diff --git a/ietf/submit/migrations/0002_alter_submission_xml_version.py b/ietf/submit/migrations/0002_alter_submission_xml_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..275e6efd95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ietf/submit/migrations/0002_alter_submission_xml_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Generated by Django 4.2.23 on 2025-08-01 19:33
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ("submit", "0001_initial"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name="submission",
+            name="xml_version",
+            field=models.CharField(blank=True, default=None, max_length=4, null=True),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/ietf/submit/models.py b/ietf/submit/models.py
index 51f7541e31..1145f761b4 100644
--- a/ietf/submit/models.py
+++ b/ietf/submit/models.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class Submission(models.Model):
     file_size = models.IntegerField(null=True, blank=True)
     document_date = models.DateField(null=True, blank=True)
     submission_date = models.DateField(default=date_today)
-    xml_version = models.CharField(null=True, max_length=4, default=None)
+    xml_version = models.CharField(null=True, blank=True, max_length=4, default=None)
 
     submitter = models.CharField(max_length=255, blank=True, help_text="Name and email of submitter, e.g. \"John Doe <john@example.org>\".")