Why Github has not listed "Pakistan" in the country select list for 2FA?

[bilaldotdev]

Pakistan country support for sms during 2FA

My point of view

Thousands of users from Pakistan are using github and now when github wants their user to enable 2FA, Pakistan is not even listed in the country list? This is shameful and heartbreaking to see a big organization doing this type of discrimination.

[queenofcorgis]

If your country is not on the list, then we aren't currently able to reliably deliver text messages to your country. We track delivery rates across all countries, including ones not in the list, and review it to understand when we have to remove countries or can add them back. We do not add countries with low deliverability rates, because it leads to users being locked out of their accounts when they can’t receive the SMS for 2FA.

If GitHub doesn’t support two-factor authentication via text message for your country of residence, you must set up authentication via a TOTP application. For more information on how to configure 2FA, please review our documentation.

[MusawarAhmed]

While I understand that GitHub prioritizes deliverability to prevent account lockouts, excluding a country with one of the fastest-growing developer populations in the world is not a sustainable solution.

The reliance on TOTP apps is a valid technical alternative, but it ignores the local context where SMS remains a primary and most accessible form of verification for many. By not listing Pakistan, GitHub creates an unnecessary barrier for thousands of contributors who are now required to enable 2FA but feel sidelined by the platform they contribute to daily.

If deliverability is the issue, I urge GitHub to:

Partner with local telecommunications providers in Pakistan to stabilize routing.

Provide transparency on what specific delivery benchmarks need to be met for a country to be "re-listed."

Consider WhatsApp or alternative localized API integrations that have much higher success rates in the region than traditional SMS.

We hope to see GitHub take proactive steps to include the Pakistani developer community rather than simply directing us to documentation.

[bilaldotdev]

many many and many products are able to support SMS based OPT in Pakistan without any problem. The issue is not "reliability", it's priorities of github and they clearly don't have a reason to consider Pakistan.

[Arpon-09]

On GitHub, SMS 2FA is only supported in countries where SMS delivery is reliable.

GitHub documentation says they only support SMS 2FA for certain countries based on SMS delivery success rates. If delivery is unreliable, they do not include that country because users might get locked out of their accounts.

[krillmango]

TOTP does not compromise privacy

[code-with-bhumi]

Hello @bilaldotdev

From GitHub’s perspective, the exclusion is not an "issue" or bug, but a deliberate security measure to protect you from being locked out of your account

Pakistan is excluded from SMS-based two-factor authentication due to low message delivery success rates, posing a risk of account lockout. To ensure reliability, GitHub limits SMS 2FA to regions with high carrier performance and recommends TOTP authenticator apps for unsupported areas.

• Read the full policy details at GitHub Docs

  

[krillmango]

https://totp.app

[krillmango]

https://twilio.com/en-us/guidelines/pk/sms