Why can’t a resident validate their SDL Portal account after registration?

There are actually two separate verification steps, and different things can go wrong in each.

Cause	Detail
Activation link expired	The single most likely cause — the link is only valid for 10 minutes after registration. Past that, the resident needs to request a new one from the activation page
Registration page session expired	The sign-up page has its own 5-minute session timer, separate from the activation link itself
Account already verified	Trying to re-send an activation link for an already-active account fails silently — the page appears to succeed, but no email is actually sent
Signed up via Google/Microsoft with an unverified email	Rejected with “Not verified by your account provider”
Email in spam	The activation email comes from a no-reply sender with the subject “Account Activation” — worth checking spam/junk first

This is a separate, later step — done after logging in, from My Account → Verification.

Cause	Detail
Phone number already linked to another account	The system blocks it and shows a partially hidden email for the account that already holds that number
Invalid phone format	Must be exactly 10 digits, numeric only — dashes are stripped automatically, but letters or an incorrect digit count will fail
Too many failed attempts	Maximum of 10 verification code send attempts before the system blocks further tries

If none of these match what the resident is experiencing, escalate to SDL support.