This was last week.

I ought to caveat that from a KYC perspective, I likely would have been 'easy' since my career history involves many well-known companies and the requested account was for a UK company that has been running for nearly 20 years.

Though I'm no longer personally in the UK. Microsoft on the other hand: It was impossible for me to open up an Azure account even with their Customer Support. Suspect I will have to use Tailscale to bypass overly rigid geographical controls.