.qa

The .qa country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Qatar has been managed by the Qatar Domains Registry (QDR), under the oversight of the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA). Initially, the registry held a "sunrise" period prior to public availability, which allowed trademark holders and government entities to secure their Qatar-specific domain names.

Public registration of .qa domains began in September 2011, with domain names offered through a mix of local and international accredited registrars.^[2] By 2014, thirteen registrars had been accredited by the QDR, including both international and local entities such as Qtel, IP Mirror, MarkMonitor, and DomainMonster.^[3]

However, a significant policy shift occurred at the end of 2024, when the CRA discontinued the renewal and issuance of registrar licenses to international companies. The regulatory framework was amended to ensure that only companies legally registered within the State of Qatar are eligible to become accredited domain registrars.^[4]

The Qatar Domains Registry manages a variety of domain extensions under the .qa namespace, including:

• Publicly available through registrars: .qa, .com.qa, .net.qa, .name.qa, and the Arabic IDN .قطر (represented in Punycode as .xn--wgbl6a).
• Reserved and managed directly by QDR: .gov.qa, .mil.qa, .org.qa, .edu.qa, and .sch.qa.

Qatar was among the first countries globally to offer domain names in the Arabic script.

• .com.qa – Commercial organisations; registered trademarks.
• .edu.qa – Licensed higher educational organisations in Qatar.
• .sch.qa – Licensed private and public schools in Qatar.
• .gov.qa – Governmental organisations.
• .mil.qa – Ministry of State for Defense Affairs and Qatar Armed Forces.
• .net.qa – Licensed networks of data communications.
• .org.qa – Nonprofit organisations.