ICC Associate and Affiliate Members from across the globe will have the opportunity to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka.
Regional qualifying events will be held across the five regions to provide a qualifying pathway to the 16-team qualifier which will take place in early 2012 in the United Arab Emirates.
The six Associate/Affiliate Members with ODI status - Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland - have automatically qualified for this event.
Three teams from the Asia region, two teams from Africa, Americas and Europe, and one team from East Asia-Pacific will have the opportunity to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 2012 global qualifier.
Some ODI status Associate/Affiliate sides will take part in these qualifying events, along with emerging teams from ICC Full Members (e.g. South Africa and Zimbabwe). In such cases, the highest placed Associate and Affiliate sides from these events will progress to the global qualifier, based on the qualifying spots available, which are outlined above.
A full list of qualifying events is listed below:
| DATE | EVENT | VENUE | COMPETING TEAMS |
| 24-27 February 2011 | ICC Africa Division 3 | Ghana | Cameroon, Gambia, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles |
| 13-20 March 2011 | ICC Americas Division 3 | Costa Rica | Belize, Chile, Peru, Mexico,Costa Rica, Falkland Islands |
| 4-8 April 2011 | ICC EAP Division 2 | Samoa | Indonesia, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Philippines, South Korea |
| 9-15 April 2011 | ICC Americas Division 2 | Suriname | Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Panama, Suriname, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| 11-14 May 2011 | ICC Europe Division 3 | Slovenia | Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey |
| 14-18 May 2011 | ICC Africa Division 2 | South Africa | Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Rwanda |
| 20-25 June 2011 | ICC Europe Division 2 | Belgium | Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Hellas, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Sweden |
| July 4-7 2011 | ICC EAP Division 1 | Papua New Guinea | PNG, Fiji, Japan, Vanuatu, Samoa |
| July 9-15 2011 | ICC Africa Division 1 | Entebbe, Uganda | Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana |
| July 17-24 | ICC Americas Division 1 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA | Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, USA, Suriname |
| July 19-24 2011 | ICC Europe Division 1 | Jersey/Guernsey | Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Israel, Italy, Isle of Man, Norway, Spain |
| 1-10 December 2011 | ICC ACC T20 | Nepal | Afghanistan, Nepal, UAE, Oman, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Bhutan, Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia |
| Q1, 2012 | ICC WT20 Global Qualifier | UAE | Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland, 10 regional qualifiers (2 Africa, 2 Americas, 3 Asia, 1 EAP, 2 Europe) |
Ireland, Afghanistan are Qualified for 2012 ICC World Twenty20