Which Country Domains Require Local Presence (and How Foreigners Can Register Them)

Most country domains are open to anyone: you can register a .ES, .CO, .CH or .PT from anywhere in the world, with no paperwork about where you live. A smaller group — around 80 extensions — requires local presence: an address, an administrative contact, or a company registered in the country. For those, a foreigner still has two legal routes: a trustee service, where we appear as the registrant of record at the registry and you keep operational control, or, in eight countries, a trademark registered locally. This page lists which is which, extension by extension, and what each one actually asks for.

Requirements checked against our own registration data and the registry rules in August 2026. Registry policies change — each extension links to its own page, where the current rules and price are live.

The short answer: four groups, not two

1. Open to anyone. No local presence, no documents about residency. This is the majority of country domains, including several people wrongly assume are restricted — .ES, .CO, .CH, .PT, .SE, .BE, .NL, .PL, .CL, .UK and .MX among them.
2. Local presence required, trustee available. The registry demands a local address, contact or company. We register through our local representatives and you use the domain. This covers roughly 80 extensions, from .DE and .EU to .JP and .COM.SG.
3. A trademark is the key, not an address. In Canada, Macao, Thailand, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, what unlocks the domain is a registered trademark — a trustee alone does not solve it.
4. Genuinely closed. A few extensions are reserved for local non-profits, licensed ISPs or telecom operators. No trustee, no workaround. We say so instead of selling you a service that will not work.

Country domains that require local presence

Every row below is a rule we apply when we process the registration. "Trustee" means we can register the domain through our local representatives so that you can use it; it is an optional paid service, charged per year, ranging from about US$7 to US$390 a year depending on the country (August 2026). Click any extension to see its current rules and price.

Europe

Extension	Country	Who can register it directly	If you do not qualify
.DE	Germany	Holders anywhere, but a local address in Germany is required for service of documents	Trustee
.EU	European Union	Citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway wherever they live; residents of those countries; companies established there	Trustee
.FR	France	People or companies based in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland	Trustee
.RE, .PM, .TF, .WF, .YT	French territories	Same European rule as .FR	Trustee
.IT, .CO.IT, .BZ.IT	Italy	People or companies from the European Community, Switzerland or the United Kingdom	Trustee
.SK	Slovakia	People or companies based in Europe	Trustee
.HU	Hungary	EU companies, or a European ID, European driving licence or proof of residence in Hungary. Registering to resell is prohibited	Trustee (.CO.HU and .INFO.HU are open)
.HR	Croatia	Croatian people or companies. With an EU VAT number, up to 10 domains — talk to us first	Trustee (.COM.HR is open)
.BG	Bulgaria	A company in Bulgaria	Trustee
.NO	Norway	A business registered in Norway (certificate and company number required)	Trustee (.CO.NO is open)

Asia-Pacific

Extension	Country	Who can register it directly	If you do not qualify
.JP	Japan	An address and phone number in Japan. .CO.JP also requires a Japanese company, one domain per company	Trustee (with .CO.JP the DNS stays ours)
.KR, .CO.KR, .NE.KR	South Korea	Residents of South Korea	Trustee
.SG, .COM.SG	Singapore	A mailing address and contact in Singapore; .COM.SG also a Singapore phone number	Trustee
.COM.HK	Hong Kong	A Hong Kong Certificate of Business Registration	Trustee (.HK is open)
.CO.ID	Indonesia	An Indonesian company with a real office in the country	Trustee (.ID, .WEB.ID, .BIZ.ID and .MY.ID are open)
.COM.MY, .NET.MY, .ORG.MY	Malaysia	A Malaysian company	Trustee (.MY is open)
.CO.TH	Thailand	A trademark matching the domain and a local administrative contact	Trustee covers the contact; the trademark is separate (.IN.TH is open)
.COM.MM, .NET.MM, .ORG.MM, .BIZ.MM	Myanmar	A company or branch in Myanmar (about 30 days)	Trustee
.COM.BN	Brunei	A legal representative in Brunei (about 14 days)	Trustee

Americas

Extension	Country	Who can register it directly	If you do not qualify
.COM.BR and most .BR extensions	Brazil	A Brazilian citizen or resident with a CPF, or a company with a CNPJ; the domain must relate to the company or brand	Trustee
.UY, .COM.UY, .ORG.UY, .NET.UY	Uruguay	Legal residents of Uruguay	Trustee
.SV, .COM.SV	El Salvador	A legal contact permanently resident in El Salvador	Trustee
.AW	Aruba	A company established in Aruba (about 21 days)	Trustee
.CW, .COM.CW, .NET.CW	Curaçao	.CW needs a Curaçao business; .COM.CW and .NET.CW accept any company with a local representative. Minimum two years, and every renewal falls on 31 December	Trustee

Middle East and Africa

Extension	Country	Who can register it directly	If you do not qualify
.OM, .CO.OM, .COM.OM	Oman	Any company, plus a local administrative contact in Oman	Trustee
.YE, .COM.YE, .NET.YE, .ORG.YE	Yemen	An administrative contact in Yemen (about 14 days)	Trustee
.COM.LB	Lebanon	Any company, plus an administrative contact in Lebanon	Trustee covers the contact only
.COM.ZM, .CO.ZM	Zambia	Citizens or residents of Zambia	Trustee

Three geographic gTLDs work the same way: .BERLIN, .HAMBURG and .RUHR all require a connection to their German region, and all three can be registered with a trustee.

