year if possible.
- The two-year period is extended by the length of any parental leave (Karenz) taken.
Der Urlaubsanspruch verjährt nach Ablauf von zwei Jahren ab dem Ende des Urlaubsjahres, in dem er entstanden ist.Diese Frist verlängert sich bei Inanspruchnahme einer Karenz Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009, s 87(2)
- National Employment Standards, for employees other than casuals. Section 87(2) says leave accumulates from year to year and states no expiry date, so the deadline column is left empty.
accumulates from year to year Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code s 185
- Federally regulated employers only. The employer must grant the vacation, and it must begin no later than ten months after the year of employment that earned it. The Code does not say what happens to leave that is not taken in that window.
which shall begin not later than ten months immediately following the completion of the year of employment for which the employee became entitled to the vacation Germany
- Rule
- Bundesurlaubsgesetz § 7(3)
- Leave must be granted and taken in the current calendar year. A carry-over is allowed only if urgent operational reasons or reasons in the employee’s person justify it.
- On the employee’s request, partial leave earned in the first half-year under section 5 must be carried over to the next year.
Eine Übertragung des Urlaubs auf das nächste Kalenderjahr ist nur statthaft, wenn dringende betriebliche oder in der Person des Arbeitnehmers liegende Gründe dies rechtfertigen.Im Fall der Übertragung muß der Urlaub in den ersten drei Monaten des folgenden Kalenderjahrs gewährt und genommen werden. Spain
- Rule
- Estatuto de los Trabajadores, art. 38(3)
- Article 38 sets the rule for a holiday that falls on a sick period. If the holiday coincides with incapacity from a cause other than pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding, the employee may take it after recovery, provided no more than eighteen months have passed since the end of the year in which it arose.
- For incapacity linked to pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding, or the statutory birth-related suspensions, the employee may take the holiday at the end of the suspension even if the calendar year has ended. No other carry-over rule appears in article 38.
aunque haya terminado el año natural a que correspondansiempre que no hayan transcurrido más de dieciocho meses a partir del final del año en que se hayan originado France
- Rule
- Code du travail, art. L3141-19-1 and L3141-22
- L3141-19-1 gives an employee who could not take leave because of illness or accident a fifteen-month carry-over period, which starts when the employer gives the information required after the return to work. A collective agreement may set a longer period (L3141-21-1).
- L3141-22 applies where working time is counted over the year: an agreement may allow carry-over until 31 December of the year after the one in which the leave-taking period began.
il bénéficie d'une période de report de quinze mois afin de pouvoir les utiliser les reports de congés peuvent être effectués jusqu'au 31 décembre de l'année suivant celle pendant laquelle la période de prise de ces congés a débuté peut fixer une durée de la période de report supérieure à celle prévue à l'article L. 3141-19-1 Netherlands
- Rule
- Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 640a
- Applies to the statutory minimum (four times the weekly working time). The claim lapses six months after the last day of the calendar year in which it was earned, unless the employee could not reasonably take leave until then.
- An agreement in writing may set a longer period in the employee’s favour.
vervalt zes maanden na de laatste dag van het kalenderjaar waarin de aanspraak is verworven, tenzij de werknemer tot aan dat tijdstip redelijkerwijs niet in staat is geweest vakantie op te nemenBij schriftelijke overeenkomst kan ten gunste van de werknemer worden afgeweken van de termijn van zes maanden Norway
- Rule
- Ferieloven § 7(3)
- A written agreement may carry over up to 12 working days into the following holiday year. Leave that was not taken against the Act’s rules, or because of the situations in section 9(1) and (2), must be carried over to the next year.
- If the employer is to blame for leave not being taken, the employee may also claim compensation under section 14. The rules on timing may be departed from by collective agreement.
overføring av inntil 12 virkedager ferie til det påfølgende ferieårikke er avviklet ved ferieårets utløp, skal overføres til det påfølgende ferieår Sweden
- Rule
- Semesterlag (1977:480) 18 and 26 a §§
- An employee entitled to more than twenty paid days in a leave year may save the extra days. A saved day must be taken within five years from the end of the leave year when it was saved, unless 20 § second paragraph provides otherwise.
- Paid days that were not saved and could not be taken during the leave year are paid out instead (26 a §), paid for only the days that exceed twenty-five together with the days earned in the year of earning.
får spara en eller flera sådana överskjutande dagar till ett senare semesterårEn sparad semesterdag ska läggas ut inom fem år från utgången av det semesterår då den sparades Semesterdagar med semesterlön som inte har sparats enligt 18 § och som inte har kunnat läggas ut under semesteråret ersätts med semesterlön. Countries not in this table yet
The United States (no federal statute on annual leave), the United Kingdom (Working Time Regulations not ingested) and Japan are not shown. The ingested Japanese Labour Standards Act sets annual paid leave but its text does not state a carry-over rule.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
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LawAsked, “Carrying over unused holiday, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/carrying-over-holiday (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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