I'm trying to register a .ca domain name from here in the US but have a few questions first. Is this legal? Should I just put a fake address in Canada when registering the domain? Any advice is appreciated.
Registering a .ca domain name in the US
- Thread starter quidproquo
- Start date
Yes it's legal. I would use a fake Canadian address anyway. That's what I do with my UK sites. Well, it's a friend's address. I would also look into Canadian hosting.
Thanks for your answer. Why would you use Canadian hosting as well, just so the site looks legit?
All I know is that when I registered a .ca name, I kept on getting all these forms in the mail from the CIRA (which I promptly ignored anyways...)
I would browse around their site (CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority | ACEI - l'Autorité canadienne pour les enregistrements Internet) and then do whatever you want anyways, just to be safe...
I would browse around their site (CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority | ACEI - l'Autorité canadienne pour les enregistrements Internet) and then do whatever you want anyways, just to be safe...
In what situation would having the fake info be an issue? Ultimately all I want to do is send traffic from Canada to it and thought that a .ca domain might help conversions. What do you all think?
Well I'm from Canada and have a registered CIRA account so I can tell you a few things about registering the .ca domains.
First off in order to legally register a .ca domain you have to be residing in Canada or have a business location in Canada and you have to be registered with CIRA. (CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority - FAQ: Canadian Presence Requirements)
Those are the 3 main requirements to registering .ca domains the other requirement is that you have to register the .ca domain from a CIRA certified registrar - (https://services.cira.ca/agree/rarList/list.action?request_locale=en_CA)
Now here is the thing I've never been contacted by CIRA before and creating an account for me was super easy but you its a little more tricky.
For instance to the best of my knowledge a CIRA certified registrar, something like GoDaddy for example contains your mailing address, if the mailing address of your domain registrar is a US location then additional verification is needed of which I don't know the specifics of.
If you have an account with Canadian information when you go to register a .ca domain lets say with GoDaddy, you fill out your CIRA account ID (saved on file for me) and GoDaddy will send an automatic request to CIRA to verify the canadian account and authorize the domain into your control.
It works something along those lines, remember that is just a best estimate since I've never actually tried to register a .ca domain in your situation (As stated I'm from Canada so its no hassle for me but obviously different for you).
What I would do is read over the CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority - FAQ: Canadian Presence Requirements to try to determine the exact process, try to register with a domain registrar using a fake Canadian address and when you go to purchase the .ca domain and are required to register with CIRA if they require any information try to fake it.
So give it a shot if it fails think harder lol, but I can tell you I've never actually gotten anything from CIRA (Mail Wise) that would require me to verify my address but I'm not saying it's not required maybe they select random people to verify your address I don't know.
EDIT >
Worst case scenario, you loose your CIRA account, you may possibly loose or get flagged with your registrar account (I.E. GoDaddy, ect...), you loose the money you spent on the .ca domain and you loose your website and the work you put into it.
Another bad thing about a .ca domain is you'll never sell it even with a decent website, you'll need to have exceptional numbers to back up your .ca domain in order to sell it (Just my personal experiences with them).
Plus Side is that you can find a lot of more keyword rich and brandable domain names.
/EDIT
First off in order to legally register a .ca domain you have to be residing in Canada or have a business location in Canada and you have to be registered with CIRA. (CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority - FAQ: Canadian Presence Requirements)
Those are the 3 main requirements to registering .ca domains the other requirement is that you have to register the .ca domain from a CIRA certified registrar - (https://services.cira.ca/agree/rarList/list.action?request_locale=en_CA)
Now here is the thing I've never been contacted by CIRA before and creating an account for me was super easy but you its a little more tricky.
For instance to the best of my knowledge a CIRA certified registrar, something like GoDaddy for example contains your mailing address, if the mailing address of your domain registrar is a US location then additional verification is needed of which I don't know the specifics of.
If you have an account with Canadian information when you go to register a .ca domain lets say with GoDaddy, you fill out your CIRA account ID (saved on file for me) and GoDaddy will send an automatic request to CIRA to verify the canadian account and authorize the domain into your control.
It works something along those lines, remember that is just a best estimate since I've never actually tried to register a .ca domain in your situation (As stated I'm from Canada so its no hassle for me but obviously different for you).
What I would do is read over the CIRA - Canadian Internet Registration Authority - FAQ: Canadian Presence Requirements to try to determine the exact process, try to register with a domain registrar using a fake Canadian address and when you go to purchase the .ca domain and are required to register with CIRA if they require any information try to fake it.
So give it a shot if it fails think harder lol, but I can tell you I've never actually gotten anything from CIRA (Mail Wise) that would require me to verify my address but I'm not saying it's not required maybe they select random people to verify your address I don't know.
EDIT >
quidproquo said:
Worst case scenario, you loose your CIRA account, you may possibly loose or get flagged with your registrar account (I.E. GoDaddy, ect...), you loose the money you spent on the .ca domain and you loose your website and the work you put into it.
Another bad thing about a .ca domain is you'll never sell it even with a decent website, you'll need to have exceptional numbers to back up your .ca domain in order to sell it (Just my personal experiences with them).
Plus Side is that you can find a lot of more keyword rich and brandable domain names.
/EDIT
Thanks for the advice, a lot of good info in there. When I was first trying to register the .ca domain with godaddy, I ran into the exact problem with my address not being in Canada. What I think I'll try and do now is create a new account with another domain registrar with fake info as suggested. The only issue I have with the fake info is payment. Will the company know something isn't right if the address is under one name and billing another?
It's possible companies like these tend to do there research and try to prevent unauthorized use as best they can but I don't see the harm in attempting it, either it will work, it won't, or it'll work for awhile and you'll loose the account.