What is WHOIS?

WHOIS is a web based tool that is used to look up records in the .US domain space. Each record within the WHOIS database has a "handle" (a unique identifier assigned to it), a name, a record type, and various other fields. WHOIS provides a means to search for domain names using any of these specific fields.

To use WHOIS for a domain search, type in the domain you would like information on. This domain must be a second-level domain (e.g., business.us). Third-level domains (e.g., my.business.us) Domains beginning with "www" are not contained within WHOIS. The default action for WHOIS is to only search for domain records, however you can do other types of searches by using specific keywords.

How do I search for a specific Registrar?

To search for a specific Registrar, you must enter the full name of the Registrar. For example, to search for "ABC Registrar", you would use the following text to perform your search:

ABC Registrar

To search for Registrar Names that begin with a certain letter (or letters), a dot "." is used as a wildcard and placed immediately after the letter (or letters) on which you would like to search. For example, to search for Registrar Names that begin with "XYZ", you would use the following text to perform your search:

XYZ.

Additionally, if the Registrar Name ends with an "Inc.", you must add an "f [space]" prefix to that Registrar Name. For example, to search for "XYZ Registrar, Inc.", you would use the following text to perform your search:

f XYZ Registrar, Inc.

If the Registrar Name does not end with "Inc.", the "f [space]" prefix is not necessary. To search for a specific Registrar, you must enter the full name of the Registrar. Additionally, if the Registrar Name ends with an "Inc.", you must add an "f [space]" prefix to that Registrar Name. For example, to search for "XYZ Registrar, Inc.", you would use the following text to perform your search:

f XYZ Registrar, Inc.

Currently, there are no multi-lingual names registered in the .US domain space.

The name servers will be listed in the search results. Each name server has an IP address in the format of 000.000.000.000.

The Department of Commerce requires that we provide full WHOIS information for each domain name we register.

You may retrieve up to 75 records when you search by Domain Name. You can conduct such a search by specifying the beginning of a word to be searched followed by a "."; For example, a domain name search of "neu." will result in up to 75 domain name records that begin with with "neu".

C11: United States citizen

C12: Permanent resident of the United States of America, or any of its insular areas

C21: A U.S.-based organization or company formed within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States insular areas, or organized or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its insular areas, a U.S. federal, state, or local government entity or a political subdivision thereof.

C31: A foreign entity or organization that has a bona fide presence in the United States of America or any of its insular areas who regularly engages in lawful activities (e.g., sales of goods or services or other business, commercial or non-commercial, including not-for-profit relations in the United States).

C32: Entity has an office or other facility in the United States.

Domain Name Application Purpose Codes indicate the reason for which the .US domain name was registered. Below is a list of Domain Name Application Purpose Codes with their corresponding definitions:

P1= Business use for profit.
P2= Non-profit business, club, association, religious organization, etc.
P3= Personal Use
P4= Education Purpose
P5= Government Purposes

Why do some of the .US domain names have the term "unknown contacts" in the WHOIS?

Neustar began administering the .US top-level domain space in November 2001. Much of the data that existed prior to November 2001 was either incomplete or, in some cases, nonexistent. Therefore, when Neustar completed the .US WHOIS to include locality-based domains, it reflected (and continues to reflect) the incomplete data. If you are the owner of the domain name and would like to update the information, please refer to: http://www.Neustar.us/faqs/index.html#whois_updates

Which locality domains are included in the .US WHOIS?

Second-, third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-level domain names are included.

I have a third/fourth/fifth/sixth-level locality .US domain name, but I can't find it in the .US WHOIS. How can I correct this?

In the event that your domain name does not exist in our WHOIS database and your domain name has nameservers attached to it, you will need to contact that delegate manager for changes since the delegate manager holds your records.

What is PendingDelete Status?

All domains that are deleted are initially placed on PendingDelete status before being purged from the Registry database and made available for registration. The exception to this rule are domains that are deleted within the first five days of the initial registration. These domains will not be placed on PendingDelete and will be purged immediately. Otherwise, domains will remain on PendingDelete status for a period of 35 days before being purged, unless they are "redeemed" by the registrar. This period is known as the Redemption Grace Period (RGP). See below for more information on RGP and domain redemptions.

What is the Redemption Grace Period (RGP)?

The Redemption Grace Period is the 35 days following the deletion of a domain. The purpose of RGP is to allow registrars and/or registrants to correct for inadvertent deletions. During the first 30 days of the Redemption Grace Period, registrars may request the Registry to redeem the deleted domain, and thus restore it to its original disposition prior to deletion. Redemptions may NOT be performed during the final five days of the RGP. The WHOIS record will indicate if the domain is eligible for redemption. Domain that are eligible are marked "PendingDelete (restorable)". Ineligible domains have the status "PendingDelete (scheduled for release)". All redemption requests must be submitted through your registrar.

How can I obtain a list of domains scheduled for release?
Reports containing domains scheduled for release can be found here.

What are the registration restrictions for .US TLD names with numbers?

Domain name availability is subject to the name reservation policy on numbers as listed below. The following potential domain name-types are unavailable for public registration:

• Rule 1 - All domains of any length beginning with 18XX or 1-8XX or 8XX where X is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive.
• Rule 2 - All domains beginning with NXX or 1NXX or 1-NXX followed by exactly seven numbers not including hyphens, where N is any number from 2 to 9 inclusive and X is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive.
• Rule 3 - All domains beginning with XXXXX where X is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive.

Example of restricted reserve domains:

• 1800abc.us (rule #1)
• 812abc-def.us (rule #1)
• 1-805-999-9999.us (rule #1)
• 12-999-9999.us (rule #2)
• 19009998888.us (rule #2)
• 1-212---1-2-3-4-5-6-7--.us (rule #2)
• 20176.us (rule #3)
• 90210-Melrose.us (rule #3)

Example of consumer usable domains:

• 18-00bar.us
• 1111.us
• yourname.us
• 1-212-5.us
• 1-212---1-2-3-4-5-6-7--abc.us
• 2222.us