diff --git a/include/API/errors.h b/include/API/errors.h
index c5e878b6f..1c0ebf006 100644
--- a/include/API/errors.h
+++ b/include/API/errors.h
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ enum class ErrorCategory {
   QSSLinkInvalidPatchTypeError,
   QSSControlSystemResourcesExceeded,
   QSSTargetUnsupportedOperation,
+  QSSUnsupportedQASM3,
   UncategorizedError,
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/API/api.cpp b/lib/API/api.cpp
index 206f2f708..728c06daa 100644
--- a/lib/API/api.cpp
+++ b/lib/API/api.cpp
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ void diagEngineHandler(mlir::Diagnostic &diagnostic,
   // emit diagnostic cast to void to discard result as it is not needed here
   if (qssc_severity == qssc::Severity::Error) {
     (void)qssc::emitDiagnostic(diagnosticCb, qssc_severity,
-                               qssc::ErrorCategory::QSSCompilationFailure,
+                               qssc::ErrorCategory::QSSUnsupportedQASM3,
                                diagnostic.str());
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/API/errors.cpp b/lib/API/errors.cpp
index eb4911101..7b665287b 100644
--- a/lib/API/errors.cpp
+++ b/lib/API/errors.cpp
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ std::string_view getErrorCategoryAsString(qssc::ErrorCategory category) {
   case ErrorCategory::QSSTargetUnsupportedOperation:
     return "An unsupported operation on a target was used";
 
+  case ErrorCategory::QSSUnsupportedQASM3:
+    return "The provided QASM3 is not supported by the compiler";
+
   case ErrorCategory::UncategorizedError:
     return "Compilation failure";
   }
diff --git a/python_lib/qss_compiler/compile.py b/python_lib/qss_compiler/compile.py
index 36ba39799..52c9019f7 100644
--- a/python_lib/qss_compiler/compile.py
+++ b/python_lib/qss_compiler/compile.py
@@ -316,6 +316,12 @@ def compile(self) -> Union[bytes, str, None]:
                         diagnostics,
                         return_diagnostics=self.return_diagnostics,
                     )
+                if diag.category == ErrorCategory.QSSUnsupportedQASM3:
+                    raise exceptions.QSSUnsupportedQASM3(
+                        diag.message,
+                        diagnostics,
+                        return_diagnostics=self.return_diagnostics,
+                    )
 
             if not success:
                 raise exceptions.QSSCompilationFailure(
diff --git a/python_lib/qss_compiler/exceptions.py b/python_lib/qss_compiler/exceptions.py
index 6bffa238b..98cb03d11 100644
--- a/python_lib/qss_compiler/exceptions.py
+++ b/python_lib/qss_compiler/exceptions.py
@@ -123,3 +123,7 @@ class QSSTargetUnsupportedOperation(QSSCompilerError):
 
 class OpenQASM3ParseFailure(QSSCompilerError):
     """Raised when a parser failure is received"""
+
+
+class QSSUnsupportedQASM3(QSSCompilerError):
+    """Raised when an unsupported QASM3 is received."""
diff --git a/python_lib/qss_compiler/lib_enums.cpp b/python_lib/qss_compiler/lib_enums.cpp
index fe65c3c03..34618def0 100644
--- a/python_lib/qss_compiler/lib_enums.cpp
+++ b/python_lib/qss_compiler/lib_enums.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ void addErrorCategory(py::module &m) {
              qssc::ErrorCategory::QSSControlSystemResourcesExceeded)
       .value("QSSTargetUnsupportedOperation",
              qssc::ErrorCategory::QSSTargetUnsupportedOperation)
+      .value("QSSUnsupportedQASM3", qssc::ErrorCategory::QSSUnsupportedQASM3)
       .value("UncategorizedError", qssc::ErrorCategory::UncategorizedError)
       .export_values();
 }
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/soo-ER-add-QSSUnsupportedQASM3-5f32fb45a26a7d8d.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/soo-ER-add-QSSUnsupportedQASM3-5f32fb45a26a7d8d.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8f19c80c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/soo-ER-add-QSSUnsupportedQASM3-5f32fb45a26a7d8d.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+features:
+  - |
+    Added ``QSSUnsupportedQASM3`` error category for the cases which
+    fail to generate MLIR from the QUIRGen. These errors used to be
+    categorized under ``QSSCompilationFailure``.
diff --git a/targets/systems/mock/test/python_lib/test_compile_mock.py b/targets/systems/mock/test/python_lib/test_compile_mock.py
index 755d9da5c..e28015d52 100644
--- a/targets/systems/mock/test/python_lib/test_compile_mock.py
+++ b/targets/systems/mock/test/python_lib/test_compile_mock.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     OutputType,
     CompileOptions,
 )
-from qss_compiler.exceptions import QSSCompilationFailure
+from qss_compiler.exceptions import QSSUnsupportedQASM3
 
 compiler_extra_args = ["--enable-circuits=false"]
 
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def test_compile_failing_str_to_qem(
     """Test that compiling an invalid OpenQASM3 string via the interface
     compile_str to a QEM payload will fail and result in an empty payload."""
 
-    with pytest.raises(QSSCompilationFailure):
+    with pytest.raises(QSSUnsupportedQASM3):
         compile_str(
             example_unsupported_qasm3_str,
             input_type=InputType.QASM3,
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def test_compile_failing_file_to_qem(
     """Test that compiling an invalid file input via the interface compile_file
     to a QEM payload will fail and result in an empty payload."""
 
-    with pytest.raises(QSSCompilationFailure):
+    with pytest.raises(QSSUnsupportedQASM3):
         compile_file(
             example_unsupported_qasm3_tmpfile,
             input_type=InputType.QASM3,