[uxjw]

I've had some registrars lock the domain from transferring for a few weeks after changing whois.

[tredre3]

It's called the 60 day registrant change lock. Most changes to administrative or technical contact information will trigger it.

Although it's a real ICANN rule, the registrar is allowed to override it if they want. Of course very few registrars offer that kind of customer service, so that escape hatch might as well not exist...