Aspects of the disclosure relate to distributed joint access of an unlicensed sidelink channel Each sidelink device may perform independent and asynchronous listen before talk (LBT) of the unlicensed sidelink channel with a respective back-off timer value. The first sidelink device to complete back-off may transmit a joint access synchronization (JAS) signal indicating a duration of time that the unlicensed sidelink channel may be accessed by sidelink devices. Synchronized access sharing of the unlicensed sidelink channel across different active sidelinks may then be achieved through distributed handshake signaling.