The requirements to set up an officially recognized Wikimedia user group are meant to be light-weight and easy to follow.

1. Three active Wikimedia editors
   While it is recommended that user groups have about 10 members, it is required that at least 3 members are active with 500 or more contributions to a Wikimedia project (in the case of Wikidata: 800 or more edits) in a year preceding the application on a registered account that has existed for at least 6 months. These active members must be in good community standing (meaning they are not currently suspended or otherwise prevented from participating). While user groups should welcome the input of people who are not active contributors to the Wikimedia projects, and are required to allow new members to join, they should not stray too far from the community. An active involvement of contributors to the Wikimedia projects is necessary to enable a user group to bring its real-life initiatives to life in the Wikimedia projects.
2. Agree to Wikimedia user group agreement and code of conduct
   Your group must agree to theWikimedia user group agreement and code of conduct - which outlines basic expectations of Wikimedia user groups, such as on-wiki documentation of activities, operating withinWikimedia guiding principles, and compliance with theTrademark policy. When you submit your application, you will be asked to agree to both the Wikimedia user group agreement and code of conduct.

If your user group application is not able to meet these criteria you are still welcome to apply but we would like to understand your motivation for why you think these criteria are not important to your initiative. Please address these two questions in your motivation:

1. How would your user group contribute to the mission of the Wikimedia Movement
2. How does the background of the founding members contribute to the success of your user group

Examples of applications that could have good reasons for not meeting the criteria are things like research groups or other initiatives which do not require you to be an active contributor.

Please be aware that if you do not meet the three criteria outlined above, the Affiliations Committee will need more time to discuss your application (and hopefully approve it), this might also involve some more communication with the founding members of the user group application, so please watch your inbox for mails on this topic so that you can respond to them quickly.