Summary

  • AWS’s current general free-exit instructions require a Support request at least two months before the planned switch begins. Waiting for credit approval before starting the move is a separate condition.
  • The programme covers a complete departure across eligible accounts or the departure of all data from a particular AWS service across them. Its temporary credit covers qualifying Internet data transfer; ordinary service charges remain.

“We can move next week” sounds like excellent news at a migration meeting. For a company planning to use AWS’s free Internet exit programme, it raises an awkward question: when did somebody submit the request?

The current English EC2 FAQ requires that request at least two months before the planned switch initiation date. It also instructs customers to wait for approval of the credit before beginning the move. Running down the notice period does not approve the credit. Passing a test at the destination does not approve it either.

A technically ready migration therefore has another piece of preparation to finish. One schedule describes when the systems and engineers can move. The other describes the operation AWS will recognise for a credit. Introducing those schedules on the eve of the transfer is an expensive way to discover that “free” comes with a diary.

The person who copies may need somebody else to apply

Customers using AWS Organizations must make the request from the Management Account. The engineer with access to the data may need another team to open the relevant request. Customers with a dedicated AWS account team are told to contact it first, including to discuss options where a negotiated commitment exists.

Support asks for the accounts involved, initiation and completion dates, expected gigabytes and throughput in gigabits per second. It also asks about source and destination regions, whether the destination is another cloud or on-premises infrastructure, and plans for remaining data. The information required can vary with customer type and location.

That turns a loose internal description into something checkable. A business team’s “service” may be an application using several AWS services. An AWS service may hold data belonging to several business teams. The application’s project name does not settle the boundary of the credit request.

“All” does some heavy lifting

The general procedure allows customers to take all their data off AWS across all Eligible Accounts, or all their data off a particular AWS service across those accounts. An Eligible Account must be in good standing and designated as the payer responsible for the charges.

A service switch can leave other AWS services running. Customers do not have to terminate the entire relationship to leave one service. But moving the convenient portion of a dataset while continuing to operate the rest of the same service does not automatically describe the whole-service exit in the instructions.

By the end of the transition, remaining data and workloads must be deleted from the services being left, or the account can be closed. The project consequently needs a retirement plan as well as a copy plan. Receiving the last byte and authorising deletion of its source are different decisions, with a destination acceptance step between them.

An old announcement is carrying newer dates

AWS launched the programme in a post dated 5 March 2024. Its explanation for involving Support was practical: ordinary Internet traffic does not generally reveal which transfers represent a one-time switch to another provider or on-premises infrastructure. Once approved, the migration receives credits.

The post has acquired updates. One displayed as 8 October 2026 says eligible customers outside the EU have 180 days to complete the move and should notify Support immediately if they need more time. The current FAQ says Support will notify the customer about credits and the timeline for completion. An older general description of a 90-day window belongs to a different version of the paperwork.

Specific contractual routes still matter. AWS’s EU addendum has a default 30-calendar-day transition and extension mechanisms. Its UK addendum specifies 180 calendar days. Each defines its eligible accounts, including account country and linked accounts. The advance-request period and the period for performing the switch are different phases; adding the numbers does not manufacture an automatic eight-month entitlement.

The dated revision history needed to establish when the general two-month requirement first appeared has not been obtained. Its presence in the current FAQ is verified. A migration needs that current wording and the timetable confirmed for the account.

Which line on the bill becomes free

Ordinary AWS service charges continue. The credit applies to qualifying Internet data transfer supporting the move, with specialised services such as CloudFront, Direct Connect, Snow Family and Global Accelerator excluded. AWS’s global-network FAQ also distinguishes Internet transfer from traffic between availability zones and between regions. An internal regional migration does not become this exit product merely because both projects move data.

AWS may review usage and charge for previously credited transfers it determines served another purpose. Everyday delivery to users and a one-time departure can travel over the same network while qualifying for different treatment. Calling the delivery job a migration is unlikely to improve the paperwork.

A particular move needs a completed request, the Support decision and the applicable account timetable before its cost and executable dates can be assessed. Those documents belong in the project when a start date becomes serious. They are considerably more useful there than in an argument over the bill after the data has gone.

Original documents