Not Eligible to Enable This Skill Due to Geographical Restriction

Not Eligible to Enable This Skill Due to Geographical Restriction

If you don’t know, there are some Alexa skills that require geographical access to enable on Alexa. Therefore, you cannot enable a skill on Alexa if there is a country restriction that applies to the skill you want to enable.

Due to this regulation, a lot of users on the Amazon community forum, and on Reddit have reported that they get the “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” error whenever they are going to enable a particular skill on their Alexa (Spotify, TV, etc.) The numbers are only going higher day by day.

If this is the case for you and Alexa preventing enabling skills due to geographical restrictions, this guide contains why you get such an error and how you can fix it by following some simple solutions.

That means if you get the “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” error, this guide is for you!

Why do I get “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” on my Alexa?

When you set up the Amazon account, you will be asked to add your residential address. And, when you set up Alexa and register it under your account, you have to provide your current address. The same goes when setting up other devices to Alexa as well.

So if you move your device to another location (or you move to another location), Alexa detects it. And if the address doesn’t match with the current location, it typically gives you the “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” error when adding skills to your Alexa.

Besides that reason, there could be temporary glitches on Amazon’s end as well as on your Alexa that produce this error. But that is a very rare scenario, according to Amazon. Additionally, outdated software can also cause this issue.

But you don’t need to worry about the causes because we have already done that and gathered a complete guide to solving this issue for you, so keep reading…

How to fix “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” on Alexa

As you know now, this issue occurs because of a mismatch in the geolocation with your Amazon account/Alexa’s location settings, or Alexa-enabled device misconfigurations. In order to get rid of this error, you have to match the location in those settings with your current location. And it is easier to do than you might think.

Let’s get started.

Fix 01: Restart your Echo device

To fix temporary glitches and make the ground for further troubleshooting, you first should restart your Echo device.

You can do this in two ways One is by using the Alexa app, and the other is power cycling (removing the power) Let’s learn both ways. 

Here are the steps you need to follow to restart your Echo device using Alexa app.

1. Open the Alexa app
2. Tap on the menu icon/more
3. Tap on devices
4. Select the Echo device
5. Go to the device’s settings
6. Tap on restart

If it is easy for you to restart your Echo device manually, then here is what you need to do.

1. First, remove the Echo device from the power source
2. Wait for like 5 – 10 minutes
3. Plug the device back into the power source

Once your Echo device got restarted, go to skills and try to enable what you want to see if the

“you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” is gone.

If it is not, then don’t worry, just move to the next solution to change the address for each device, and your account.

Fix 02: Change the location (address) of your Amazon account

Most of the time “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” error occurs due to the mismatch on your Amazon account. Therefore, first, try changing the location of your Amazon account to see if you can get rid of this error and add the skill you want.

If you don’t know how to change the location of your account, here is how.

Note: According to Amazon, you cannot transfer (change the location of) an “Amazon.co.jp” or “Amazon.cn” account to another country or region.

1. Open a web browser, and go to the Amazon website according to your location. If you don’t know the URL for the current country you live, you can Google to get the URL. (Amazon UK site)

2. Login to your account by entering the credentials
3. Once you logged in, click on the “Accounts and lists” at the top right corner (see the image below)

4. Under that menu, click on “Content & devices”

5. Then, you will be redirected to the Manage your content & devices section. Under that, click on the Preferences tab

6. Now, look for Country/Region settings and click on it to see the option to change your location

7. Click on the Change button next to the current location, and enter the location details of where you currently live

8. After you finish editing, click on Save (you will receive some prompts to learn more about changing the country or a location, read those prompts carefully to fully understand how it works)

You can re-change the location when you move to another country or a region. Until then, keep the location and don’t change it back.

When you go to enable the skill you want, make sure you are logged to the site of your country, or the region you belong to.

Fix 03: Change the location on Alexa-enabled devices that the skill is related to

If the skill that you want to enable is for your Echo dot, then you should check and verify that device’s setup location. 

By assuming the Echo dot, here is what you need to do to change the address of the Echo dot.

1. Open the Alexa app

2. Tap on More/Menu icon

3. Tap on devices

4. From the device list, tap on Echo dot

5. Under the settings of your Echo dot, tap on the location

6. Enter correct details and tap on Update/Save

Conclusion

It can be frustrating when you want to enable your favorite skill to Alexa but fail to do because of the “you are not eligible to enable this skill due to geographical restrictions” error. However, with the help of this guide, you should be able to enable and use the skill you want without any issue.

If you have any questions or need help regarding this guide, leave a comment below.

Have a nice day!