New extension
.rio domain name
What you need to know about .rio: who can register it, which details are required and how transferring works.
Specifications
The key details of .rio
- Registry
- nic.rio
- Registration period
- 1 to 10 years
- Renewal period
- 1 to 10 years
- Domain name length
- 1 to 63 characters
- Transfer time
- 5 days
- Renewal on transfer
- yes, transferring renews the domain
- Transfer lock available
- yes
- Number of nameservers
- 2 to 13
- Renewable after expiry date
- 35 days
- Quarantine after deletion
- 30 days
Features
- DNSSEC: yesYou can secure your domain name with DNSSEC.
- IPv6: yesThe nameservers for this extension can also be reached over IPv6.
- Special characters: yesDomain names with letters such as é, ü or ø (and sometimes other scripts) are possible.
- Whois privacy: no
- Trustee: no
Requirements
Who can register a .rio?
- .rio is intended for the city of Rio de Janeiro. Names under .rio are only for use by Rio City Council.
- As an organisation, you can register if you were incorporated in Brazil and have a head office, branch, franchisee or licence holder in the city of Rio de Janeiro, with an active registration in the CNPJ register of the Brazilian Ministry of Finance.
- As an individual, you can register if you have a permanent address in the city of Rio de Janeiro and are actively registered in the CPF register of the Brazilian Ministry of Finance.
- If you no longer meet the requirements, the domain name may be made unreachable and deleted, even if the registration period hasn't ended yet.
- A local address through a trustee service isn't allowed. In the event of misuse, the registry may delete the domain name.
- The full requirements can be found in the registry's registration policy.
Additional details for registration
- As an individual, you provide your CPF number, the Brazilian tax identification number, in the format NNN.NNN.NNN-NN.
- As an organisation, you provide your CNPJ number, the Brazilian tax number for businesses, in the format NN.NNN.NNN/NNNN-NN.
Good to know when registering
- Once your registration has gone through, the registry puts a 60-day transfer lock on the domain name.
Transfer
Transferring a .rio
- You need a transfer code, which you request from your current registrar.
- Check the WHOIS to make sure the domain name isn't locked. If it is, you can ask your current registrar, as the registrant, to remove the lock.
- Once the transfer has been requested, the registrant or administrative contact listed in the WHOIS receives an email. The transfer can only start once you've confirmed it using the ICANN authorisation form.
- Your current registrar then also sends an email that lets you reject the transfer. If you don't respond, the transfer is completed after 5 days.
- If the email address in the WHOIS is invalid, the transfer can't go ahead. In that case, ask your current registrar to update the WHOIS details.
- After a successful transfer, a 60-day transfer lock applies.
- After the transfer, the registration term starts again: the new expiry date is the transfer date plus 1 year.
The transfer code
- A transfer code is required to transfer a domain. The registrant or administrative contact requests it from the current registrar.
- The code must be 8 to 32 characters long and contain at least one letter, one number and one special character.
Owner
Change of registrant
- ICANN's transfer policy applies to a change of registrant.
- The change is made straight away once all requirements have been met. The Brazilian tax authority then checks the new registrant's tax number.
- If the new registrant's tax number isn't in order, the domain name is deactivated.
More information
Registry rules and links
- Registry website nic.rio
- Dispute resolution policy nic.rio
- Registry terms and conditions nic.rio
Related extensions
View all domain extensionsCompiled from the registry's rules. Registries sometimes change their rules; if in doubt, the registry's terms take precedence. Updated on 11/11/2026.