Published June 2026 · 5 min read
Every year, millions of meetings get scheduled at the wrong time because someone forgot about Daylight Saving Time. It's not your fault — DST changes on different dates in different countries, and some countries don't observe it at all. Here's everything you need to know for 2026.
DST Start and End Dates for 2026
| Country / Region | Spring Forward | Fall Back | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | March 8, 2026 | November 1, 2026 | Second Sunday in March / First Sunday in November |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | March 29, 2026 | October 25, 2026 | Last Sunday in March / Last Sunday in October |
| 🇪🇺 European Union | March 29, 2026 | October 25, 2026 | Same dates as UK for all EU members |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | October 4, 2026 | April 5, 2026 | Southern hemisphere — spring in Oct, fall in Apr |
| 🇳🇿 New Zealand | September 27, 2026 | April 5, 2026 | Last Sunday in September / First Sunday in April |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | No DST observed | Abolished DST in 2019 | |
| 🇨🇳🇮🇳🇯🇵 China, India, Japan | No DST observed | Never observed DST (or abolished decades ago) | |
The Tricky Three-Week Window
Here's the most dangerous period of the year for scheduling: the three weeks between the US spring-forward and the EU spring-forward.
From March 8 to March 29, 2026, the US has already moved its clocks forward, but Europe hasn't yet. That means the time difference between New York and London shrinks from 5 hours to just 4 hours — temporarily. If you're scheduling meetings in this window, double-check your offsets.
The reverse happens in the fall. From October 25 to November 1, Europe has fallen back but the US hasn't. New York and London go back to a 4-hour gap for one week before the US catches up.
Countries Without DST (Your Stable Anchors)
Most of the world's population doesn't observe DST. If you have team members in any of these countries, their time never shifts — they're your stable reference point:
- Asia: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines
- Africa: Nearly all African countries (only Egypt, Morocco, and a few others observe DST)
- South America: Most countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru
- Middle East: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait (Iran and Israel do observe DST)
When scheduling recurring meetings, it's helpful to anchor the meeting to a non-DST time zone like UTC, IST (India), or CST (China). That way, the meeting stays stable year-round — only the DST-observing participants' local times shift.
How to Handle Recurring Meetings Across DST
Option 1: Anchor to a fixed time zone. "This meeting is always at 14:00 UTC." Your US and EU colleagues will see their local times shift by an hour when DST changes, but the meeting stays at the same absolute time.
Option 2: Anchor to one location. "This meeting is always at 10:00 AM Pacific." Everyone else adjusts. This is simpler but means the meeting shifts for non-US participants twice a year.
Option 3: Reschedule seasonally. Every March and October/November, revisit your meeting time to make sure it still works for everyone. Most teams skip this — and then wonder why attendance drops.
Our time zone meeting planner automatically flags upcoming DST transitions so you can see when a scheduled meeting time is about to shift.
Never miss a DST shift again — Check your meeting times now →