More and more people are reporting Issues when redeeming U.S. Xbox Live, Gamepass, and GamePass Ultimate Gift Card codes when abroad.

If you have a U.S. Microsoft account and you’re going on vacation or moving to another country. Then you may encounter some issues when redeeming some gift card codes on your account.

This isn’t a new problem since the first time this was reported was back in 2018 for Xbox Live codes. Before that, you could’ve redeemed any code, as long as the corresponded code matches your Microsoft account region. This issue only seems to affect Subscription codes and not currency codes.

WHAT DOES THIS ERROR LOOK LIKE?

Let’s say you live in another country, but have a U.S. Microsoft account. You bought a U.S. Gift Card code for Gamepass Ultimate, but when you enter the code and click redeem, you’ll get an error that says to “contact the seller to get a code that works in your region. This code was purchased in a different region and cannot be redeemed.”

This is a GeoRestricted error. This basically tells you that your code is Geo Locked. What’s weird is, that you only get this error when you try to redeem a code for Xbox Live, GamePass, or Gamepass Ultimate. Other codes still work perfectly fine.

WHAT CAN I DO IF I GET THIS ERROR?

Luckily there is a quick workaround for this. All you need to do is use a VPN service and you can redeem the code without any issue. We recommend using NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Cyber Ghost, or SurfShark. Do not use a “free” VPN service, most of the time, this won’t work and can fill your computer with Malware or worst.

HOW TO REDEEM

To redeem a U.S. code abroad, first, make sure that your VPN service is turned off. Now open a web browser and go to https://redeem.microsoft.com/
Log in to your Microsoft account and wait a few seconds. Now turn on your VPN, make sure you’re using a U.S. location, and refresh the page.
Enter the code, click redeem, and you’re done. Also if it’s a subscription code remember to turn off Microsoft’s auto-renew.
This workaround also works with Hulu and Disney+ U.S. Gift Card Codes. You will also need the VPN to stream its contents.

Don’t have access to a VPN service? No problem, we can do this for you for free, but it requires us to log into your Microsoft account. Everything will be done in incognito, so no information of yours will be saved in our system.

You can also pay for a VPN service using Apple Wallet, or Google Play. Soon we will also start selling VPN subscriptions by NordVPN. More info on that later.