diff --git a/app/cron/process_batches.php b/app/cron/process_batches.php
index bd2e706..f51623b 100644
--- a/app/cron/process_batches.php
+++ b/app/cron/process_batches.php
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ try {
         $stmt = $db->prepare("
             SELECT q.*, b.tenant_id, b.company_id, b.uploaded_by 
             FROM invoice_processing_queue q
-            JOIN invoice_batches b ON q.batch_id = b.id
+            JOIN invoice_batches b ON q.batch_id = b.id COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci
             WHERE q.status = 'pending' AND b.status = 'processing'
             ORDER BY q.created_at ASC
             LIMIT 1