The federal hiring freeze end date is open-ended: no date is set, and none is currently scheduled. President Trump’s Executive Order 14356, signed on October 15, 2025, extended the freeze indefinitely across nearly all executive branch agencies and replaced an earlier memorandum that had contained an expiration trigger.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring Until a future executive action rescinds or modifies that order, vacant federal civilian positions cannot be filled and new positions cannot be created, outside of narrow exceptions.
Why There Is No Set End Date
The freeze began on January 20, 2025, when President Trump signed a presidential memorandum barring agencies from filling any civilian position that was vacant as of noon that day.2The White House. Hiring Freeze That original memorandum was designed to expire once the Office of Management and Budget submitted a plan to reduce the federal workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition, which was due within 90 days.
OMB issued the plan. Normal hiring did not resume. Instead, the administration replaced the memorandum with Executive Order 14356 on October 15, 2025, which contains no sunset clause and no automatic expiration trigger. The order states plainly that no vacant federal civilian position may be filled and no new position may be created, except through specific exceptions or as required by law.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring Anyone waiting for a specific calendar date to circle should understand that none exists right now.
How the Freeze Could End
Because Executive Order 14356 has no built-in expiration, the freeze will continue until one of a few things happens.
The most direct path is a new executive order that explicitly rescinds or supersedes it. The President could issue such an order at any time. A future administration would also almost certainly revoke it on taking office, as incoming presidents routinely undo their predecessor’s executive actions on day one.
Congress could force the issue by attaching hiring mandates to appropriations legislation, requiring agencies to maintain staffing at certain levels. This approach is less common but has precedent in specific agencies where Congress has directed minimum staffing floors.
Short of one of those actions, the freeze stays. A government-wide freeze ends through a specific written directive from the executive branch, not through gradual relaxation or the passage of time.
What the 2017 Freeze Tells You About Timing
The most recent comparable freeze ran from January to April 2017. President Trump signed a memorandum on January 23, 2017, barring agencies from filling vacant civilian positions or creating new ones.3The White House. Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-17-18 – Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze Guidance That freeze ended on April 12, 2017, when OMB Director Mick Mulvaney issued Memorandum M-17-22, which lifted the freeze upon issuance and required agencies to submit reform plans on a detailed timeline.4The White House. OMB Memorandum M-17-22 – Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce
The 2017 freeze lasted roughly 80 days. The current freeze has already lasted well over a year with no end in sight, which makes 2017 a poor predictor of timing. What it does illustrate is the mechanism: a written OMB directive can lift a freeze immediately once the administration decides to act.
Even When It Lifts, Hiring Will Not Snap Back
Executive Order 14356 does more than freeze vacancies. It builds an approval structure that will remain in place even after the freeze itself is lifted. Every agency must establish a Strategic Hiring Committee, chaired by the deputy agency head and the chief of staff, to approve the filling of each vacancy individually. These committees must ensure that any hire aligns with agency needs and administration priorities, and they must notify OPM in writing after approving each hire.5Federal Register. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring
Agencies are also required to prepare Annual Staffing Plans in coordination with OPM and OMB, with quarterly progress updates beginning in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring The practical effect is that “end of the freeze” will not mean an open hiring market. Individual hires will move through more gates than they did before 2025, and the pace of restored hiring will depend on how quickly those committees process approvals.
The Budget Cycle Adds a Second Constraint
Even without an executive hiring freeze, federal agencies can only hire when Congress provides the money. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30, and agencies need annual appropriations to fund new salaries. When Congress fails to pass spending bills on time, it typically passes continuing resolutions that maintain funding at prior-year levels. Agencies operating under a CR often impose their own informal hiring slowdowns because they lack certainty about their full-year budget.
For fiscal year 2026, the budget picture has been unusually fragmented. A continuing resolution signed in November 2025 funded certain agencies through January 30, 2026, followed by additional short-term measures. Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed briefly in February 2026. The discretionary spending caps from the Fiscal Responsibility Act are no longer binding for FY 2026, and Congress has not yet set a new topline spending level.
A full-year appropriations bill, when it eventually passes, would give agencies the budget certainty to plan hires. But under the current executive order, budget authority alone is not enough. Each hire would still need approval from the agency’s Strategic Hiring Committee and alignment with the Annual Staffing Plan submitted to OMB and OPM.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring So two constraints have to line up before any real hiring wave, not just one.
What to Do While the Freeze Continues
USAJOBS still posts positions during the freeze, but almost all of them fall into exempt categories: national security roles, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, and positions at agencies like the Department of Defense that have broader hiring authority. Military and uniformed personnel, presidential appointments, and Schedule C positions are also exempt, as is the U.S. Postal Service.6U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze Guidance If you see a posting, read the announcement carefully to confirm the position is actively being filled rather than held in an applicant pool for future use.
If your tentative or final offer was rescinded because of the freeze, recourse is limited. Federal courts and the Merit Systems Protection Board have consistently held that agencies can cancel vacancy announcements and rescind offers for reasons that are not contrary to law, and a government-wide hiring freeze qualifies. Veterans whose preference rights were specifically violated during the rescission process may file a complaint under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, but the freeze itself does not violate veterans’ preference; it eliminates the positions to which the preference would attach.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 5 – 2108 – Veteran; Disabled Veteran; Preference Eligible
Do not assume you will be automatically reinstated when hiring resumes. Agencies will likely need to re-advertise positions and make new selections under the updated hiring rules. Keeping your USAJOBS profile and supporting documents current is the most practical step you can take while the freeze continues.