Anthropic tightens Supported Regions Policy and closes ownership loophole

Anthropic's updated Supported Regions Policy took effect on November 12, 2026, closing a loophole that had let entities majority-owned or controlled by parties in unsupported regions access Claude. The change, laid out in Anthropic's Supported Regions Policy, set off a wave of identity-verification prompts and account suspensions as enforcement ramped up.

What changed

• The policy covers Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the API and developer platform, and Claude models offered through cloud platforms and authorized resellers.
• More than 195 countries and territories are listed as supported; any country not on that list is unsupported.
• Access is prohibited for individuals physically located in unsupported regions and for entities incorporated or headquartered there.
• Access is now also prohibited for entities majority-owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by persons or entities in unsupported regions, closing a prior loophole.
• Ukraine is listed as supported except for Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
• Territories and dependencies of a supported country are also supported, for example Puerto Rico.

What it means for people building with AI

Developers and companies building on Claude outside the United States, especially those with foreign ownership structures, may suddenly lose access or be forced through new identity checks. The updated policy now reaches beyond simple incorporation or physical presence: it also covers entities that are majority-owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by persons or entities in unsupported regions. That closes a path some teams had previously used to retain access despite ties to an unsupported region, so founders and companies with foreign investors, parent companies, or subsidiaries face the greatest exposure under the new rules.

Enforcement already underway

Users began reporting identity-verification, or KYC, prompts and account suspensions on November 11, 2026, and the reports continued into November 12, 2026, as Anthropic enforced the tightened rules across Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, and its API and developer platform. Anyone affected should expect to verify their location or corporate ownership to keep using Claude going forward.

Sources

• Supported Regions Policy (Anthropic, November 12, 2026, official)

Written with AI assistance, strictly from the sources listed above. Before it went live, automated checks verified its dates, sources and every language edition.