How to join Auroville

Before formally applying to become a member of Auroville, you must first inform yourself about the conditions for joining Auroville. You can get this information from the Entry Group office in Auroville or from any Auroville International (AVI) Centre in your country.

Pay a visit beforehand

It is best that you come to Auroville, first, for a three-month visit before deciding to join the experiment. (Please contact our AV Guest Service avguests@auroville.org.in since it is better to inquire about guesthouse availability and prices before coming). If, during your stay here, you would decide to join Auroville, you should schedule an interview with the Entry Group at the end of your guest period to formally confirm your decision to join. You will be asked to fill out an application form. Upon your return to Auroville the process can then begin.

Visa details

For foreign nationals, a Tourist Visa may be obtained from the Indian High Commission, Embassy, or Consulate nearest your home.

For foreign nationals, it is the Auroville Entry Group, which arranges the necessary Letter of Recommendation requesting the Indian High Commission, Embassy, or Consulate of your home country to issue an Entry Visa. While you can visit Auroville on a Tourist Visa, this visa cannot be converted into an Entry Visa. You are obliged to return to your home country to get this Entry Visa, since the entry process cannot commence without it. If your decision to join is made after you leave Auroville then you can write to the Entry Group for the Letter of Recommendation of your Entry Visa.

Residential Permit

A Residential Permit is granted on the basis of being an honorary voluntary worker in Auroville. As a requirement from the Government of India, people over 16 must produce an HIV-negative certificate recognised by the World Health Organisation and issued less than one month before arrival. This certificate can be also obtained after arrival in India (ask the Entry group for details).

Duty free import of household goods

People from abroad, who are coming into India on an Entry Visa for a stay in Auroville of at least one year, can bring in their household goods and effects without paying customs duty, on a one-time-only basis, provided that the shipment is made within the year of their arrival in India.

Upon arrival

Within 48 hours of your arrival in Auroville, if you are a foreign national, you are required first to fill out an Arrival Form and register with the Visa Service. If you have come with the intention to stay and have obtained the proper Entry Visa, you should then make contact with the Entry Group to start your Newcomer period.

If you are an Indian national intending to join Auroville, you are requested to register with the Entry Group within one week of your arrival in Auroville in order to get the necessary information that will allow you to start your entry process.

Contact person

You will be welcomed by the Entry Group and introduced to your contact person who will guide you throughout your Newcomer period. The Entry Group will announce, after consultation with the contact person and the community in which you stay your status as a Newcomer to the Community at large.

Newcomer period

Your Newcomer period will then begin and last for a period of two years. From the beginning, you will be a full participant in Auroville’s life as described in this document. You will take up an activity useful to the Community and at the same time conducive to your integral personal growth. Starting a new undertaking during this period – be it a service, commercial unit or an independent project – is only allowed with permission of the Entry Group. You will be encouraged to join in various collective activities, open community meetings and other gatherings, as well as in the new economy experiment that is presently underway.

You are expected to remain in Auroville for your first full year. In case you have to leave Auroville temporarily or permanently, you must inform the Entry Group. Newcomers of foreign origin are requested to consult the Visa Service about the exit and/or re-entry procedures.

Newcomer contribution

Upon becoming a Newcomer, you will be asked for a contribution towards the community. This Newcomer contribution is a one-time non-refundable amount of Rs 8,000 for Westerners and Rs 4,000 for Indian nationals. 

On top of this, Rs 1,000 is required as a contribution towards the Repatriation Fund from Westerners and Rs 500 from Indian nationals. This fund is maintained in case people suddenly have to return to their place of origin in the event of illness or a similar crisis, and don’t have the funds immediately available for their fare. Newcomers are also required, as are all Aurovilians, to pay the monthly Central Fund contribution towards the upkeep of Auroville’s infrastructure. This contribution presently amounts to Rs 1,000 per person per month.

Basic needs

A budget of Rs 3,000 per month per person is suggested in order to cover one’s basic needs (food, sundries, clothing, vehicle maintenance, etc), although people fresh from the West may require more, certainly in their earlier stages of acclimatisation.

Recommendation

At the conclusion of the Newcomer period, you will be invited to meet the Entry Group again who may recommend your joining to the Residents’ Assembly. If there are no sustained objections from the residents of Auroville, you will become an Aurovilian. Your name will be entered on the Master List and you will be full-fledged resident of Auroville and member of the Residents’ Assembly.

It is the duty of the Residents’ Assembly to see that the guiding principles given by the Mother for Auroville are observed by its residents. Should these principles be seriously and repeatedly violated by an individual, his/her status as resident can be put in question by the Residents’ Assembly at any time.

Entry Group
Bharat Nivas
Auroville 605101
Tamil Nadu INDIA
entry@auroville.org.in