diff --git a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/migrations/0002_samlproviderconfig_country.py b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/migrations/0002_samlproviderconfig_country.py
index d0bf0b7c64..2037dcad85 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/migrations/0002_samlproviderconfig_country.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/migrations/0002_samlproviderconfig_country.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Generated by Django 2.2.14 on 2020-07-21 19:08
+# Generated by Django 2.2.14 on 2020-07-22 22:45
 
 from django.db import migrations, models
 
@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@ class Migration(migrations.Migration):
         migrations.AddField(
             model_name='samlproviderconfig',
             name='country',
-            field=models.CharField(blank=True, help_text=('String representation of the mapping between user`s IDP and edx`s country field.',), max_length=255),
+            field=models.CharField(blank=True, help_text=('URN of SAML attribute containing the user`s country.',), max_length=128),
         ),
     ]
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
index 2f19ac6b4f..793337c4db 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/models.py
@@ -619,9 +619,9 @@ class SAMLProviderConfig(ProviderConfig):
         ),
     )
     country = models.CharField(
-        max_length=255,
+        max_length=128,
         help_text=(
-            u'String representation of the mapping between user`s IDP and edx`s country field.',
+            u'URN of SAML attribute containing the user`s country.',
         ),
         blank=True,
     )
@@ -699,7 +699,7 @@ class SAMLProviderConfig(ProviderConfig):
             conf = {}
         attrs = (
             'attr_user_permanent_id', 'attr_full_name', 'attr_first_name',
-            'attr_last_name', 'attr_username', 'attr_email', 'entity_id')
+            'attr_last_name', 'attr_username', 'attr_email', 'entity_id', 'country')
         attr_defaults = {
             'attr_full_name': 'default_full_name',
             'attr_first_name': 'default_first_name',
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/samlproviderconfig/tests/test_samlproviderconfig.py b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/samlproviderconfig/tests/test_samlproviderconfig.py
index a9bb6e6ab7..c11296feb9 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/samlproviderconfig/tests/test_samlproviderconfig.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/third_party_auth/samlproviderconfig/tests/test_samlproviderconfig.py
@@ -18,13 +18,14 @@ from third_party_auth.tests.samlutils import set_jwt_cookie
 from third_party_auth.models import SAMLProviderConfig
 from third_party_auth.tests import testutil
 
+# country here refers to the URN provided by a user's IDP
 SINGLE_PROVIDER_CONFIG = {
     'entity_id': 'id',
     'metadata_source': 'http://test.url',
     'name': 'name-of-config',
     'enabled': 'true',
     'slug': 'test-slug',
-    'country': 'https:://example.customer.com/countrycode'
+    'country': 'https://example.customer.com/countrycode'
 }
 
 SINGLE_PROVIDER_CONFIG_2 = copy.copy(SINGLE_PROVIDER_CONFIG)
@@ -178,3 +179,42 @@ class SAMLProviderConfigTests(APITestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
         self.assertEqual(SAMLProviderConfig.objects.count(), orig_count)
+
+    def test_create_one_config_with_no_country_urn(self):
+        """
+        POST auth/saml/v0/provider_config/ -d data
+        """
+        url = reverse('saml_provider_config-list')
+        provider_config_no_country = {
+            'entity_id': 'id',
+            'metadata_source': 'http://test.url',
+            'name': 'name-of-config-no-country',
+            'enabled': 'true',
+            'slug': 'test-slug-none',
+            'enterprise_customer_uuid': ENTERPRISE_ID,
+        }
+
+        response = self.client.post(url, provider_config_no_country)
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+        provider_config = SAMLProviderConfig.objects.get(slug='test-slug-none')
+        self.assertEqual(provider_config.country, '')
+
+    def test_create_one_config_with_empty_country_urn(self):
+        """
+        POST auth/saml/v0/provider_config/ -d data
+        """
+        url = reverse('saml_provider_config-list')
+        provider_config_blank_country = {
+            'entity_id': 'id',
+            'metadata_source': 'http://test.url',
+            'name': 'name-of-config-blank-country',
+            'enabled': 'true',
+            'slug': 'test-slug-empty',
+            'enterprise_customer_uuid': ENTERPRISE_ID,
+            'country': '',
+        }
+
+        response = self.client.post(url, provider_config_blank_country)
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+        provider_config = SAMLProviderConfig.objects.get(slug='test-slug-empty')
+        self.assertEqual(provider_config.country, '')