: Is it possible to register an .au domain without the .com? I am looking to register an Australian domain (.au), but I do want it to be foo.au, not foo.com.au. Is it possible for a private

@Goswami781

As of today it is not possible to register .au second level domains, only third-level domains (.com.au, .NET.au, .org.au, etc).

Also I would like to mention that only Australian business or residents can register .au domain names.

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@Holmes151

We haven't heard anything specific about how the launch of direct registrations on .AU will go (sounds like they're still working on it), but recently .UK did the same thing. Direct registrations on .UK launched in June of 2014, but registrations of exact match domain names are restricted to those who own .CO.UK for the first 5 years. Basically, what this means is you couldn't register (using your example here) Foo.UK unless you already owned Foo.CO.UK. I'm telling you this because you may want to consider registering the domain name you want on .COM.AU now in case .AU decides to something similar. The article that Steve links to above does say that they are "taking into account the impact on existing registrants."

Here is more info about the UK restrictions, for your reference: www.theukdomain.uk/advice/do-i-have-uk-rights/

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@Goswami781

Stephen Ostermiller is correct...at the moment. However AuDa, the .au registrar has approved registration directly in the .au TLD

See this www.auda.org.au/news/auda-to-introduce-direct-registrations-in-au/

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@Heady270

You cannot register second-level .au domains. Only third-level domains may be registered in a small set of second-level categories such as


.com.au
.net.au
.org.au
.id.au
.asn.au


According to Wikipedia:


Some second-level domain names are no longer actively used. Whilst registrations are grand-fathered for some, no new registrations are accepted.


Registration of new second-level .au domains has been proposed, but it is unclear when those registrations will be available.

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