Expired .VI Domains

What is .vi domain?

The .vi domain is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The right to use the domain vi is administered by the University of Puerto Rico, Central Administration.

Since January 1, 2010, sites have to be registered with Public Interest Registry. Before this change, it was administered by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo since January 2000.

What are the registration restrictions for a .vi domain name?

A .vi domain name may contain only one to 63 alphanumeric characters, per the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard.

Domain names may not start or end with hyphens (-) and may only contain letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), and dashes (-).

Any registrant of a .vi domain name must be represented in some way under the law of the U.S. Virgin Islands, meaning that the owner of a .vi domain name may not be an entity or organization solely with mailing or other business address in U.S. Virgin Islands, nor may it be someone who is only incorporated in U.S. Virgin Islands (meaning they have no presence in the territory).

What is a .vi domain name used for?

A .vi domain is not restricted to particular users and may be registered by anyone without restriction.

Advantages of having a .vi Domain Name:

There are many advantages to having a .Vi domain over other TLD's (Top-level domains) like .com or .net

TLD's are specialized in certain industries, whereas a .vi domain can be used for any.

A .vi domain is also easy to remember and makes your company more recognizable (at least to people who speak English).

Use of the vi domain extension adds credibility to your website because it is a recognized abbreviation for the U.S.

The Virgin Islands and is an easy way to improve your search engine ranking by adding keywords that are relevant to the content of your website

Local registration ensures that you will not lose .vi domain name, which means no worries if you move out of the islands

Free transfers between registrars keep your domain name easy to maintain

There are no limitations on the number of .vi domains you can register, which means added branding options for your business or website.

The U.S. Virgin Islands is a territory of the United States and the following restrictions apply:

The domain name registrant must be located in U.S. Virgin Islands, and

The domain name registrant must be a natural person (i.e., not a business) and at least 18 years old.

The most common use of .vi domains is for private websites in the Caribbean where people may want to create custom domains with country-specific top-level domains.

Also, common usage is for international or Caribbean-based business websites.

Can you register .vi Domain Without Local Presence?

Yes. However, you must be able to provide documentation proving your local presence in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The most common way to do so is by providing a copy of your business license.

You can also show your local presence by providing bank statements demonstrating at least six months of seamless transactions with the U.S. Virgin Islands or other international countries not serving as residences or tax havens, where available.