RAA Verification for Global Domains

As a domain registrar, we help clients get through RAA verification — a process that applies to every global domain. This article explains what RAA verification is, when the email arrives, how to confirm your data step by step, how much time you have, and what happens if you skip it. If your global domain suddenly stopped working, the answer is almost always here.

RAA verification sounds technical, but it comes down to one action: clicking a link in an email within 15 days. The rest of this article explains why that email arrives, how to recognize it, and what happens to the domain when the deadline passes without a response.

What is RAA verification for global domains?

RAA verification is the process of confirming the contact data of a global domain's owner, required by ICANN. It comes down to clicking a link in an email within 15 days of receiving it. The abbreviation RAA stands for Registrar Accreditation Agreement — the accreditation contract between a registrar and ICANN, which since 1 January 2014 has made confirming the subscriber's email address mandatory.

ICANN requires this verification for all global domains without exception — it covers domains such as .com, .net, .biz, as well as .us and .co. The goal is for the owner's data in the WHOIS database to be true and current, because that data identifies the person responsible for the domain. Global domains differ here from the national .pl, which this policy does not cover.

RAA verification therefore concerns the contact data of a global domain's owner, ICANN requires it, and we describe the confirmation step by step below. Thanks to this process, the WHOIS database stays a reliable record of domain owners rather than a set of outdated entries.

It helps to separate two things that are easy to confuse. RAA verification does not check whether you are the legal owner of the domain — that is what a transfer and an authorization code are for. It confirms only that the email address attached to the domain is active and belongs to the person who provided it. That is why the process fires on registration, transfer, and data change: every time a new or changed email address appears in WHOIS, ICANN requires that address to be confirmed.

When and from whom will you get the verification message?

You will get the verification message when, after 1 January 2014, you register a global domain, transfer it, or change its data. The email is titled RAA verification mail and lands at the subscriber email address listed in the domain's data.

The verification message is sent in three situations:

• registration of a new global domain,
• transfer of the domain to another registrar,
• update of the domain owner's data (name, surname, email address).

The email is sent by the domain registrar or registry, which is why its content is often in English. That matters, because such a message is easy to overlook — so check the SPAM folder if you do not see it in your main inbox. The sender is the registry's technical email address, not an ordinary company address, so it may be filtered out as unknown.

If a few days have passed since registration or transfer and you find the email in neither the inbox nor spam, check which email address is listed in the domain's contact data. The verification message goes exactly there — if the domain data holds an outdated address, the email reaches a mailbox you no longer access. In that case, jump to the last section of this article.

Before you click any link, make sure the message is genuine. The exact sender addresses depend on the registry handling a given domain extension — if you are unsure, confirm the email's authenticity with Nodea support, giving the domain name. Never confirm data through a link in a message you are not certain about.

Confirm your global domain data step by step

How do you confirm global domain data? Open the email titled RAA verification mail, click the verification link inside it, and follow the instructions — you have 15 days. The whole process is four steps:

1. Find the email titled RAA verification mail in the subscriber's inbox. If you do not see it, check the spam folder.
2. Open the message and find the verification link — it is the only element you need to click to confirm the email address.
3. Click the link and confirm ownership of the domain according to the instructions shown on the page that opens.
4. Wait — after confirmation, the domain returns to full working order within a few hours.

A data update triggers the same process, so the steps are identical whether you have just registered the domain or changed its contact details. What matters is confirming the email address on time — the click itself takes a few seconds.

Once you successfully verify this email address, further operations from the same address — registrations, transfers, data updates — no longer require confirmation. Confirmation works once per address, not on every change. That sets RAA verification apart from actions you repeat with each domain operation.

One exception appears when you change the email address in the domain data to a new, previously unconfirmed one. RAA verification then starts over for that new address — and again you have 15 days to click the link. As long as you keep one confirmed address, no further registration or transfer needs re-confirmation.

How much time do you have, and what happens if you do not do it?

You have 15 days to click the link from receiving the message. If you do not confirm within that time, the domain's DNS addresses change and it stops directing to your website. The timeline looks like this:

• The day the email arrives — the 15-day deadline to click the link starts.
• Day 7 — the first reminder about the pending verification arrives.
• Day 14 — the second, final reminder arrives.
• After 15 days — the domain's DNS addresses change.

Throughout the entire 15-day window the domain runs normally — the website and email are available unchanged. The two reminders on day 7 and day 14 exist precisely so you do not miss the deadline: the first still leaves a week of margin, the second is the last warning before the DNS change. Up to day 15 everything looks as if nothing is happening — and that is the trap, because some owners react only once the site is already down.

The consequence of not confirming appears only after the deadline: changing the DNS addresses means the website stops working and email on the domain stops receiving messages. The domain may also be temporarily suspended or blocked until the data is confirmed — a domain block resulting from the 15 days lapsing, not a server failure. If at this stage you worry about the domain's DNS configuration or the SMTP/IMAP server addresses for mail, clicking the link reverses all of it. RAA verification is reversible — you confirm the data and the domain comes back.

What do you do when the domain is already blocked or you cannot access the email?

Domain blocked? Check the subscriber's email inbox (including the spam folder) for the email with the RAA link. Once you click it, the domain returns to working order within a few hours. The rescue path looks like this:

1. Open the domain subscriber's inbox and go through the spam folder — the verification message lands there when the filter treats the external sender as suspicious.
2. Once you find the email, click the verification link and finish confirming the data.
3. When the domain's contact email address is incorrect or you cannot access it, contact Nodea support from an authorized address assigned to the account.

Contacting support from an authorized address is key here: when the email address in the domain data is wrong, you cannot click the link yourself, because the email reaches a mailbox you do not control. A change of the domain's contact address is then needed — and we make it after confirming your identity as the subscriber. So write from the address assigned to your panel account, not from a random mailbox.

If your global domain stopped working for no obvious reason, the first thing to check is a pending RAA verification. After you confirm the data, the domain returns to working order within a few hours — you do not have to register it again or change records by hand. Once the site is back, check that pointing the domain to hosting works correctly, so traffic reaches the right server.