How do I successfully "Sign up for AWS GovCloud (US)"

I checked to make sure that the accounts have the required items in the list, but don't even get to the page to accept the addendum. It flashes on the screen and then moves to the error message.

I ran into this today. AWS support was way too slow, so as a workaround I ended up using AWS Organizations for an existing account to create a new Standard (Commercial) account, which I then used to request an AWS GovCloud account. I plan to create a separate AWS organization later, so I will prune them off the existing tree and use them as roots to start a new tree. My approach only works because I had an established account though. If you are starting from scratch, you won't have that option. You will have to call or email support (chat requires an upgrade to your account's support plan.) I still do not know if the original failure was just a hiccup on AWS's side or something I set up on the requesting account that AWS did not like. We met all the requirements when we created a GovCloud account before, so I was surprised when it did not work. The lack of a meaningful error message makes it hard to troubleshoot what was wrong.

Here are my notes on the scenarios I have encountered so far:

While logged in as root user for your account, go to https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup#/govcloud So far, I have observed 4 possible states on the GovCloud sign up page:

1. New account: a. First screen asks you select a support plan. b. Second screen will be the extended AWS GovCloud agreement you have to sign.

Note that I ran into a couple glitches today on step 1.b. The first time was the error message in item #2 below. The second time was when I was taken back to the home screen after the first step. When I went back to the link https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup#/govcloud it picked up where it left off, resumed this step (1.b). Probably just a bug.

2. Internal error (some problem on AWS side, or they didn't like something in your setup; who the heck knows?): "Access to the AWS GovCloud (US) region has been denied because you did not meet one or more of the prerequisites. Please contact AWS Customer Support if you believe you received this message in error. Sorry, there was an error processing your request. Please try again and if the error persists, contact AWS Customer Support."

3. Request in progress: "Access to the AWS GovCloud (US) region has been denied because you did not meet one or more of the prerequisites. Please contact AWS Customer Support if you believe you received this message in error. Sorry, there was an error processing your request. Please try again and if the error persists, contact AWS Customer Support. You have already requested a AWS GovCloud (US) account."

4. Already have an associated GovCloud account: "Our records show that you already have a GovCloud (US) account. If you lost the password please contact our customer support team. Thank you. Your account is ready to use. GovCloud (US) Account ID: <your-account-id-number-here>"

In order to obtain an AWS GovCloud (US) account, the account owner must first have an associated standard AWS account for billing and support purposes. The sign-up process also requires acceptance of the AWS GovCloud (US) Addendum to the Amazon Web Services Customer Agreement.

Also, check out the pre-requisites using the link below and check if you meet all of them.

Link- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/latest/UserGuide/getting-started-sign-up.html -- [1]

If still unable to do anything, please open a case with AWS Support & they should be able to check in to the same.