Last updated:
Entry Procedure timeline
Entry Service Office
The entry process is meant for you to get to know Auroville and Auroville to get to know you. The roughly 12 to 18 months lasting process generally looks like this:
- The
first 2, 3 months you explore Auroville and, guided by the Entry Secretariat,
attend a one-afternoon Welcome Talk that gives you the essential ins and outs
of joining the experiment, as well as a 3-day Yucca programme that facilitates
visiting various places in Auroville.
- You then
meet some members of the Entry Board for a first sharing, along with an
Aurovilian of your choice, your chosen mentor. After this you may be
announced as a potential Newcomer in the community’s weekly News & Notes
bulletin. This is done to give the community the opportunity to give feedback
on its interactions with you.
- [For
foreigners it may be necessary at this stage to go to your home country in
order to obtain a one-year entry visa, renewable three times. If recommended by
the Entry Board, an official letter of recommendation by the Auroville
Foundation will be issued for the same. As this may take some time, it is
highly recommended that you don’t wait till the last moment for this.]
- Having been accepted as Newcomer, a second mentor will be appointed
to you by the Entry Secretariat, and you receive a Newcomer Kit that gets you
going with administrative, financial and housing procedures. Please know that
there is a very persistent housing shortage in Auroville and that ‘free
housing’ arrangements are rarely possible.
- During the 12 months of your Newcomer period, you’re asked to
explore the fields where your skills, interests or knowledge can be applied and
to contribute by becoming involved in the building and maintaining of the city
and its society. You will be in regular contact with your mentors who will
assist you. Ideally you are invited to work an average of 35 hours per week.
During, this period you are encouraged to participate in a week-long Aspiration
programme, which helps you become more familiar with the ideals of Auroville
and the myriad of activities and projects that are ongoing.
- At
the end of the year, you and your two mentors will meet the Entry Board for a
joint sharing to see if you’re ready to join permanently and have met the
various requirements with regard to your understanding of Auroville’s vision
and call, work, housing and financial situation and, importantly, general
integration into the community.
- Once
agreed, your name will be mentioned in the News & Notes, this time as
potential ‘Aurovilian’. If after four weeks no objections have come in, you
will, as a last step, meet with the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation so as
to be added to its official Register of Residents.
- While none of the current residents claim to have
reached the stage of a ‘True Aurovilian’, the administrative status of
‘Aurovilian’ is now accorded to you. This status may very exceptionally be
withdrawn or temporarily suspended if a behaviour clearly becomes incompatible
with Auroville’s ideals or fundamental standards of social conduct, though only
after all other reasonable efforts at solving the issue and correcting the
unacceptable behaviour have failed.
The adventure continues…, welcome to
Auroville!
February 2018
Ph. 0413-2622707
E-mail: entryservice@auroville.org.in
Entry Board, as per March 2021
(9 members):
Dheena - ongoing member (Aspiration),
Jayanthi (Auromodele),
Lakshmanan (Kuilapalayam),
Matriprasad - ongoing member (Prayatna),
Matilde (Madhuca),
Ramanarayana - ongoing member (Courage),
Sophie - ongoing member (Invocation),
Swadha (Courage).
French language translation
https://www.auroville.org/contents/4572
