The 60-day domain transfer rule: when it applies and how to plan

Yes, you have to wait. A domain under an ICANN-regulated extension (.com, .net, .org, .io and every other gTLD) cannot be transferred to another registrar for 60 days after its initial registration, for 60 days after a previous transfer, and, unless you opted out at the time, for 60 days after a change of registrant. The refusal comes from your current registrar, which is allowed to decline the transfer and always does. Country-code extensions such as .fr, .de or .uk follow their own registry's rules instead. This article covers the three triggers, how to work out the exact date from which the transfer becomes possible, what the rule does not stop you from doing, and the exceptions.

The three events that start a 60-day clock

Event	Policy	Mandatory?	Opt-out
Initial registration	ICANN Transfer Policy	The losing registrar may refuse; in practice all do	No
Transfer from another registrar	ICANN Transfer Policy	Same	No
Change of registrant (name, organisation or email of the holder)	ICANN Change of Registrant policy	Yes, the registrar must apply the lock	Yes, if the registrant declines the lock before the change is made

The third trigger surprises people. Correcting the company name after a merger, or replacing the founder's email address with a shared mailbox, counts as a change of registrant and locks the domain for 60 days unless you tick the opt-out box that most registrars show at that moment. Read that dialog before confirming.

The Transfer Policy has been under review: the revised version adopted by ICANN drops the lock after a change of registrant and keeps the other two. Registrars implement it on their own schedule, so ask yours which version applies to your domain before planning around the third row.

What the rule does not stop

The 60-day lock only blocks a transfer between registrars. Everything else stays open. You can renew the domain at the current registrar, change the nameservers and every DNS record, move the website and the email to another host, and move the domain to another account at the same registrar (a "push", which is not a transfer in ICANN's sense). You can also sell the domain, with one caveat: if the sale changes the registrant details, that change starts its own 60 days unless the opt-out is used.

Working out the date the transfer becomes possible

For a new registration, read the registration event in the domain's RDAP record; a lookup shows it, and the guide to reading domain registration data explains the other events. For a previous transfer, the reference is the confirmation email from the new registrar, or, if the domain was already on a watchlist, the dated "registrar changed" alert. The registry does not always publish the transfer date itself.

One trap: the "Updated Date" field of a WHOIS record moves every time something changes on the domain, a renewal, a contact edit, a lock toggled. It does not date the transfer. Do not count from it.

The count is simple: registered on 3 September, the domain becomes transferable on 2 November. Registries count in UTC and registrars round in their own way, so plan for one day of margin and launch the transfer on the 3rd or 4th rather than the 2nd. Write the date in the domain's notes so that whoever handles the migration does not rediscover the rule at the last minute.

Why the 60-day lock does not show in RDAP

The lock is a rule, not a status. A domain in its 60-day window shows ok or the usual clientTransferProhibited in its status array, nothing more; nothing in the record says it cannot be transferred this month. The locks that do appear as EPP statuses are the registrar transfer lock and the registry lock, compared in the guide to registry lock and registrar lock. Both are protections you choose. The 60-day rule is imposed, invisible and temporary.

Exceptions: ccTLDs and internal transfers

Country-code extensions are not bound by the ICANN Transfer Policy. AFNIC (.fr), DENIC (.de), Nominet (.uk) and EURid (.eu) each set their own transfer rules, and most have no post-registration lock at all; a .fr registered yesterday can usually be transferred today, with the registrar's own procedure. Check the extension page for your ccTLD and the registry's own documentation, or the guide to looking up a .fr domain at AFNIC for the French case.

A move between two accounts at the same registrar is outside the rule, since the registrar does not change. Some registrars still apply their own waiting period after a push, usually shorter, so read their terms before counting on an immediate move.

Planning registrations, transfers and edits in the right order

Three situations come up again and again.

Buying a domain from someone else: ask the seller to push the domain to your account at their registrar first, then transfer it out once you control it, or accept that a transfer as part of the sale starts the clock. Pushing first also lets you keep the old registrant details until you are ready.

Renaming the company before a planned transfer: make the registrant change with the opt-out ticked, or make it after the transfer, never in between without the opt-out. A change of registrant the week before a migration is the most common way to lose two months.

Expiration inside the window: renew at the current registrar. A transfer usually adds a year of registration, but a domain that expires before the window closes is at risk, and the transfer guide lists the other failure causes to check while you wait.

What to do now

Find which of the three triggers applies to your domain. Date the window from the registration event in RDAP or from the registrar change alert, add a day, and note that date on the domain. If the expiration falls inside the window, renew now rather than betting on the transfer. Then keep the domain on a watchlist so the registrar change, when it finally happens, is confirmed by an email rather than assumed.