(Update) Chase Changing Rules Around Signup Bonus Eligibility For Sapphire Reserve & Sapphire Preferred

Update 2/11/26: There is a report suggesting that waiting 9 years satisfies the ‘lifetime’ restriction. YMMV. Similar reports indicate that 14-16 years can be enough for the ‘lifetime’ limit. 

• Related: What Does Chase Consider A Lifetime (When Are You Eligible For Another Bonus)?

Update 2/9/26: While the wording of the terms imply that if you previously had a card without getting a bonus (e.g. via product change) you are no longer eligible for the bonus, a recent data point indicates that, in practice, the bonus is applying if you never actually got the bonus before on this card. In short, in practice, it’s likely that the new rule is simple: you get one bonus on each Sapphire card in your life.

Small update 1/22/26: Sites with affiliate links are now reporting this change without referencing this memo so I assume they have confirmation from Chase. Although they are referencing a 1/22/26 date and I don’t see the changes live on any links yet. 

Just to clarify again: this rule (at least on paper) is loosening the prior restrictions: a few months back they introduced a lifetime limit which combined CSR and CSP (you can get one bonus lifetime) whereas now there is a lifetime limit for CSR and CSP separately (you can get each one once per lifetime).

Original Post 1/16/26:

Based on a new memo sent out to Chase bankers: beginning 1/25/26, Chase will be clarifying the disclosures on their Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred to make it clear that customers can earn a bonus on each card version, one bonus per card, even if they currently have an active card. See full text and image below.

Here’s my interpretation of what’s going on:

The current terms on both Reserve and Preferred show the exact same wording:

The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.

There are three exclusion clauses there currently:

1. Old rule: If you have another Sapphire card open (even a different version) you might not get the bonus. New rule: It seems from the Chase memo that this clause will be changing, and we’ll formally be allowed to get the bonus on both cards. To quote the exact words from the memo: “For example: If a client has a Preferred card, they can apply for Reserve and receive the new account bonus.” And the same thing vice versa. (Many months ago, Chase had already changed/clarified that you can open and get approved for both cards. The change now is that you can get the bonus on both cards when applying.)
2. Rule: If you previously held this card or received a cardmember bonus on this card (meaning this specific card version) then you might not be eligible for the bonus on the same card when applying again. It seems from the Chase memo that this clause will remain the same. We don’t know if it’s a lifetime limit or if after some number of years when the system will reset and allow a bonus again.
3. Rule: Chase might also consider other factors to determine bonus eligibility. This is the recent innovation of Chase Pop Up Jail where Chase will arbitrarily give you a pop-up indicating that you can’t get the bonus, even if there is no ‘rule’ saying that you are not eligible. New rule: It’s not clear whether Pop Up Jail is going away in favor of a simple one-bonus-per-card-per-lifetime rule, or perhaps Pop Up Jail will still remain after 1/25/26. It sounds to me like Pop Up Jail is going away, but we’ll have to wait and see. 

Here is the full text of the Chase memo:

Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred®: Card Eligibility Simplified

Beginning January 25, we are clarifying our disclosures to make Sapphire new cardmember bonus eligibility rules easier to understand. Clients can earn a bonus on each card, one time per card, regardless of whether they currently have an active card.

For example: If a client has a Preferred card, they can apply for Reserve and receive the new account bonus.

Some exclusions will still apply in branch, such as if the client has had the product in the past and wants to reopen the same card.