My albeit limited understanding is that it depends on the specific contract for the borrowing of the stock.
Some might have a set time limit for the shares to be returned, others may be flexible.
I think some may be able to recall stock at short notice if desired also. I don’t know what’s typical or “standard”, and I guess you were trying to gauge this to see whether outstanding shorts may need to cover any time soon...
“Contacting your broker” is of course not going to give you the answers you seek, because they will probably only tell you what THEY offer, if anything, in this regard.
Others like
@tutor may be able to indicate what the typical arrangements are, or at least point you to any specific rules associated with the time frames of lending, if there are any.
Sorry that doesn’t help much..
What I’ve seen lately from the short numbers is a lot of churn, since there has been consistent daily shorts but overall the shorts reducing... so, more shorts closed per day than opened. Trading for pips.
I’m not sure how many “long term” shorts there are, or if indeed there is any way to find out...