How to Register a .pk Domain with PKNIC

Pakistan's country-code domains are administered by PKNIC, and the process differs from registering a .com in ways that catch people out. This is what actually happens, what you need ready, and the renewal trap worth knowing about before you start.

Which .pk extension you need

PKNIC does not sell a bare .pk to everyone. It runs several second-level extensions, and the right one depends on what you are:

• .com.pk — commercial entities. This is what almost every business wants, and the one you should assume unless you fall into a category below.
• .org.pk — non-profits, associations, NGOs.
• .net.pk — network and internet service providers.
• .edu.pk — educational institutions. Requires proof of registration with the relevant education authority.
• .gov.pk — government bodies only.
• .fam.pk — family and personal names.

Registering .edu.pk or .gov.pk without qualifying will simply be refused, and you may lose the application fee.

What you need before applying

• A registrant name and address in Pakistan. PKNIC expects a local contact.
• A working email address you will still have in three years. This matters more than it sounds — see renewals.
• A CNIC number for an individual registrant.
• Company documentation if you are registering a name that matches a business — a trade licence, NTN certificate, or incorporation document. PKNIC can ask for it where a name looks like a trademark.
• Nameservers. If you are hosting with us these are ns1.nexzahost.com and ns2.nexzahost.com. You can also register first and set them afterwards.

The registration steps

1. Search the name. PKNIC's WHOIS shows whether it is taken. Check the alternatives at the same time — if .com.pk is gone, decide now whether you want a different name rather than a worse extension. 2. Submit the application with registrant details and nameservers. 3. Pay. Registration is normally sold in two-year blocks rather than annually, so budget for that up front. 4. Wait for approval. Straightforward commercial names usually clear quickly. Anything resembling a trademark, a government body, or a well-known brand gets manual review and takes longer. 5. Verify it resolves once approved — nslookup yourdomain.com.pk should return your host's IP.

The renewal trap

This is the single most important thing in this article.

PKNIC sends renewal notices to the registrant email on file and nowhere else. If that address stops working — a former employee's account, a defunct agency mailbox, a personal address you abandoned — you will not see the reminder, and .pk domains do get released after expiry.

Two habits prevent this:

• Use a role address you control, like domains@yourcompany.com, not an individual's personal email.
• Update the PKNIC record immediately whenever that address changes. Not at renewal time — immediately.

Recovering a lapsed .pk is far harder than recovering a lapsed .com, and if someone else registers it in the meantime you have very little recourse.

Pointing it at your hosting

Once the domain is approved, set the nameservers in your PKNIC control panel to your host's. For NexzaHost that is ns1.nexzahost.com and ns2.nexzahost.com. Remove any existing entries rather than adding alongside them — leaving old nameservers in place produces intermittent failures where the site loads for some visitors and not others.

Propagation is usually complete inside a couple of hours. After it resolves, run AutoSSL in cPanel to issue the certificate.

Should you register .pk at all?

If you trade primarily inside Pakistan, yes — it signals a genuine local presence and tends to convert better with Pakistani buyers. If you sell across the Gulf or internationally, a .com travels better.

Many businesses register both and redirect one to the other, which costs little and protects the name. There is a fuller comparison in our guide to choosing between .com and .pk.

If you would rather not deal with PKNIC directly, we can handle the registration and the DNS setup for you — message support with the name you want.