GitHub Actions locked after student coupon expired — GitHub Free account cannot update billing due to government restrictions

[Amamiya23]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Other

Discussion Details

Hi GitHub Community,

I'm experiencing a billing restriction that has completely blocked my access to GitHub Actions, even though my account is currently on the GitHub Free plan.

What makes this particularly difficult is that GitHub also prevents me from updating my billing information due to a government-restrictions warning, leaving me with no apparent way to resolve the billing lock myself.

I'm hoping someone from the GitHub team or the community can help clarify what happened and how to restore access.

What happened

My GitHub username is Amamiya23, and I previously had verified GitHub Education student benefits.

Here is the timeline:

1. My GitHub Education student verification and associated benefits expired.

2. I received an email titled "Your coupon has expired", stating that my coupon for GitHub Free had expired.

3. On November 5, 2026, I received another email titled "We had a problem billing your account", stating:

   There is currently no payment method on file. A payment method must be added to continue service.

4. On the same day, I discovered that my GitHub Actions workflows could no longer start, displaying:

   The job was not started because your account is locked due to a billing issue.

5. When I checked Settings → Billing and licensing → Licensing, my account was already on GitHub Free, with Copilot Free as my active Copilot subscription.

   However, the page also displayed:

   This account is disabled because we have not been able to charge it for another month.

6. When I attempted to resolve the issue through Payment information, GitHub displayed:

   Sorry, you can't update your billing information at this time.

   We are sorry, but after reviewing we have determined that the billing information supplied is ineligible for transactions with GitHub due to government restrictions.

Why this is confusing

Before the lock occurred, I had not attempted any purchases, added a payment method, changed my billing settings, or initiated a new paid subscription.

My billing address is located in mainland China, which is not listed as a comprehensively sanctioned region in GitHub's published trade-control documentation.

I understand that my student benefits have expired, and I am not requesting their renewal.

However, my account is now on GitHub Free, which includes free GitHub Actions usage. I do not understand why my account is still considered to require payment for another month.

I suspect that the expiration of my educational coupon or an automatic subscription transition may have triggered an unexpected billing state, although I cannot confirm this without GitHub's assistance.

What I've already tried

• Checked my current subscription: GitHub Free and Copilot Free.
• Checked the Payment information page: no payment method is registered, and updating billing information is blocked.
• Reviewed GitHub's documentation on locked accounts and trade controls.
• Submitted a GitHub Support ticket (#4962343) with screenshots of the errors, billing notices, and current licensing status.
• Provided additional details about my expired student benefits and the sequence of events.

What I'm hoping to resolve

Could someone from GitHub or the community help clarify:

1. Can the expiration of a GitHub Education coupon cause a billing lock even after the account has transitioned to GitHub Free?
2. Why would a GitHub Free account still display a warning that GitHub could not charge it for another month?
3. If there is no outstanding balance or active paid subscription, is there a way to clear the billing lock without adding a payment method?
4. If the billing information is blocked by a trade-control restriction, how can an eligible user restore access to free GitHub Actions functionality?
5. Is there a way to have this specific combination of billing and compliance restrictions reviewed by the appropriate GitHub team?

My primary goal is simply to restore the GitHub Actions functionality included with GitHub Free. I am not requesting any paid services or an extension of expired student benefits.

I've already contacted GitHub Support, but I wanted to share the issue here in case other developers have encountered the same problem or the GitHub team can provide further guidance.

I can provide additional non-sensitive diagnostic information if needed.

Thank you for your time and assistance!

[Amamiya23]

[aeejaz]

Most likely, you need to update your payment details... and set it to 0 or $1.

This is not how it should work, but sadly it is.

[Amamiya23]

I know，but i can`t.

[ujwalnk]

I am sadly facing the same issue. Had a student plan, and now that it has expired, my account too is locked.

Ticket number: #4968617

I have not gotten any response, it has been 3 days since I have opened the issue.

[ujwalnk]

I think there might be something of a bug that triggered around the same time, because I also happened to face the same thing around the same time?

[GabrielRavier]

I've encountered the same bug too personally

[king-of-Jupiter]

same

[steveimm]

same exact issue for me too

[nichind]

Experiencing the same problem after my education GitHub Pro expired, can't run any workflows even on public repositories

[nhridoy]

I have the same problem. Opened a support ticket #4957235 on Nov 05, 2026. But still no support from github.

[aungzayyanaing]

Short answer: yes, this pattern can happen, and no, there is no self-service fix in your situation. Only GitHub Support can clear this lock. The suggestion above to update your payment details and set it to $0 or $1 does not work here, because you already showed that the Payment information page itself is blocked with "Sorry, you can't update your billing information at this time."

1. Can the coupon expiry cause this lock after moving to Free? Yes, that is consistent with your timeline. GitHub Education benefits are tied to a Pro-level billing state. When the coupon expired, the account went through a billing transition, and with no payment method on file the system left the account in a disabled/billing-locked state even though Licensing now shows GitHub Free. This is not isolated to your account: ujwalnk (#4968617), nhridoy (#4957235), nichind, GabrielRavier, and others in this thread report the same sequence — Education Pro expired, then the same Actions lock — which points to a stale billing state left behind by that transition, not to a problem with any individual workflow.

2. Why does a Free account say GitHub could not charge it for another month? That message is left over from the previous billing cycle and the disabled flag, not a current Free charge. GitHub Free itself has no monthly charge, and it includes Actions — 2,000 minutes per month for private repositories, and unlimited minutes for public repositories. So the message does not mean you owe for Free, and it does not mean a workflow change will fix it.

3. Is there a way to clear it with no outstanding balance or paid subscription? Not from your side while Payment information is blocked. Do not keep trying to add a payment method, do not try to buy a paid plan to work around it, and do not create a new account — none of those clear an account-level billing lock, and no workflow or YAML change will either, because the lock is on the account, not on a repository.

4. What about the trade-control message? As you noted, mainland China is not listed as a comprehensively sanctioned region in GitHub's published trade-control documentation. The "billing information supplied is ineligible for use by GitHub" message is a generic block on updating billing information; it is not proof that your region is sanctioned, and the community cannot override or reclassify it. Only Support, with a compliance review if needed, can confirm whether any restriction actually applies to your specific account and what, if anything, you need to supply.

5. How to get this reviewed: your Support ticket #4962343 is the correct route. Reply to that same ticket — do not open a duplicate, since duplicates slow the review — and ask Support specifically to remove the stale billing lock left by the expired Education coupon, re-enable Actions on GitHub Free, and confirm there is no outstanding balance or active paid subscription to clear. Include the timeline (coupon expiry, the November 5 billing email, and the same-day lock), the screenshots you already sent, and the facts that Licensing shows GitHub Free with Copilot Free and that Payment information is blocked. If there is no reply, follow up on that same ticket; several people here have been waiting 3+ days, so a follow-up on the existing ticket is the escalation path.

Once Support clears the lock, Actions should resume without any workflow changes.