How to Transfer a Domain Name to a New Registrar

Domain registrars are competitive. Prices vary, renewal rates creep up after the first year, and some interfaces are genuinely painful to use. Switching registrars — transferring your domain to a new one — is a straightforward process once you know the steps, but it’s easy to get stuck if you miss a prerequisite.

The process involves unlocking your domain at the current registrar, getting an authorisation code, and initiating the transfer from the new registrar’s side. It typically takes five to seven days. One thing most people overlook: the transfer extends your registration by one year in most cases, so transferring before you renew saves you paying twice.

This guide covers exactly what to check before you start, how to work through each step without losing access, what to do once the transfer completes — and a real change to the underlying rules that’s landing later this year.

The Short Version

To transfer a domain, log in to your current registrar, unlock the domain, and request the authorisation (EPP/auth) code. Then start the transfer at your new registrar by entering that code when prompted. You’ll receive an approval email — confirm it. The transfer completes in five to seven days.

Why This Matters

Unlike moving your WordPress site to new hosting, which you can do without touching your domain settings at all, a registrar transfer moves the administrative control of your domain to a different company. If something goes wrong mid-transfer, your domain can become temporarily unresolvable. Domain names operate through a global system overseen by organisations like the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and the transfer rules are standardised at that level under ICANN policy.

Getting locked out, missing the approval email in your spam folder, or initiating a transfer too close to your expiry date are the three most common ways things go wrong. Each is preventable.

The 60-Day Lock Rule Is Being Replaced — But Not Yet

Every gTLD domain currently carries a 60-day transfer lock in three situations: within 60 days of initial registration, within 60 days of a previous transfer, and within 60 days of a change to the registrant’s contact information. ICANN’s Registration Data Policy update, effective 21 February 2024 with implementation running through August 2025, confirmed this 60-day window as the current standard — so as of today, it still applies to every domain covered by this guide.

That’s changing. In March 2025, ICANN’s GNSO Council approved a policy overhaul — 47 recommendations covering nearly every part of the transfer process — that replaces the 60-day Change-of-Registrant lock with a shorter 30-day (720-hour) lock. The approved timeline puts the effective date at roughly 18 months after the March 2025 vote, which lands around September 2026, and it still needs final ICANN Board sign-off plus registrar implementation time before it goes live. Until then, plan around the 60-day rule described in this guide, not the 30-day one you may see mentioned in newer discussions of the policy change.

How to Transfer a Domain Name

Step 1 — Check Transfer Eligibility

Under the current rules, your domain must have been registered — or last transferred — at least 60 days ago before it can be transferred again. Log in to your current registrar and check the domain’s registration history if you’re unsure.

Also check the expiry date. Don’t transfer a domain within two weeks of expiry — some registrars will reject the transfer, and a failed transfer takes time to resolve. If your domain expires soon, renew it first, then initiate the transfer.

Step 2 — Unlock the Domain

Every domain has a transfer lock — sometimes called a registrar lock or domain lock — enabled by default to prevent unauthorised transfers. This is separate from the 60-day eligibility lock above; it’s a toggle you control. You’ll find it in your current registrar’s domain management panel, usually under settings or security. Disable it. Some registrars require a short wait before the unlock takes effect.

Step 3 — Request the Authorisation Code

The authorisation code — also called an EPP code, auth code, or transfer code depending on the registrar — is a unique string that proves you’re the domain owner. Without it, the receiving registrar can’t initiate the transfer.

Request it from your current registrar’s control panel. It’s usually delivered to the email address on your registration record, which is why that address needs to be one you can still access.

Step 4 — Check Your Privacy Protection Setting

If your domain uses registrar privacy protection, the masked email address associated with the record may not receive the authorisation code or the approval email. Disable privacy protection temporarily — you can re-enable it at the new registrar once the transfer completes. See our guide to domain privacy protection for how this setting works following the industry’s move from WHOIS to RDAP.

Step 5 — Initiate the Transfer at the New Registrar

Go to your new registrar, find their domain transfer section, and enter your domain name. You’ll be prompted for the authorisation code from Step 3. Complete the order — in most cases this involves a small fee covering a one-year registration extension.

Step 6 — Approve the Transfer

After initiating, you’ll receive an email at the address on your registration record from your current registrar, your new registrar, or both. The email contains a link or button to approve the transfer. Approve it promptly.

If you don’t approve, the transfer sits in a pending state for up to five days before the current registrar may auto-approve or reject it, depending on their policy.

Step 7 — Confirm Completion and Update Nameservers

Most transfers complete in five to seven days. Once complete, you’ll receive confirmation from the new registrar. Log in and verify the domain appears in your account.

If you’re also moving to new hosting at the same time, update your nameservers at the new registrar once the transfer completes. Nameserver changes happen at the registrar level, not the hosting level.

Practical Tips

Transfer when you have at least three months of registration remaining. This avoids the expiry risk and gives you time if anything delays the process.

The one-year extension that comes with most transfers resets from the current expiry date — not from today. A domain with eight months left becomes one year and eight months.

Keep access to your old registrar account until the transfer fully completes. You may need to approve the transfer there, re-request the auth code, or contact support if something stalls.

If you’re reading this after the 30-day lock change has actually taken effect (expected around September 2026), the eligibility check in Step 1 shortens accordingly — the rest of the process described here doesn’t change.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting to unlock the domain. Most transfer failures happen for this reason. The new registrar can’t pull the domain if the lock is still active.

Missing the approval email. Check your spam folder immediately after initiating. The email often comes from an unfamiliar address and gets filtered.

Transferring too close to expiry. Some registrars reject transfers within 14 or 30 days of expiry. Renew first if needed.

Outdated contact email. The auth code and approval email go to the address on your registration record. If that address is outdated or forwarded somewhere you no longer check, you won’t receive them. Verify and update it at your current registrar before starting.

Domain Transfer vs. Changing Nameservers

If you’re moving your WordPress site to a new hosting provider but keeping the same registrar, you don’t need to transfer the domain at all — you only need to update your nameservers. That takes minutes, not days, and is covered in detail in the guide to pointing your domain to your web hosting.

If you’re unsure which hosting plan to move to, the comparison of shared hosting vs VPS vs managed WordPress covers the trade-offs in detail. A domain transfer is only necessary when you want to move administrative control of the domain itself — to a registrar with better pricing, to consolidate with your hosting account, or to move away from a provider you no longer trust.

For the broader context of setting up a new site from scratch — choosing a host, registering a domain, and installing WordPress — the step-by-step guide to building a WordPress website covers the full setup process from start to launch.

Conclusion

If your domain is eligible and your contact details are current, a registrar transfer is a routine task. Start by unlocking the domain and requesting the auth code at your current registrar — everything else follows from there. Build in a week before any planned hosting changes so the timing doesn’t create pressure, and keep an eye out for the shorter 30-day lock landing later this year.