About .ca Domains
.ca is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) representing Canada. It is operated by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible to register a .ca domain, you must meet one of the following:
- A Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- A legal entity registered in Canada
- A trade-mark registered in Canada
Registration Rules and Restrictions
Keep these rules in mind when registering a .ca domain:
- Domains must be between 1 to 63 characters in length
- Allowed characters are letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), and hyphen (-)
- Leading/trailing hyphens or numbers are prohibited
- Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) containing accented characters are supported
Registration and Renewal Timeline
- Initial registration term is 1-10 years
- Subsequently, domains can be renewed for 1-10 year periods
- A 30-day grace period after expiration is given before deleting a domain
Managing and Transferring Domains
- Registrar transfers are allowed anytime
- An auth code from the current registrar must be provided
- Contacts and nameservers can be modified post-transfer
Nameserver Requirements
Between 2-13 nameservers can be configured per domain with these rules:
- Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are allowed
- Must be using an authoritative nameserver
- DNSSEC support varies by registrar