Volunteering in Auroville

Auroville's guidance for visitors says volunteer work is open to Indian citizens and to foreigners with an Entry visa. Its page on joining Auroville is more specific: non-Indian citizens must obtain an OCI or an Entry visa endorsed for Auroville (the page calls it Entry X-2), applied for through the Indian embassy or consulate in their home country with a Letter of Recommendation from the Auroville Foundation, which the Admissions and Terminations Registry (ATR) sends. This visa, or an OCI, is mandatory for both volunteering and working in Auroville; no other visa applies to a volunteer. It is typically granted for one year and can be renewed three times while you live in Auroville. Indian missions list joining Auroville under the Entry visa and ask for the Auroville Foundation's invitation letter (Paris, for example, wants it in its original sealed envelope).

A tourist visa cannot be converted into an Entry visa once you are in India, so the decision has to be made before you travel. Auroville notes that visa categories and processes are set by the Government of India and may change, and that ATR advises case by case. For India's visa types in general, see visa for India.

1. Find a unit and a length of stay. Auroville's own service for this is SAVI (Auroville Volunteering, Internships & Studies), which matches volunteers and interns with working units, on stays of months rather than days and subject to what units need. For foreign nationals, short volunteering stints are no longer possible because of immigration rules.
2. Apply early. Foreign nationals are asked to make contact two to six months before arrival, because of the visa route. Auroville asks applicants to write to ATR to volunteer.
3. Get the visa. With the Letter of Recommendation, apply for the Entry visa at the Indian embassy or consulate in your country, or travel on an OCI card.
4. Register on arrival. Every guest, Indian or foreign, must report their arrival within 24 hours on an Arrival Report form; volunteer registration is completed on a form countersigned by the hosting unit and the accommodation manager.
5. Plan your costs. Volunteers pay a monthly contribution (the amount is in the card above) towards Auroville's common services, and Auroville advises volunteers to plan to cover their own living costs. Temporary accommodation may be offered through the Housing Service, subject to availability, and Auroville warns of a housing shortage.

Sadhana Forest is a reforestation community in the Auroville area that runs its own residential volunteering, which it calls seva, unpaid service. Since 2003 it has hosted more than 20,000 volunteers on 70 acres of severely eroded land, recreating the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest of this coast. The rules below are Sadhana Forest's own.

• The work. At least 35 hours a week: reforestation, water conservation, the animal sanctuary (Gaushala) and community upkeep such as cooking and cleaning. The day starts at 5:30 am, with seva from 6:00 to 8:30 and a second shift before lunch, plus three or four afternoon or weekend shifts a week.
• Minimum stay. It depends on who you are and is longer from December to February: for example, 14 nights for foreign residents under 45 (20 in December–February), 6 nights for Indian residents and for foreign residents over 45 (8 in those months), and 4 nights for families with children (6).
• Costs. Dormitory huts are free; everyone contributes approximately ₹600 a day for food (₹300 for children aged 3–10), and a bedding deposit of ₹1,000 is refunded when you leave. Bring the full contribution for your minimum stay on arrival.
• Rules. Food is 100% vegan. Smoking, alcohol and drugs are forbidden for the whole stay, including time spent in Auroville and Pondicherry.
• Arriving. New volunteers are welcomed daily from 6 am to 5 pm without a reservation; outside those hours, contact the project at least 72 hours ahead. Foreigners need a passport with a valid Indian visa, Indian citizens an Aadhaar card.

Accommodation is very basic, in huts with shared bathrooms and no lighting outside the common areas at night.

On a short trip, the way into Auroville's work is as a guest. The Auroville Guest Service, on the terrace above the Solar Kitchen, gives information on guest participation programmes, workshops, therapies and events, and helps guests meet Aurovilians. Sadhana Forest's Eco Film Club on Fridays (a forest tour, a documentary and a vegan dinner) is free and open to everyone, with a shuttle from the Solar Kitchen. Hands-on courses at the Earth Institute, the Bamboo Centre and other units are listed under workshops.