When does a .us domain expire and drop?
An expired .us drops about 80 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus who runs .us, the US-presence rule to hold one, and how to register.
An expired .us is released about 80 days after expiry, running a full grace, redemption and pending-delete lifecycle. .us is the country code of the United States, operated by GoDaddy Registry on its gTLD platform, and unlike a generic it carries a US nexus requirement: only people and organisations with a genuine United States connection may hold one.
- Registry
- GoDaddy Registry
- Backend
- GoDaddy Registry
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- United States
- Delegated
- 1985-02-15
- DNSSEC
- Yes
- IDN
- No
- Restrictions
- Local-presence
- Label length
- 1–63 chars
- Grace
- 45 days
- Redemption
- 30 days
- Pending delete
- 5 days
- Expiry to drop
- 80 days
- Daily drop window
- 13:00–20:00 UTC
A country code with a nexus rule
.us is run by GoDaddy Registry on GoDaddy Registry's gTLD platform, so its deletion lifecycle is the familiar one: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, and a 5-day pending delete.
What sets it apart is not the timeline but eligibility. Every .us registrant must certify a US nexus, so a name that drops returns to a pool only US-connected parties can register from. That narrows the field for a lapsing name compared with an open generic.
Who runs .us, and since when
.us is the official country code of the United States, delegated in 1985 and administered under the US government, with GoDaddy Registry operating it on the same registry platform as its gTLD portfolio.
Because it is a country code under national administration rather than an ICANN-contracted generic, its eligibility policy is set nationally. The deletion stages documented here are the operator's published lifecycle, which our engine re-verifies against the live record.
How to register a .us domain
A .us is not open to the whole world: you must have a bona fide United States presence to register or hold one, certified at registration.
The nexus rule is enforced: a registration failing it can be challenged and cancelled, which matters if you are catching a drop, because you must qualify to hold the name you win. Otherwise the stages are the standard ones.
- US nexus required: only US citizens, residents, organisations or entities with a real US presence may hold a .us domain.
- Register through any accredited registrar; the registry sells wholesale, not direct to the public.
- Labels run up to 63 characters using letters, digits and hyphens, never starting or ending with a hyphen.
- Registration is annual and renewable; an unrenewed name enters the deletion timeline below.
The .us timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .us passes through, each at its published length.
| Stage | Window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal grace: about 45 days | Day 0 to 45 after expiry | The registration has expired but the current owner can still renew at the normal price, usually through their registrar. The name often stops resolving during this window, and nobody else can register it. Registrars frequently delete earlier than the final day, which starts the rest of the timeline early. |
| Redemption: about 30 days | Day 45 to 75 after expiry | Deletion has begun. Only the current registrant can recover the name now, typically by paying a restore fee on top of the renewal, and it cannot be registered by anyone else. A restore during this stage is a strong signal the name will not drop. |
| Pending delete: 5 days | Day 75 to 80 after expiry | The point of no return. Recovery is no longer possible for anyone, including the original owner, and the registry releases the name at the end of this fixed window. This is the stage worth acting on if you want the name. |
| Released: registrable by anyone | From about day 80 | The name leaves the registry's deletion pipeline and returns to the public pool, registrable at the standard price on a first-come basis through any registrar. Availability monitoring exists to catch this moment. |
.us technical profile
How .us publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles internationalized names.
WHOIS and RDAP
Registration data for every .us domain is queryable over RDAP at https://rdap.nic.us/ and legacy WHOIS at whois.nic.us, so status, dates and record changes are machine-readable, which is exactly what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .us registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .us registry does not offer internationalized domain names, so labels are registered in ordinary ASCII letters, digits and hyphens rather than non-Latin scripts.
https://rdap.nic.us/
whois.nic.us
Running on GoDaddy Registry's gTLD platform, .us publishes the same EPP statuses and RDAP records as a generic, which is what makes its drop timing knowable.
Is .us a good domain?
Where .us fits, and the constraint.
An American address
For a US business, institution or public body, .us states nationality plainly and reads as locally rooted in a way a generic does not.
Names still open
Because eligibility is restricted and adoption is lighter than .com, .us often still has short and keyword names free.
The nexus constraint
The US-presence requirement rules out non-US registrants entirely, and a name held in breach of it can be cancelled. That is a feature for US owners and a hard stop for everyone else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .us domains.
What is .us, and who runs it?
.us is the country code of the United States, delegated in 1985 and operated by GoDaddy Registry on its gTLD platform under US government administration.
How long does it take for an expired .us to drop?
About 80 days: up to 45 days of renewal grace, 30 days of redemption, then 5 days of pending delete. Registrars often delete before the end of grace; the pending-delete window is fixed.
Who is allowed to register a .us domain?
Only parties with a genuine United States nexus: US citizens or residents, US organisations, or foreign entities with a bona fide US presence. Registrants certify this, and a registration that fails the test can be cancelled.
Can I catch an expiring .us if I am outside the US?
No. You must meet the US nexus requirement to hold a .us at all, so the drop pool is effectively limited to US-connected registrants regardless of who is watching.
What is the best way to get a .us that is expiring?
Watch it and act at the pending-delete stage, and make sure you qualify under the nexus rule first. Most lapsed .us names are uncontested, so an alert at release is usually early enough to hand-register.
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