diff --git a/openhands/integrations/github/github_service.py b/openhands/integrations/github/github_service.py
index 3b8fa76bbf..fd09d86b4e 100644
--- a/openhands/integrations/github/github_service.py
+++ b/openhands/integrations/github/github_service.py
@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@ class GitHubService(BaseGitService, GitService):
             email=response.get('email'),
         )
 
+    async def verify_access(self) -> bool:
+        """Verify if the token is valid by making a simple request."""
+        url = f'{self.BASE_URL}'
+        await self._make_request(url)
+        return True
+
     async def _fetch_paginated_repos(
         self, url: str, params: dict, max_repos: int, extract_key: str | None = None
     ) -> list[dict]:
diff --git a/openhands/integrations/utils.py b/openhands/integrations/utils.py
index e99d9a3d8a..303fd9cb9b 100644
--- a/openhands/integrations/utils.py
+++ b/openhands/integrations/utils.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ async def validate_provider_token(
     # Try GitHub first
     try:
         github_service = GitHubService(token=token, base_domain=base_domain)
-        await github_service.get_user()
+        await github_service.verify_access()
         return ProviderType.GITHUB
     except Exception:
         pass