Buy .com.qa Domain Name

A licence or a trademark — one of the two is required. Article 17.2.1 of the registration policy asks the applicant to hold either a valid trade licence issued in the State of Qatar by the Ministry of Business and Trade or the competent authorities, or to be the registered holder of a trademark registered in the State of Qatar; article 17.2.1.3 then requires that proof to be provided to the registrar. A trade registry record or a trademark from another country does not satisfy the article.

In practice, no. The previous policy built a local link into three separate articles: the document had to come from Qatar, applications could only go through accredited registrars whose principal place of business is in Qatar (article 17.2.2), and the name had to be hosted in Qatar (article 17.2.3). Since 22 October 2026 second-level .qa also requires an approved category; applicants abroad may qualify there through trademark or commercial rights, but the accepted documents have not been clarified yet.

Article 17.2.3 of the previous policy was a single sentence: any registered third-level domain name ending in com.qa must be hosted locally within the State of Qatar. According to the information shared with registrars, the new registration policy in force from 22 October 2026 does not repeat that clause. That does not necessarily mean the obligation is gone, so it is safer to assume it still applies until the official text is published. If your current infrastructure sits abroad, plan the move before you order.

No. Article 17.2.1 of the previous policy reserved com.qa for «commercial entities duly registered in the State of Qatar», and under the new rules the zone remains open to holders of a trade licence or a trademark. Individuals have their own zone: name.qa is open to people with a Qatar ID (QID) or residence permit. Since 22 October 2026 individuals can also apply for second-level .qa with a QID or residence permit; for a person with neither document, there is no document-free option left.

Articles 5 and 24.1 give every zone the same five options: one, two, three, four or five years, and renewals use the same set. Article 24.3 allows early renewal as long as the resulting total licence period does not exceed five years plus ninety days. The cancellation window after a registration or renewal is five calendar days under the new rules (previously three); if the documents are insufficient, the name can be deleted within it.

Yes, but the chain changed on the new platform. An expiring name is auto-renewed for one year at registry level and a 45-day grace period begins; if the renewal is not paid, the registrar can delete the name within it. A deleted name enters a 30-day redemption period and can be restored by the sponsoring registrar for a fee, though it may be removed from the DNS meanwhile. A 1-day pending delete follows. Under the previous policy the name spent 30 days in «Expired Hold». Since site and email can stop, tracking the expiry date beats relying on the window.

Yes, and this detail is easy to miss. Article 19.3 requires applicants to meet the registry's requirements both when submitting the application and for the term of the licence, while article 19.2 obliges the registrar to check compliance before submitting anything to the registry system. If your trade licence or trademark lapses during the licence period, that can become grounds for suspending or cancelling the name.