diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index da3bbaa..2163f79 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 testWorkdir/***
 /issuectl-*
-gh-access-token
-jira-access-token
+gh-access-token*
+jira-access-token*
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0a81080..3e01565 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -281,6 +281,8 @@ Let's configure GitHub backend for our repository:
 
 And Jira backend for our issues:
 
+> Please remember you have to use Jira with language set to English (US)
+
 ```bash
 ➜ issuectl config backend add \
     --jira-host https://my-org.atlassian.net/ \
diff --git a/pkg/backend_jira.go b/pkg/backend_jira.go
index f8bafc4..855327d 100644
--- a/pkg/backend_jira.go
+++ b/pkg/backend_jira.go
@@ -14,11 +14,9 @@ type Jira struct {
 }
 
 const (
-	ToDo                = "To Do"
-	InProgress          = "In Progress"
-	Done                = "Done"
-	DefaultStartMessage = "On it 👀"
-	DefaultCloseMessage = "✅"
+	ToDo       = "To Do"
+	InProgress = "In Progress"
+	Done       = "Done"
 )
 
 func NewJiraClient(email, apiToken, baseURL string) *Jira {
@@ -55,7 +53,7 @@ func (j *Jira) LinkIssueToRepo(owner string, repo RepoConfigName, issueID IssueI
 	pullRequestURL := fmt.Sprintf("https://github.com/%s/%s/pull/%s", owner, repo, pullRequestID)
 
 	comment := jira.Comment{
-		Body: fmt.Sprintf("Working on changes here: %s", pullRequestURL),
+		Body: fmt.Sprintf(DefaultOpenPRMessage, pullRequestURL),
 	}
 	_, _, err := j.client.Issue.AddComment(string(issueID), &comment)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -91,6 +89,7 @@ func (j *Jira) moveIssueToState(issueID IssueID, desiredState string, message st
 	}
 
 	if transitionID == "" {
+		Log.V(3).Infof("Failed looking for transition %v in list of transitions %v", desiredState, transitions)
 		return fmt.Errorf("unable to find '%s' transition", desiredState)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/backends.go b/pkg/backends.go
index c04a066..02f564c 100644
--- a/pkg/backends.go
+++ b/pkg/backends.go
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 )
 
+const (
+	DefaultStartMessage  = "On it 👀"
+	DefaultCloseMessage  = "✅"
+	DefaultOpenPRMessage = "Working on changes here: %s"
+)
+
 // getIssueNumberFromString converts IssueID to int
 func getIssueNumberFromString(issueID IssueID) (int, error) {
 	issueNumber, err := strconv.Atoi(string(issueID))
diff --git a/pkg/issue.go b/pkg/issue.go
index 7c925eb..e378d53 100644
--- a/pkg/issue.go
+++ b/pkg/issue.go
@@ -100,16 +100,41 @@ func getBranchName(config IssuectlConfig, issueBackend IssueBackend, profile *Pr
 		return "", fmt.Errorf(errFailedToGetIssue, err)
 	}
 
+	toReplace := []string{
+		" ",
+		",",
+		":",
+		"|",
+		";",
+		"(",
+		")",
+		"#",
+		"@",
+		"!",
+		".",
+		"$",
+		"%",
+		"^",
+		"&",
+		"*",
+	}
+
 	switch t := issue.(type) {
 	default:
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("Missing issue type")
 	case *github.Issue:
 		Log.V(5).Infof("%v", t)
-		branchName := fmt.Sprintf("%v-%v", issueID, strings.ReplaceAll(*issue.(*github.Issue).Title, " ", "-"))
+		branchName := fmt.Sprintf("%v-%v", issueID, *issue.(*github.Issue).Title)
+		for _, charToReplace := range toReplace {
+			branchName = strings.ReplaceAll(branchName, charToReplace, "-")
+		}
 		return branchName, nil
 	case *jira.Issue:
 		Log.V(5).Infof("%v", t)
-		branchName := fmt.Sprintf("%v-%v", issueID, strings.ReplaceAll(issue.(*jira.Issue).Fields.Summary, " ", "-"))
+		branchName := fmt.Sprintf("%v-%v", issueID, issue.(*jira.Issue).Fields.Summary)
+		for _, charToReplace := range toReplace {
+			branchName = strings.ReplaceAll(branchName, charToReplace, "-")
+		}
 		return branchName, nil
 	}
 }