What does 'Pending Release' and other statuses mean?

If you've searched for a Domain and found it's already registered, you can perform a WHOIS to check who owns the Domain and what its status is. Here we explain what they all mean.

Active
The Domain has a valid registration period, meaning the registration or renewal term has been prepaid.

Available
The Domain is available to register by anybody (providing they meet the requirements .)

Pending Release
The Domain has not been renewed by the renewal date and has entered a 90-day period where the nameholder can renew the Domain and resume using it. Once the 90-day window has passed the Domain will become available for anyone else to register.

Conflicted
When the .nz Domain was made available as a top-level suffix (e.g. domainsdirect.nz) there was a process whereby if one party owned domain.co.nz and another party owned domain.net.nz and they couldn't agree between them who should be able to register domain.nz then the Domain is in a conflicted status and is not available to register until such time as there's no conflicting Domains (i.e. one of those two, or more, suffixes holders no longer has an active Domain.)

Resolved
A conflict over a .nz suffix (see Conflicted) has been resolved and the registrant who is entitled to register the Domain has two months from the date of resolution with which to register.

Prohibited
The Domain Name Commissioner (DNC) has determined the Domain may not be registered (for various reasons.)

Reserved
The Domain Name Commissioner (DNC) has reserved use of the name, meaning it's unavailable to the general public to register.

Domain is not managed by this register
An invalid suffix has been entered. See our list of available .nz suffixes .