.AU Domains Now Available For Registration!

Want to bring your business to Australia? There is an opportunity now to purchase .AU Domains. The ccTLD for Australia, .AU and .com.au, are now available for direct registration in our domain library. Learn more about its unique registration requirements by reading on!

DotAU became accessible to all on 24 March. Many great names are currently available, which are usually taken under different TLDs. Get in touch with us asap to ensure your brand is not registered by a competitor.
Upon registration clients will be asked for proof of Australian citizenship or company presence. Here’s what you need to know!

Who are .au domains best for?

As you know the country code for Australia is .AU. Individuals or businesses who wish to secure a direct .au domain need to have been registered in Australia for at least two years.

Here’s how you can prove eligibility for a .au. You must have some form of Australian presence like:

  • An Australia citizen or permanent resident
  • A foreign firm with a trading license in Australia
  • A Trust with an Australian citizen as trustee
  • A corporation based in Australia.
  • An Australian partnership or sole trader who has a registered trademark in Australia
  • A registered charity in Australia
  • A registered political party in Australia

Special .au launch price

We’ve secured a special launch price for our clients which you can find with no other registrant or .au partner. So, please contact us as soon as possible to confirm that your brand is not already registered by your competitor.

.au – 1 year price: 49.99 EURO, 53.99 USD, 41.99 GBP
.com.au – 2 Year Price: 49.99 EURO, 53.99 USD & 41.99 GBP

Go here to register your .au domain.

Period of grandfathering

Existing 3rd level registrants. Priority registrations for AU domains are available starting March 24, 2022, and ending September 20, 2022 for all existing 3rd level domains.

E.g. If you are already a registered user of mybusiness.com.au, you will have six months to apply for a mybusiness.au version. After which the domain will be available in the general registration for all.

There are two priority categories:

.AU Priority category is determined by the creation date of the domain on which the application is built.

  • Priority Category 1 – .au domains registered before or on the 4 February 2018 cut-off date
  • Priority Category 2 – .au domains that were made after the cut-off date of February 4, 2018

An example is if yourname.com.au account has been made on 1 March 2019. Then, your application for yourname.au falls under priority category 2.

If you’re a Domain registrant from Australia, you can apply to have your domains matched. Priority Allocation Process is how registrants apply to and receive these names. It is in the .au direct Priority Implementation Rules.

luxhosting-blog-banner-domains

Requirements to register

All .au registrants must provide a valid ID number and supporting documentation. Domains must be exactly matching, abbreviated or acronym of the registrant’s names or closely and significantly connected to them. .AU domains registrations are with two to 63 characters.
The rule changes will not impact registrants who use an Australian Business Number (ABN) or Australian Company Number (ACN) to determine their eligibility.

To satisfy Australian presence requirements, foreign entities can only use a trademark that is Exact Match. This applies to both renewals and new registrations. Foreign registrants that wish to renew a domain name not matching the trademark must either apply or satisfy the Australian presence requirements in another way, such as by registering local businesses. To find more information about this go to Registering a ABN. A domain name cannot be renewed if it is not in compliance with the requirement.

An Exact Match refers to the requirement that the domain include all the words, in the order they appear within the Australian Trademark.
Your existing domain name, if you have not been matched in .au direct will still be available. Provided you keep your registration current, it will remain in effect.

For more details you can contact our support or read this fact sheet.

Uncontested .au names

Most cases will limit the number of registrants who can apply for reserved.au names as they are the only holders of their match in another namespace. This is the uncontested name.

These cases will see the applicant being assigned the domain name as soon as they apply for Priority Status. The registrant can choose between a one-year and five-year license term.

  • Mark is the owner of getyour.org.au. There are no other licenses to ‘getyour.au’.
  • Mark applied to register at getyour.au shortly after submitting his application he will get the assigned name.

Even if the matching .au name is not contested, Priority Status must be applied for if you want to secure the name. Otherwise, it will be public on a first-come basis starting 20 September 2022.