Any individual, business or organisation is invited to become a Community Pioneer. The prospective Community Pioneer (the Applicant) is required to fill in an Application Form, and to include a brief proposal (incorporated in the Application Form) outlining:

• Business and Marketing Plan: describing the concept and proposed scheme for the .Asia domain, along with activities and ideas for promoting the domain;
• Operations and Financial Support: resources and support available for viability of the initiative and to execute on the proposed plans; and,
• Community and Social Considerations: commercial and social benefits to the community

Besides the proposal, Community Pioneers will be required to deposit a commitment of US$10,000 to the marketing of the .Asia domain. This Marketing Commitment Deposit is not an application fee, and will be returned to the Community Pioneer (i.e. applicant) against documented proof of advertising and marketing attributed to the promotion of the proposed business, which prominently features the allocated .Asia domain name.

Domain Names of Interest in languages other than English are also accepted provided description and supporting materials adequately establish the appropriateness of such domain. The Domain Name of Interest however must be expressed in English alphanumeric characters. The Domain Name of Interest must not be an IDN (Internationalized Domain Name).

The choice of a Domain Name of Interest outside of the Prospective Community Pioneer Domains list will not prejudice the application against applications that do select from the list.

Applicants for Community Pioneer Domains may also apply for Financial Assistance Consideration. To apply, an Applicant must complete a Financial Assistance Consideration request form ( doc | pdf ) and submit it along with the Proposal (Application Form). In order to qualify for the Financial Assistance Consideration, an application must meet all of the following criteria:

• The Proposal must be non-commercial in nature and proposed by a not-for-profit organisation, OR the Proposal is submitted by a team of students or recent graduates (proposals from students or recent graduates – graduated in 2006 or later – may contain commercial business models)
• The Proposal must hold remarkable potential for bringing substantial benefit to the community, especially for the Asia Internet community
• The Applicant must demonstrate decent capability to raise enough support, including operational and financial support if the Domain Name of Interest is allocated

The Financial Assistance Consideration provides a waiver for the Marketing Commitment Deposit as well as the Administration Fee. The Applicant must still however make a Dispute Deposit for the amount equal to the Challenge Fee. An application that has been granted Financial Assistance Consideration does not automatically pass the evaluation process for a Pioneer Domain, nor does it exempt the application from the Challenge Process.