When a trademark, not an address, is the key

In one group of countries the registry does not care where you live — it asks for a registered trademark, usually one that matches the domain name exactly. A trustee cannot manufacture that: the trademark has to exist, in your name, and in the right country. This is the part most registrars leave out, and it is the reason many international companies give up on these extensions.

Extension	Country	What the registry wants
.CA	Canada	Canadian Presence Requirements. A registered Canadian trademark is one of the accepted categories — and the trademark owner must be the registrant, matching the exact word component
.MO, .COM.MO	Macao	A company in Macao and a Macao trademark, with the domain identical to the name. With the trademark but no company, a trustee closes the gap
.SA, .COM.SA	Saudi Arabia	A Saudi company or a Saudi trademark matching the domain, plus a local administrative contact
.EG, .COM.EG	Egypt	A company anywhere plus a trademark registered in Egypt or through the Madrid Protocol; the domain must match the brand name
.JO, .COM.JO	Jordan	A trademark in Jordan or via Madrid matching the domain, a company anywhere, and local presence
.KW, .COM.KW	Kuwait	A company name or trademark registered anywhere that matches the domain, plus a local representative. .COM.KW has a two-year minimum
.COM.QA	Qatar	A Qatari trade licence or a trademark registered in Qatar, and name servers located in Qatar. Plain .QA is open to anyone
.CO.TH	Thailand	A trademark matching the domain, in any country, plus a local contact

If you need one of these, the trademark comes first and the domain second. Our sister company Protect.TM files trademarks internationally and is the route we use for .CA and for the Middle Eastern extensions above; for .CO.TH we can file a fast Thai trademark for an extra fee.

Popular country domains with no local presence requirement

These are the ones people most often assume are closed and are not. Our answer for every extension in this list is the same: anyone can register it, including individuals, companies and foreign applicants.

• .ES — Spain. No residency, no DNI or NIE requirement for foreign applicants.
• .CO — Colombia, and used worldwide as a short alternative to .com.
• .CH — Switzerland.
• .PT — Portugal.
• .SE — Sweden.
• .BE — Belgium.
• .NL — Netherlands.
• .PL — Poland.
• .CL — Chile.
• .UK — United Kingdom.
• .MX, .COM.MX and .ORG.MX — Mexico (only .NET.MX is restricted).
• .CN — China. Open to people and companies from any country; the domain activates once you send us the documentation by email.

Some restricted countries also keep an open second level, which is often the practical answer when you do not want to pay for a trustee: .CO.NO, .COM.HR, .CO.HU, .INFO.HU, .HK, .MY, .ID, .IN.TH, .QA, .CO.DE and .COM.DE.

Extensions a foreigner cannot get, even with a trustee

A trustee gives you a local address or contact. It cannot turn you into a non-profit, an internet service provider or a licensed telecom operator. These are genuinely out of reach, and no amount of paperwork changes that:

• .ORG.BR — reserved for non-profit organisations established in Brazil.
• .OR.KR — South Korean non-profits only.
• .NET.HK — network infrastructure companies licensed by the Office of the Communications Authority of Hong Kong.
• .NET.LB and .ORG.LB — Lebanese ISPs and licensed Lebanese non-profits.
• .NET.MX — Mexican internet service providers listed with IFETEL.
• .NET.QA — Qatari telecom and networking providers.

How a trustee service actually works

It is worth understanding what you are buying, because the mechanics have real consequences. Under our Trustee Services Agreement:

• The trustee — Register.Domains or an appointed local representative — is the official registrant at the registry and acts as administrative contact on your behalf and in your interest.
• You remain the beneficiary and keep full operational control of the domain: DNS, records and use. The one exception is .CO.JP, where the DNS has to stay with the ones we provide.
• You pay the renewal, and the trustee fee renews with the domain. Drop the trustee and the domain stops meeting the registry rule.
• To move the domain to another registrar you must first replace the trustee as registrant, which means qualifying on your own by then.
• You have to answer our messages within 48 hours, or authorise us to act alone, so that a registry request never ends in the domain being deleted.

None of that is unusual for the industry, but it is the difference between a domain that survives a registry audit and one that gets cancelled a year later.

What to check before you buy

1. Check the second level. Before paying for a trustee, see whether the country has an open alternative — .CO.NO instead of .NO, .HK instead of .COM.HK.
2. Check your citizenship, not just your address. For .EU, being a citizen of an EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway is enough, wherever in the world you live.
3. Check whether a trademark is really the requirement. If it is, budget for the filing and the time it takes; the domain cannot be registered before it.
4. Check the registration time. Several of these are not instant: about 14 days for Brunei, Curaçao and Yemen, 21 days for Aruba, Jordan, Kuwait, Macao and Saudi Arabia, 30 days for Myanmar.
5. Check the minimum term and the renewal date. .COM.KW and Curaçao domains have a two-year minimum, and Curaçao renews every 31 December no matter when you registered.

If you already know which extension you need, open its page and the current rules, price and trustee fee are right there: start with .BR, .EU, .DE, .JP or .FR. If you are not sure whether you qualify, tell us the country and we will tell you which of the four groups you are in before you pay for anything.