One of the most exciting things about being a part of ICANN is seeing the collective work of the organization and community turn into real-world results. Today we are delighted to share that the first three Applicant Support Program (ASP) candidates have conditionally qualified for support.
All three applicants are nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations – two from the Asia Pacific region and one from Europe. These applicants are considered "conditionally qualified" until ICANN receives a deposit for their generic top-level domain (gTLD) evaluation fee, after which they will be fully qualified, supported applicants.
Once qualified, these organizations will have access to financial and nonfinancial resources, including capacity development and priority access to pro bono service providers and mentors. Financial assistance includes a reduction in gTLD evaluation fees and base Registry Agreement fees, as well as a bid credit for supported applicants that participate in an auction if their applied-for string is in contention.
The ICANN community established that the goals of the next round of the New gTLD Program are to foster diversity, encourage competition, and enhance the utility of the Domain Name System. The ASP is key to achieving these goals. It aims to help entities that are interested in applying for a gTLD but may lack the financial or technical resources to do so.
Thanks to an ambitious outreach campaign led by a cross-functional team in collaboration with ICANN's multistakeholder community, the program has received interest from five regions and 15 countries and territories. As of 14 August 2025, the application pipeline has 45 active applications – seven are based in Africa, 14 in the Asia Pacific region, five in Europe, two in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and 12 in North America (with five applications pending submission of their geographic region). Applicant statistics are updated monthly and made available on the ASP website.
The application submission window for the ASP is scheduled to close on 19 November 2025. Interested entities are encouraged to apply now so they can take full advantage of the available support before the New gTLD Program: Next Round opens for applications in April 2026. For information and to apply, please visit the ASP website. We look forward to announcing the next set of qualified applicants as soon as they are finalized.