Cannot remove expired Azure Sponsorship subscription to switch to credit card billing — Ticket #4433834 open 10 days

[FaithMundia]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Account Related

Body

Hi community,

I own a GitHub Enterprise account, and I'm stuck in a billing loop. Hoping someone here has run into this before.

The situation:
Our enterprise was billed through an Azure Sponsorship subscription, which has now expired. My billing due date was 1st June 2026 and I now have an unpaid balance I'm trying to clear. I want to switch to credit card billing.

The problem:
When I go to Payment Information and try to remove the Azure subscription, GitHub shows this error:

"You cannot remove your Azure subscription as this is your main form of payment."

So I can't remove the expired Azure subscription, and I can't add a credit card as the primary method without removing it first. It's a catch-22.

What I've tried:

• Attempting to remove via the trash icon on the Payment Information page
• Raised support Ticket #4433834 on 31 May 2026
• Sent a follow-up on the ticket on 4 June 2026
• No response from GitHub Support in 10 days

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully switched from Azure-billed to credit card billing after the Azure subscription expired?
2. Is there a way to add a credit card first and then remove Azure, or does support have to intervene to break this?
3. Any other escalation paths while I wait for ticket response?

Any help appreciated. The unpaid balance is sitting there and I can't resolve it without switching payment methods.

Thanks,
Faith

[Hemu2174]

Hi Faith,

You're likely running into a platform limitation rather than something you can resolve yourself.

From what I've seen, when an Azure subscription is configured as the enterprise's primary billing source, GitHub generally doesn't allow it to be removed until another valid payment method is designated. Unfortunately, if the Azure subscription has already expired, the self-service billing flow can get stuck in exactly the loop you're describing.

A few suggestions:

1. Check whether you have Enterprise Owner permissions, as only enterprise owners can modify enterprise billing settings.
2. Try accessing Billing & Licensing from the enterprise account directly (rather than through an organization account) and see if there's an option to add a credit card before removing Azure.
3. If the UI does not allow adding a new payment method, GitHub Support will most likely need to manually update the billing configuration or detach the expired Azure subscription.
4. Since your support ticket has been open for 10+ days, consider opening a new ticket referencing Ticket #4433834 and clearly mark it as a billing issue involving an unpaid balance. Billing-related cases are sometimes routed differently.
5. You can also post in the GitHub Community discussions under Billing & Licensing to increase visibility, but community members generally cannot make billing-side changes.

I haven't seen a documented self-service method for removing an expired Azure Sponsorship subscription when it remains the primary payment method, so support intervention may ultimately be required.

Hope you're able to get a response from GitHub soon.

[FaithMundia]

Hi Hemanth,

Thank you so much for the detailed response. This is really helpful.

To update you on what I've tried:

1. Yes, I am the Enterprise Owner of Fay Institute Creator Studio, so permissions are not the issue.

2. I have tried accessing Billing & Licensing directly from the enterprise account and attempted to add a credit card; there is no option to add an alternative payment method. The UI only shows the expired Azure Sponsorship subscription with no way to add or switch to another method.

3. The enterprise billing overview currently shows a past due balance of $44.55 (overdue since June 1) with metered usage still accruing. Codespaces is also fully locked for our organization as a result.

So you're right, this is firmly in GitHub Support territory. The self-service flow is completely stuck.

I've had Ticket #4433834 open since May 31 with a follow-up on June 4, and just sent another follow-up today with the specific overdue amounts. Based on your suggestion, I'm also going to open a fresh ticket routed specifically as a billing issue to try a different queue.

Has anyone else in the community successfully gotten GitHub Support to manually detach an expired Azure Sponsorship? Any insight on how long that typically takes would be helpful.

Thanks again.
Faith