.CA domain registration requirements

CIRA enforces a Canadian Presence Requirement or CPR. CPR requires that every registrant must select one of eighteen categories to show their connection to Canada. For more information, please refer to What is Registrant Information Validation (RIV)?

When purchasing your.CA domain name, you’ll need to specify the right contact information (including the extended attributes) to complete the domain registration. Certain country codes, like .CA,  require extra information. For more information, login to your Namecheap Account and view: Domain Contacts Presets.

According to CIRA, you can register a .CA domain name in two ways. Select Individual when you’re using the domain name for purposes like blogging or creating a web store. Select Organization you’re a company that is legally registered within Canadian law.

Registering a .CA domain name as an Individual

For all domain registrations, you can either use the contact details from your Namecheap account, or specify new contact details.

The User default account contact option should be selected if you wish to apply your Account Contact information to all the categories: Registrant, Administrative, Technical, and Billing:

If you want to enter new contact details, choose Add new contact and follow these tips for smooth registration of your .CA domain as an Individual:

• Enter factual, true terms for First and Last Names.
• Leave Organization and Job Title fields empty/blank.
• Administrative contact details must be a natural person. Their First and Last Names cannot contain digits or generic words like ‘Domain Administrator’.
• Use an abbreviation for the Province name e.g. ON, BC, etc.
• Use the Canadian Postal Code format XNX NXN, where X is a letter, and N is a number. The space separating the blocks of characters is optional.
  

After you’ve set the contact information, you will need to specify Extended Attributes for each .CA domain registration. These include Preferred Language and choosing one of the following Registrant’s Legal Types:

• Canadian citizen
• Permanent resident
• Legal representative of a Canadian
• Aboriginal Peoples (individuals and groups) indigenous to Canada.

Here is the full list of Eligible Business Entity Types for .CA domain registration as an organization. If one of these is not specified correctly, the following error will appear in the Shopping Cart:

• Charities must add NFP to the Registrant Name. The registration number for non-profit organizations can be omitted, e.g. Canadian Internet Registration Authority (NFP)).
• Administrative contact details must be a natural person. Their First and Last Names cannot contain digits or generic words like ‘Domain Administrator’.
• Use an abbreviation for the Province name e.g. ON, BC, etc.
• Use the Canadian Postal Code format XNX NXN where X is a letter and N is a number. The space separating the blocks of characters is optional.

Once you add the above details, select your Preferred Language. You can then click Continue to proceed with Checkout:

Next you’ll provide your payment information. You will be able to double-check your order details on the Order review page:

The final step to complete your domain name registration is to read and tick the .CA Terms and Conditions. Then click the Pay Now button:

If your registration was successfully completed, you will see the following message:

That's it!