How long after a domain expires does it become available?

Just posted a question, but needed to add info..

Ok, I want to create a fan site for an actress and the .com domain expired on March 6, 2008. I did a "who is" search and found the owner lives in japan (and he never even created a site, just bought the domain name). He's had the name since 2000. But it shows it wasn't renewed. It shows on "WhoIs" that the domain expired on March 6, but it still isn't available to register.

Ok, so what are my options right now? It's almost been 30 days since the domain name expired. There is absolutely no website up now, it's just an ad and it does say

"This Domain May Be For Sale" with an email address to write to:

buyyourdomainnamenow@gmail.com

I don't really want to write to that email address yet in case it IS the owner and they renew the domain if they see someone is interested. I've tried to register the domain at GoDaddy.com and other places, but it's not available. But like I said, at WhoIs it shows they didn't renew.

usually takes around 45-60 days for it to become publically available.

The previous owner will have a few chances to renew it before that of course.

If you really want the domain then you might want to look into putting a backorder on the domain, costs about $19 and includes the first year registration. Its not a guarantee but gives yo the best chance to get it.

Also keep checking it, the previous owner might be holding out to renew it until the end of his grace period, checking to see if there is any interest by anyone to buy it from him.

Unfortunately you can do nothing. Until the domain becomes available, you will not be able to register the domain. Typically, after a domain has expired, the owner of the domain looses the ability to renew the domain after 2 weeks and must re-register the domain. This is what he may have done. If you fail to renew a domain when the expiration date is near, you are given a warning and two additional weeks to renew the domain. The problem is, if you renew the domain within the two week warning period, you are charged 3 times the normal amount to renew because you waited so long. But, if you let the domain expire, and then simply register the domain again, the cost is the same as if you were registering for the first time. He still has the domain if it is not available and from the looks of it, he intends to keep it.