.lv Domain
Latvia's Official Country Domain
Register your .lv domain from just £31.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
This domain has registration restrictions
A .lv is open to organisations anywhere and to individuals, but a natural person must be at least eighteen, and a personal-name domain may only be held by the person whose name it is. Read the full eligibility rules.
What is a .lv domain?
The .lv domain is Latvia's country code, managed by NIC.LV at the University of Latvia's Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science. Latvia is one of the three Baltic states and a member of the EU and eurozone. Riga, its capital, has a growing IT sector and fintech scene. Registration is open to anyone worldwide with no residency requirement, making .lv accessible for UK businesses wanting a Baltic presence.
Who should register .lv?
Latvian businesses, Baltic organisations, UK companies with Latvian operations, and fintech firms targeting the Baltic market.
Why choose .lv?
- Latvia's official country code
- Open to worldwide registration
- Growing IT and fintech hub in the Baltics
- EU and eurozone member state
Who runs .lv, and since when
Registry data from the .lv delegation record held by IANA, which maintains the internet's root zone. Eligibility comes from the registry's own policy, and the prices are ours.
- Extension type
- Country-code (ccTLD)
- Registry operator
- University of Latvia, Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, Department of Network Solutions (DNS)
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 1993
- Delegated 29 April 1993
- Who can register
- Open worldwide to organisations and to individuals aged eighteen or over
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £31.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
What Latvia's registry asks of a .lv registrant
The .lv registry is not a company. It is the Network Solutions Department of the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Latvia, which has run the extension since 1993 and publishes its rules as one policy document, in force since July 2009 and last amended on 1 September 2023.
Anyone may hold one. The policy names four kinds of holder: a commercial entity registered in Latvia, a Latvian state or local government authority, a Latvian foundation or association, and a natural person who has reached eighteen years of age. It then adds a fifth that matters to a British reader: a commercial entity or organisation registered outside the Republic of Latvia, from the moment it is registered. A UK company qualifies on the same terms a Latvian one does, with no local contact and no document to supply.
Two rules catch people out. A domain consisting of somebody's full name may only be registered by the person with that name, and the registry may terminate the agreement where the data you gave it turns out to be incorrect or false. Registration periods run from one to five years, and applications are reviewed within one calendar day.
Who is allowed to register .lv?
A .lv is open to organisations anywhere and to individuals, but a natural person must be at least eighteen, and a personal-name domain may only be held by the person whose name it is.
- Who qualifies
- Latvian commercial entities, state and local government authorities, Latvian foundations and associations, natural persons aged eighteen or over, and commercial entities or organisations registered outside Latvia. A UK company sits in that last group and needs nothing extra.
- Under eighteen
- The policy sets a minimum age of eighteen for an individual holder, so a younger registrant needs an adult or an organisation to hold the domain on their behalf.
- Names that are people
- A domain consisting of an individual's full name may only be registered by the person with that name. Where two people share a name, preference goes to whoever applied first.
- The second-level slots are stricter
- The .lv generic subdomains are not all open. id.lv is for residents of Latvia, net.lv for electronic communications merchants, edu.lv for accredited Latvian educational institutions, asn.lv for associations and conf.lv for conference and exhibition organisers. Only com.lv is as open as .lv itself.
- If your data is wrong
- The registry may terminate the agreement where the holder has not complied with the policy, including where the data submitted is incorrect or false. It can also suspend the domain's technical data, which stops the website and the email while the registration still shows in your name.
Rules taken from the NIC.LV domain name policy. Registry policy can change, so check before you buy if the answer matters to you.
Not sure whether you qualify? Ask us before you order and we will check the registry rules with you. We would rather answer the question than take an order the registry will refuse.
Is .lv the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.lv works well if
- You have a Latvian office, team or customer base and want an address Latvians read as local. A .lv is a country code, so Google reads it as a Latvia signal.
- Selling across the Baltics from the UK, you want one country address to anchor the Latvian-language side of the marketing.
- The two letters work as a word or an abbreviation inside your name, and you would rather that than a hyphenated .com.
Look elsewhere if
- Outside Latvia and the domain trade nobody recognises .lv on sight. Read out over the phone in Britain it needs spelling every single time.
- It costs a good deal more each year than a .co.uk and does nothing whatsoever for UK search visibility.
- If your registration data is not accurate, the registry can suspend the technical data, which takes the website and the email down while the domain still shows as yours.
Trading mainly with UK customers and merely tempted by the short name? The .co.uk is cheaper and does more. See .co.uk pricing.
.lv vs .eu: which should you register?
For a UK reader these two are not close, because one of them is probably closed to you. A .eu is restricted by EU regulation to citizens, residents and organisations of the Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, and a UK company with no EU establishment has not qualified since the end of 2020. Latvia is an EU member state, but its own extension asks none of that: a commercial entity registered outside Latvia may hold a .lv from the moment it is registered.
So if the goal is a European country address a British business can actually own, .lv is available where .eu is not. What you give up is breadth. A .eu speaks to the whole single market. A .lv speaks to Latvia, and to a Latvian audience that is precisely the point.
.lv domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .lv domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyYes. The NIC.LV policy lists a commercial entity or organisation registered outside the Republic of Latvia among the parties that may hold a .lv, with no residency test, no local contact and no document to supply. That puts it in a different position from .eu, which excluded UK-established organisations once the transition period ended. If you want a European country address and your business is British, .lv is one of the ones that will take you.
Registration periods run from one to five years, and the registry reviews an application within one calendar day. Applications are processed in the order they arrive, so a name goes on timing rather than on merit. NIC.LV may refuse one where the data is not correct and accurate, where the name breaks the construction rules, or where a previous invoice is unpaid, in which case it can ask for payment in advance.
No. The policy says a full name may be registered as a domain only by the person with that name, and where two people share a name the earlier applicant gets it. The registry also refuses names containing vulgar or offensive strings. Beyond that it does not check whether a name infringes anyone else's rights before accepting it, so that risk sits with you and is settled afterwards through the courts or the .LV dispute procedure.
Included with Your .lv Domain
DNS Management
Full DNS zone editor to manage A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and all record types.
Email Forwarding
Set up professional email addresses and forward to any inbox.
Auto-Renewal
Never lose your domain with automatic renewal protection.
Free 10GB Mailbox
One 10GB mailbox (POP3/IMAP) included with every domain, on any TLD.
Other Geographic Domains Extensions
Register your .lv domain today
Secure your .lv domain from just £31.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
