Updated 18 September 2026. Originally published in 2019; revised to replace outdated advice and links.
The Brexit transition deadlines in our original 2019 article have passed. The useful question now is whether the person or organisation registering the domain meets the eligibility rules.
A UK address is not the whole answer
UK government guidance explains that an eligible registrant can be an EU/EEA citizen wherever they live, a resident of the EU/EEA, or an organisation established there. A UK-only business does not qualify simply because it sells to European customers.
Our old statement that an EU citizen living in the UK could not retain a .eu domain was wrong. Ask your registrar to check the exact registrant and any evidence needed against the registry’s current terms before buying, renewing or transferring a name.
Check everything connected to the domain
A domain may support much more than a website. Check email addresses, booking tools, payment accounts, staff sign-ins, password recovery addresses and integrations. Losing access to an email address can make recovering another business account difficult.
If you need to move
Agree a new domain, retain access to the existing services where possible, and plan the website and email change together. Map important pages to equivalent destinations, update internal links and inform customers through channels you still control. A redirect can only work while you control and operate the old address; do not assume it will remain available after a registration is lost.
Our hosting team can help assess the technical dependencies. Contact inLIFE before changing nameservers or cancelling an existing service.
