Date Format: Types, How to Write Correctly
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Since you are here on this page I am assuming you are someone who might be confused on date format while filling a form, booking a flight, or writing an assignment. Don’t worry you are not alone and we have all Googled correct date format at least once in our lives.
Students aiming to study abroad must be well-versed with date format of their chosen destination in order to remain on time. There are many ways how people around the world write dates. Here are the three most common date formats used around the world-
- Day-Month-Year or dd-mm-yyyy like 27/09/2025 (used in India and most of Asia & Europe)
- Month-Day-Year or mm-dd-yyyy like 09/27/2025 (used in the US)
- Year-Month-Day or yyyy-mm-dd like 2025-09-27 (used in Japan and follows the ISO 8601 international standard)
Now let us be honest it is very easy to get confused especially when every country has its own system. But if you are someone who is planning to study abroad this is more than just a small mistake. Writing the wrong date on your application or visa form could actually delay things or could even get your form rejected.
- Why Date Formats Even Matter?
- Universal ISO 8601 Date Format
- How Different Countries Write Dates?
- Understanding Parts of a Date Format
- Date Format FAQs
Why Date Formats Even Matter?
Whether it is tracking deadlines, attending interviews, or submitting your project on time dates keep us in sync. But the way we write dates will change from one country to other and even from one organization to another. So while there isn’t exactly a “wrong” way to write a date but there is a preferred local way and following it avoids all that confusion.
For example India, UK, and most of Europe follow DD-MM-YYYY, but in US you use MM-DD-YYYY. So 03/04/2025 could mean 3rd April in India but March 3rd in the US. One small difference and it could mean two totally different dates.
Also read:
| Bonafide Certificate | Internship Certificate |
| Work Experience Certificate for International Students | Shiksha Guidelines for Creating SOP to Study Abroad |
| Consolidated Marksheet | Academic Transcript |
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Visa applicationIdeally the correct date format is one that matches date format adopted by your local/regional official bodies of state or country. This is because - different date formats are used across borders, organisations and systems. Hence it is advised to follow date and time format prescribed by your organisation/institution. Some common date formats are DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY and YYYY/MM/DD.
ISO 8601 date format is international date format. This format puts year first - followed by month and then day i.e. YYYY-MM-DD. For example-
- 2025-04-27 becomes 27 April 2025.
- 2025-08-05 becomes 05 August 2025.
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The countries that use the dd mm yyyy date format are Australia, New Zealand and-
United States is primary exception following mm/dd/yyyy format. Canada uses both formats but officially prefers dd/mm/yyyy. Some countries like China might alternatively use yyyy/mm/dd in certain contexts- especially for sorting purposes.