Domains Help

About .us Domains

GoDaddy Registry is the sponsor for the country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD).us extensions that represents the United States.

Who can register .us domains?

The U.S. Nexus Requirement ensures that only individuals or organizations that have a substantive connection to the United States can register .us domain names. To qualify for a .us domain name, you must be meet one of the 3 below requirements:

  • 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.
  • An entity or organization that is (i) 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.
  • An entity or organization (domestic or foreign, including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States. Bona fide presence in the United States means having real and substantial lawful connections with, or lawful activities in, the United States. This requirement is intended to ensure that only those individuals or organizations that have a substantive lawful connection to the United States are permitted to register for .us domain names.

Registration restrictions

When registering a .us domain, you must follow specific requirements.

  • Must use: 1 - 63 Characters
  • Can use: Letters (a-z characters), numbers (0-9) and hyphens (except in the 1st or last characters of the domain name)
  • Cannot use: Special Characters (e.g.,& and #)
  • IDNs: Not supported

Features

  • Registration length: 1-10 years
  • Renewal length: 1-10 years
    • Your .us domain name renews before its expiration date. The renewal date depends on whether the domain name is auto-renewed or renewed manually. Auto-renewal is attempted on the first day of the month prior to the domain name's expiration date. If the renewal attempt fails, we re-attempt renewal on the 10th of the month and again on the 20th of the month.
    • If we cannot auto-renew the domain name and you do not manually renew it by the 20th of the month prior to the expiration date, it must be redeemed. There might be a fee for the redemption. See Renew my expired domain for instructions on the redemption.
    • For example: Your .us domain name expires on October 10. If your domain name does not renew automatically, you can renew it manually by September 20. For automatic renewals, we attempt to renew the domain name on September 1, September 10, and September 20.
  • Backorders: Not supported
  • Transfers to GoDaddy: Supported
  • Transfers away from GoDaddy: Supported
  • Transfers to another GoDaddy account: Supported
  • Basic privacy protection: Not supported
  • Protection plan upgrades: Supported
  • CashParking: Supported
  • Contact Updates: Supported

Nameserver requirements

  • Must use: 2-13 Nameservers, Authoritive Nameservers
  • Can use: IPv4, IPv6, DNSSEC

Refunds

For details on refunds, see our refund policy. Most domains will follow the Standard Refund Terms, but certain domains may have exceptions or may not be refundable at all. Review the information under Products with Special Refund Terms, then Domain Name Registrations/Renewals, and then Products Not Eligible for Refunds.

Cancellation requirements

To cancel your .us domain names, please reach out to our GoDaddy Guides for help.

More info