diff --git a/src/components/structures/auth/Registration.js b/src/components/structures/auth/Registration.js
index 7818496e71..a25b532447 100644
--- a/src/components/structures/auth/Registration.js
+++ b/src/components/structures/auth/Registration.js
@@ -243,10 +243,15 @@ export default createReactClass({
             });
         };
         try {
-            await this._makeRegisterRequest({});
-            // This should never succeed since we specified an empty
-            // auth object.
-            console.log("Expecting 401 from register request but got success!");
+            // We do the first registration request ourselves to discover whether we need to
+            // do SSO instead. If we've already started the UI Auth process though, we don't
+            // need to.
+            if (!this.state.doingUIAuth) {
+                await this._makeRegisterRequest({});
+                // This should never succeed since we specified an empty
+                // auth object.
+                console.log("Expecting 401 from register request but got success!");
+            }
         } catch (e) {
             if (e.httpStatus === 401) {
                 this.setState({
diff --git a/src/components/views/auth/InteractiveAuthEntryComponents.js b/src/components/views/auth/InteractiveAuthEntryComponents.js
index 327451be17..655452fcee 100644
--- a/src/components/views/auth/InteractiveAuthEntryComponents.js
+++ b/src/components/views/auth/InteractiveAuthEntryComponents.js
@@ -412,14 +412,14 @@ export const EmailIdentityAuthEntry = createReactClass({
         this.props.onPhaseChange(DEFAULT_PHASE);
     },
 
-    getInitialState: function() {
-        return {
-            requestingToken: false,
-        };
-    },
-
     render: function() {
-        if (this.state.requestingToken) {
+        // This component is now only displayed once the token has been requested,
+        // so we know the email has been sent. It can also get loaded after the user
+        // has clicked the validation link if the server takes a while to propagate
+        // the validation internally. If we're in the session spawned from clicking
+        // the validation link, we won't know the email address, so if we don't have it,
+        // assume that the link has been clicked and the server will realise when we poll.
+        if (this.props.inputs.emailAddress === undefined) {
             const Loader = sdk.getComponent("elements.Spinner");
             return <Loader />;
         } else {