diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/fields.tsx b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/fields.tsx
index 5676ec900..95a205327 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/fields.tsx
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/fields.tsx
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export function SelectField(p: FieldProps & { options: { value: string; label: s
   );
 }
 
-export function DateField(p: FieldProps) {
+export function DateField(p: FieldProps & { minDate?: Date | string; maxDate?: Date | string }) {
   return (
     <Col span={p.span}>
       <AmharicDatePicker
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ export function DateField(p: FieldProps) {
         disabled={p.disabled}
         required={p.required}
         dateFormat="date"
+        minDate={p.minDate}
+        maxDate={p.maxDate}
         value={(p.form[p.name] as string) ?? ''}
         onChange={(v) => p.set(p.name, v)}
       />
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/steps.tsx b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/steps.tsx
index 934244cd0..eb5abf9b8 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/steps.tsx
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/components/steps.tsx
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ export function EmergencyContactStep(p: StepProps) {
           name="medicalIssueDate"
           label="Issue Date"
           required
+          // Bounded here rather than only at submit: the calendar is the one
+          // place the applicant can see why a day is refused, and the server's
+          // rejection otherwise only surfaces five steps later.
+          maxDate={new Date()}
           description="Cannot be a future date. Validity is calculated from this: two years, or one year if you are under 18."
         />
       </Grid>
diff --git a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/pages/SeafarerRegistrationPage.tsx b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/pages/SeafarerRegistrationPage.tsx
index 04ff5e01f..b324f04c8 100644
--- a/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/pages/SeafarerRegistrationPage.tsx
+++ b/apps/portal/src/app/features/seafarer-registration/pages/SeafarerRegistrationPage.tsx
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ function answersOf(registration: SeafarerRegistration): SaveSeafarerRegistration
   return Object.fromEntries(ANSWER_KEYS.map((k) => [k, registration[k]])) as SaveSeafarerRegistration;
 }
 
+/** Today as `yyyy-mm-dd` in the browser's own zone — en-CA is that format. */
+function todayDate(): string {
+  return new Date().toLocaleDateString('en-CA');
+}
+
 function blank(value: unknown): boolean {
   return value === null || value === undefined || value === '' || value === false;
 }
@@ -258,6 +263,10 @@ export function SeafarerRegistrationPage() {
 
   function set(key: AnswerKey, value: unknown) {
     setForm((prev) => ({ ...prev, [key]: value }));
+    // The submit refusal names what was wrong at the time it was refused.
+    // Leaving it on screen while the applicant corrects it reads as the
+    // correction having been ignored.
+    if (issues.length) setIssues([]);
     setErrors((prev) => {
       if (!prev[key]) return prev;
       const next = { ...prev };
@@ -280,6 +289,9 @@ export function SeafarerRegistrationPage() {
         found.weightKg = `Enter a weight between ${weightKg.min} and ${weightKg.max} kg.`;
       }
     }
+    if (index === 2 && (form.medicalIssueDate ?? '').slice(0, 10) > todayDate()) {
+      found.medicalIssueDate = 'The issue date cannot be in the future.';
+    }
     setErrors(found);
     const missingKeys = Object.keys(found) as AnswerKey[];
     if (missingKeys.length) {
@@ -323,19 +335,23 @@ export function SeafarerRegistrationPage() {
   }
 
   async function goToStep(target: number) {
-    if (target <= active) {
-      setActive(target);
-      return;
-    }
-    // Going forward validates every step passed over, so a jump cannot skip a
-    // required field; the walk stops on the first step that fails.
-    for (let step = active; step < target; step++) {
-      if (!readOnly && !validateStep(step)) {
-        setActive(step);
-        return;
+    // Saved before anything can turn the navigation around. `form` is the only
+    // copy of what was typed, so validating first — as this used to — threw the
+    // edit away on every blocked step and every step back: an applicant fixing
+    // a field the submit check rejected watched the correction vanish. A draft
+    // takes any subset of the answers, so persisting an incomplete one is safe.
+    const saved = await saveAnswers();
+    if (target > active) {
+      if (!saved) return;
+      // Going forward validates every step passed over, so a jump cannot skip a
+      // required field; the walk stops on the first step that fails.
+      for (let step = active; step < target; step++) {
+        if (!readOnly && !validateStep(step)) {
+          setActive(step);
+          return;
+        }
       }
     }
-    if (!(await saveAnswers())) return;
     setErrors({});
     setActive(target);
   }
@@ -343,8 +359,8 @@ export function SeafarerRegistrationPage() {
   async function handleSubmit() {
     if (!registration) return;
     setIssues([]);
-    if (!readOnly && !validateStep(4)) return;
     if (!(await saveAnswers())) return;
+    if (!readOnly && !validateStep(4)) return;
     try {
       await submit(registration.id).unwrap();
       notifications.show({
@@ -510,7 +526,7 @@ export function SeafarerRegistrationPage() {
           )}
 
           <Group justify="space-between" mt="xl">
-            <Button variant="default" onClick={() => setActive((s) => Math.max(0, s - 1))} disabled={active === 0}>
+            <Button variant="default" onClick={() => goToStep(Math.max(0, active - 1))} disabled={active === 0}>
               Back
             </Button>
             {active < STEPS.length - 1 ? (