Previously, registering a .Pro domain was limited to only accountants, engineers, lawyers and medical professionals, in just a few countries, and acquiring a .Pro domain involved a long and tumultuous process of submitting written documentation of credentials.

In April, RegistryPro, the .pro registry operator, and a property of Hostway, announced that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (icann.org) had voted unanimously to approve the expanding the "scope and availability" of the domain. As a result, the domain became widely available to nearly all professionals across the globe. 

Customers can sign up for .Pro domain names through Hostway's limited-time 70 percent discount off the regular price, which works out to $14.95 for the first year and $34.95 for every year thereafter.
 
"A .Pro domain name shows that the owner has proven their professional affiliation," says John Lee, vice president of premium services for Hostway. "We're pleased to be able to offer this indication of credibility to a wider audience of professionals."
 
Professionals registering a .Pro TLD must self-certify their credentials through a simplified process. The specific criteria for self-certification of professional affiliation can be found on Hostway's .Pro FAQs page.

Hostway says it provides domain name registration, web hosting, e-commerce, colocation, managed dedicated hosting, SaaS hosting, web design and online marketing services to more than 600,000 customers and over 2 million websites worldwide.