Buy .qa Domain Name

Yes, and it is the clearest rule in the Qatari namespace. Article 17.1 of the registration policy has two sentences: for second-level .qa names applicants need not provide any documentary evidence nor meet any eligibility requirement beyond those in the policy, and such names may be registered by any applicant. No Qatari company, address, ID or trademark is required. The same is not true of the third-level siblings.

Articles 5 and 24.1 offer five options: one, two, three, four or five years, and renewals use the same five. Article 24.3 allows early renewal as long as the resulting total licence period does not exceed five years plus ninety days; those ninety days exist so an early renewer does not forfeit the remainder of the current term. There is also a three-calendar-day correction window after any registration or renewal.

Article 14.2 lists six rules: each label must be at least 2 and at most 63 characters; only the English ASCII set is allowed, meaning letters a-z, digits 0-9 and the hyphen; the name must begin and end with a letter or digit; it may neither begin nor end with a hyphen; it may not contain hyphens in the third and fourth positions; and it may not include a space. The third-and-fourth rule keeps names clear of the «xn--» prefix used for international names.

Article 25 defines the chain down to the hour. Once the expiry date passes the name enters «Expired Hold»: it is removed from the DNS and cannot be updated, but it can still be renewed and transferred to another registrar. That state lasts exactly 30 calendar days. The name then enters the non-recoverable «Expired Pending Purge» state, appears on the published drop list and is deleted exactly one day later. The process runs at 07:00 UTC every day.

The registry publishes a separate Domain Name Transfer Policy (version 2), and transfers run between accredited registrars. One detail is worth knowing: under article 25.1.1 the name can be transferred to another registrar even while it sits in Expired Hold, so a recently expired name can be rescued by moving it. You can start the process on the domain transfer page.

The zone is not signed at present. On 11 August 2026 a check confirmed that the root zone holds no DS record for .qa, and none of the registry's twelve published policy documents describes a DNSSEC operation available to registrants. That does not leave you without options: registrar-side locks, a strong domain password and up-to-date contact details cover much of the same ground in practice.

The difference is in eligibility and channel, not in technical features. Second-level .qa is open to everyone and asks for no documents. com.qa requires a valid trade licence issued in the State of Qatar or a trademark registered in Qatar, is available only through registrars whose principal place of business is in Qatar, and every registered name must be hosted inside Qatar. If you are applying from abroad, .qa is the zone that is practically open to you.