Who can buy .us?

[linker]

Hi All,

Just wondering if the .us extension is open to anyone, I am Canadian, and I am looking at a .us domain, can I buy and reg a .us without any problems?

Thanks

 

[armstrong]

.us domains require a "nexus" entry, which basically identifies what category you fall under that qualifies you to own a .us domain. Many non-US entities register .us on the basis of doing substantial business with American clients and service providers, which is pretty much unavoidable for web-based entrepreneurs with international clients. Whether this is truly acceptable to the registry (or to US gov't) is something that has not yet been tested, to my knowledge.

 

[romow]

even when one does not do business in us,
can one use "personal use" category of "foreign entity" to register .us?

 

[armstrong]

I don't think so, romow. This should be blocked during the registration attempt.

 

[linker]

So if I was buying a bunch of domains on ebay, for example, and one or two happened to be .us would I not be able to reg them? (Myself or any other non-us resident for that matter?)

 

[IAmAllanShore]

The "horse's mouth"

http://www.nic.us/delegated_managers/usLocCompReport.html

-Allan


EDIT::::::::

Thanks to armstrong for catching my wrong link, try this:

http://www.nic.us/faqs/index.html#who_can_register

 

[armstrong]

Allan, that report seems to deal more with the responsibities of locally-delegated .us subdomains, such as www.montgomery.al.us .

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Allan, that report seems to deal more with the responsibities of locally-delegated .us subdomains, such as www.montgomery.al.us .

Good catch

Sorry 'bout that, I was on autopilot to my recently referenced nic's.

This is what I meant (I think :hehe: )
http://www.nic.us/faqs/index.html#who_can_register

-Allan

 

[FusunMedia]

Even though technically non-us citizens aren't allowed to register .us names that rule isn't strictly enforced. I've sold .us names to non-us citizens and the US Government hasn't contacted them yet...

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Even though technically non-us citizens aren't allowed to register .us names that rule isn't strictly enforced. I've sold .us names to non-us citizens and the US Government hasn't contacted them yet...

You do have to have some nexus to the US to insure you may not lose a name in the future. You can be a citizen or just own a "business" in the US. you can start a legal business in the US for a couple hundred dollars. Just remember that that business will subject you to taxes on any income the business makes and to US law.

The risk of not having nexus and registering anyway, is that there is a US nexus disupute policy. If someone disputes you as a legal owner under the nexus rules, you may lose the domain you spent money developing. They wouldn't have to prove any of the things in a UDRP filing, just prove you didn't have nexus at the time you registered to obtained the domain. Not likely for a lesser domain, but a really valuable one could put you at some risk.

 

[LeetPCUser]

.US Endings

My mom bought a us ending from www.mydiscountdomains.com it was something like $9.99 for a year. I don't know if it is any good but we used it and it seemed to work for her.

Check it out,