Is there a way non US residents can register .us?

One can report a .us nexus violation or, what appears to be a .us nexus violation, by utilizing that link.

You can safely assume that if someone checks the whois of a .us name you own and it has an overseas address, you're eventually going to get reported and Neustar does indeed investigate reports. If you can't demonstrate nexus, the name gets jerked/deleted.

So, run the risk as you will, but I'd suggest not owning *particularly* good .us names without being able to demonstrate nexus, lest you wind up losing it... Foreigners who own crappy .us names get away with it. The ones who own good ones (that in turn receive whois queries) run a substantial risk. Once the "prove nexus" gears are turning, you won't be able to BS your way out of it with a technicality (I HAVE A BROTHER THERE! or I SELL STUFF TO THE US VIA EBAY ALL THE TIME!). You'll have to show a bona-fide presence, which can be hard to do it you don't actually have a bona fide presence.

IIRC, wasn't Dubai.us a case of a foreign-held .us name with no demonstrable nexus?

I see, not saying I would do this but how many people I wonder use a fake US address and slip through the net that way?

Find yourself a US friend that you can trust and have them register the domains for you.

tradingnames.org said:

I see, not saying I would do this but how many people I wonder use a fake US address and slip through the net that way?

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Neustar is pretty lax about preserving the integrity of the dot us nexus violation process.

There are any number of ways that they could severely hamper foreign registrants from buying into the controlled .us namespace, but they (Neustar) are very, very lazy about it all.

I don't know if they monitor IP addresses of registrants or the location of banks making the registration/renewal payments. If they want to keep the us namespace limited to US persons, anything short of those basic tech protocols is comically impotent and simple to circumvent- but as best I know, yeah, simply providing a bogus US address will, at minimum, prevent you from getting reported.

For the record and in the name of full disclosure, I am very, very, very pro Nexus.
I am against 'finding Nexus religion' like China did and suddenly, screw over a bunch of people who had made free market investments in good faith, but yeah... If Finland or Norway or Canada or the US wants to keep their country-code namespaces free from foreign-national hoarders of domain names and has maintained that position from the start, I'm perfectly OK with that.

I dont think anyone works for neustar in the .us department anymore, (the monkeys that were there before have gone home )

but better safe than sorry so try for a bona fide presence.

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Someone, a non-US citizen, bought video.us for $75,000, only to have it confiscated by Neustar. Then another non-U.S. citizen bought for $18,000--again, confiscated. It looks like a U.S. citizen owns it now and has since 2009.

If it's a great domain, it WILL be reported. Crap domains? You will likely slide by.

Caveat Emptor!

Dabbling in ccTLDs other than your own can be dicey!


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DotUSDomains said:

I dont think anyone works for neustar in the .us department anymore, (the monkeys that were there before have gone home )

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Monkeys indeed. As tempted as I am to post emails, I won't.

If someone from overseas has a bonafide US presence, I'm totally cool with them owning US names. If they're paying taxes of any kind in the US- even if it's just local property taxes on a vacation property- then they're invested in the US system and should enjoy all rights and privileges that go along with it. If they happen to be a domain speculator, OK. Then they're in.

What frosts my ass is the non-existent way in which Neustar enforces nexus, save for a token here-or-there of higher profile names.

There are two types of enforcement; gestural and actual.
Gestural enforcement usually relies on gushy-worded policies and token, higher profile prosecution of the rules to 'make examples' and hope the deterrent factor is enough to keep the violators away. Te objective is to create the illusion of enforcement, without having to invest any actual effort in doing it.

"Actual" enforcement is the opposite. It's proactive, and there's a genuine driving imperative to ensure the rules are followed by taking actual, practical steps to see it happen and undoing the actions of those who violate those policies.

Neustars enforcement of US Nexus is somewhere at the absolute bottom-end of the most impotent type of "gestual" enforcement there is.
I'm sorely tempted to write a few letters to the Communications, Technology and The Intenet Senate Subcommittee, as well as see if I can't schedule a 5 minute call with my Senator to inform them that the private business tasked with managing the Americas Country Code TLD cannot be bothered with ensuring it's domestic integrity.

I wonder how much business gets done on sedo, afternic, forums, or wherever else in the buying and selling of domain names by people who officially are not allowed to buy or sell them and slips through the net. Anyway I don’t think I would register a .us name with a fake or non US address, it’s a bit too dodgy for my liking, it just sucks a bit when other people from other countries can register your cc tld but you can’t register theirs, not exactly a level playing field for people in that position, but hey that’s life I guess.

This is like trying to register a .com.au domain. The person must have an ABN(Australian Business Number) to register one.

snoopinc said:

This is like trying to register a .com.au domain. The person must have an ABN(Australian Business Number) to register one.

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Yes but a foreign National or Company can become a registered Australian company which gives them an ACN (Aust. Company Number).
This also entitles them to register Australian Domains.


Same thing with .US domains
Foreigners can be owners of .US if they operate a business within the USA.