## TL;DR
Remove the user from the organization first, then reclaim the seat. GitHub counts every org member as a seat, so membership must go before the license is freed.

## Error
```text
GitHub seat reclamation failed: user still in organization
```

## Steps
1. Confirm the user is still an org member. Expected: membership confirmed.
2. Transfer any owned resources the offboarding requires (or document that none exist), then remove the user from the org. Expected: membership ended.
3. Verify the seat count dropped in org billing settings. Expected: the seat reclaimed.
4. If the user must keep access to some repos, convert them to an outside collaborator on those repos only. Expected: least-privilege access preserved.

## When to use
- Seat reclamation fails because the user is still in the org
- Offboarded employees linger as members
- The error names org membership as the blocker

## When not to use
- The user is already removed but the count is wrong (a billing sync delay)
- The issue is a SCIM team membership mismatch (a sync problem)
- The user should stay (then the seat is legitimately consumed)

## Tool compatibility
GitHub organization administration and billing.

### Variant phrasings
### user removed but still billed
Billing can lag. Check again after the sync window before escalating.

### reclamation via SCIM deprovision
SCIM deprovision removes the org membership; use it instead of manual removal.

## Why it happens
GitHub's seat model is membership-based. Any removal flow that skips the org-removal step leaves the seat consumed.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_l4UFks2HZjAgr82XP0Tl8A