ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook states the application submission period is expected to open no later than 23:59 UTC on 30 April 2026 and remain open for 105 days, closing on 12 August 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Applications are submitted electronically via TAMS (ICANN’s application system).

A critical planning detail is the payment rule: ICANN states applicants must pay the gTLD evaluation fee upon invoice and no later than seven (7) days after the close of the application submission period for the application to be considered.

After submission, ICANN notes applicants generally can’t change the application freely; changes are handled only through specific processes (e.g., application change requests after designated milestones). In practice, organizations treat the months leading up to the window as the time to finalize: the string choice, trademark coverage (including TMCH/SMD readiness), internal governance and approvals, and the selected registry back‑end approach.

Marcaria can help you through the entire application process and partners with a registry back‑end platform to sustain your dotBrand going forward.

To receive information about dotBrand, please contact support@marcaria.com.