Embodiments are presented herein of apparatuses, systems, and methods for a user equipment device (UE) and/or cellular network to avoid invalidation of a subscriber identity module (SIM). A UE may initiate a connection with the network. The network may reject the connection attempt. The UE may selectively determine whether to invalidate the SIM, network, or both. The UE may consider various factors such as details of the connection rejection message, identity of the network, its relationship to the network (e.g., whether the network is a preferred network, etc.), a number of connection rejections received, time remaining on one or more timers, availability of other networks, etc.