What is .US?
.US is “America’s Internet Address.” It is the official country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States within the global domain name system (DNS).
What makes .US unique and why do I need it?
.US is the only means to establish an American address on the Internet. Soon, all U.S. residents, government entities, public service organizations, and businesses will be able to establish an American identity on the Internet with a short memorable domain name. (e.g., johnsmith.us, publicservice.us, mycompany.us).
Market research has shown that .US names will be very popular with consumers for applications like email, digital identity, and personal web sites. Government and public interest organizations will use .US addresses to enable citizen-centric e-Gov applications and to serve the needs of the American people. Businesses will use .US domain names to promote themselves as American companies to inspire consumer confidence and to encourage consumers to “buy American.”
Who can register a .US domain name?
Any U.S. citizen or resident, as well as any business or organization, including federal, state, and local government with a bona fide presence in the United States can register a .US domain name.
One of the following U.S. Nexus requirements must be met:
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A natural person (i) who is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories or (ii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions
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Any entity or organization that is incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or (ii) organized or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, or any of its possessions or territories
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An entity or organization (including federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States. See Section B.3.1 of the NeuStar proposal to the Department of Commerce for details concerning what constitutes a “bona fide presence.”
Are there additional requirements?
The nameservers that you will be using for a .US domain name have to be physically located within the US or its territory. To be active, each .US domain name has to have two nameservers assigned.
Registrant must indicate the intended use of
the .US domain name by selecting one of the following
categories: (i) business for profit, (ii) non-profit
business, association, religious organization,
club, etc., (iii) personal use, (iv) education
purposes, or (v) government purposes.
Seven Words:
NeuStar (.US registry) will follow a policy to preserve
and enhance the value of the .US Internet address to
all users, including in particular state and local governments
and K-12 schools. Given the importance of .US as a national
public resource certain guidelines must apply. Therefore,
NeuStar will review, for possible deletion by the Registry,
all second-level domain names that contain within the
characters of the domain name registration one of the
seven words prohibited for broadcast by the Federal Communications
Commission. For more information on the "seven words," see
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation,
438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978).
What is the price of a .US domain name?
Our price is $13.50 per domain year which is same as for com, net, org, biz and info domain names. The US domain names can be registered from 1 to 10 years. Previously the US registry had a 2 year minimum requirement, but that requirement has been removed starting from October 1, 2002. (For .US Sunrise registrations there was a 5 year minimum registration requirement. Sunrise registrations ended on April 18, 2002.)
How long does it take to register a domain name?
Your domain name will be registered instantly.
How much will domain name renewals cost?
Renewals will cost $13.50 US/year/domain for a minimum of one and a maximum of ten years.
When can I start using a registered domain?
Your registered domain name is by default assigned to our name servers. If you are ready to host this domain name, you can login to our Account Manager program to change its name servers to the name servers of the hosting service you will be using. Please note that you have to assign at least two name servers to your .US domain name. This is a registry requirement and otherwise your domain name will not function.
How can I change the domain information?
You can login to your account at our web site to make changes to your domain record. You can make changes to owner, admin, billing, and technical contact information, as well as the name servers of the domain name. Please note that you have to assign at least two name servers to your .US domain name. This is a registry requirement and otherwise your domain name will not function.
I have registered a domain but WHOIS doesn't show any info.
Currently both WHOIS and nameservers for successfully registered .US names are being updated within 15-30 minutes. If it has been that long and you cannot see any information, you may want to make sure domain was successfully registered.
I get "domain taken" but WHOIS doesn't show any info.
The domain is either registered recently and its info is not updated in WHOIS yet (see question above); or it is a domain names that is in reserved status with US registry. Domains in reserved status with US registry may not display WHOIS info until ownership issue is resolved.
When I login to my account I cannot see some of my domain names.
The domain names that you cannot see must have a different contact ID (even if you have used the same username/password). Try to login to your account directly with the domain name that you cannot see. Then change its contact ID to the same contact ID you have for your other domain names.
For additional information on .US domain names you can visit the registry web site at www.neustar.us.
