I am a professor at Cambridge University and my application for github copilot is rejected because there is no place to upload documents

[mahrossi]

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Question

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Hi, I am a professor at Cambridge University (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/mr2102) and you keep rejecting my application for copilot because I am currently in Germany. I can upload a document showing why I am here, but in the application you only allow to take photos... can you please send me a link where I can upload such documentation so you can accept my application as I am quite sure I qualify?

[rushikesh-bobade]

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Hi @mahrossi!

Good news — as a Cambridge professor, you actually have the easiest possible path to approval, and you likely don't need to upload any documents at all.

The key: use your institutional email

If you apply at [education.github.com](https://education.github.com) using your @cam.ac.uk email address, GitHub's system automatically recognizes Cambridge University as a verified academic institution and should approve you without requiring any document upload. This bypasses the location check entirely — your email domain is the proof.

If you applied with a personal email (Gmail, etc.) instead, that's likely the root cause of the rejection.

Steps to fix it:

1. Go to [education.github.com/discount](https://education.github.com/discount)
2. Make sure your @cam.ac.uk email is added and verified in your GitHub account settings first
3. Select that email when applying
4. The system should recognize Cambridge automatically and approve within minutes

If you still need to submit documents, the workaround for the "photo only" limitation is to use the GitHub Mobile app — it gives you direct camera access and also accepts images from your photo library, so you can upload a saved PDF or scan.

For your specific situation (being physically in Germany), adding a brief note in the application that you're a visiting researcher is helpful, but with a verified @cam.ac.uk email it genuinely shouldn't matter.

Hope this gets you sorted quickly!

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[mahrossi]

Yes, I did that, it still needs a photo and although I am sending a photo of my university card, your system still thinks I am not a professor here and keeps rejecting my application. I am even in Cambridge now so the location is not an issue. Could you please resolve this? Do you need more proof than a listed webpage?

[rushikesh-bobade]

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Hi @mahrossi! It’s clear that the automated system has become an obstacle rather than a help, especially since you've verified your email and are physically on campus.

At this point, you have likely hit a "Bot Loop." Once the automated scanner rejects a specific document format a few times, it becomes increasingly difficult to get it through. The only way to resolve this 100% is to bypass the automation and speak to a human who can manually override the system.

Please use this exact path:

1. Open a Manual Support Ticket: Go to the [GitHub Education Support Contact Form](https://support.github.com/contact/education).
2. State the Conflict: Mention that despite your verified @cam.ac.uk email and physical presence in Cambridge, the automated OCR (photo scanner) is failing to recognize your faculty credentials.
3. Provide your "Source of Truth": Directly link your Cambridge Faculty profile (https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/mr2102) in the first sentence of your message.

Why this works: A human support agent can "browse" the web to verify you, whereas the automated bot only sees the pixels in the photo you take. Once a person sees your official University page, they can manually white-list your account for Copilot in a matter of seconds.

I'm confident this will be the final step to get you back to your research. Best of luck with the manual review!

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