The identity check
A photo of your ID and a live selfie, on an identity provider's page. What is checked, what certo keeps, and what happens if a person needs to look.
3 minute read
The identity check proves that your passport is about a real person, and that the person is you. It is the first step, and the only required one: it creates your passport, and your passport uses the name your document prints.
What you need
- A valid passport, national ID card, residence permit or driving licence.
- A phone with a camera.
- About three minutes.
The check is included in your passport year, or paid for by the employer or university that invited you. On Identity, choose Start KYC. You leave certo for the identity check page, photograph your document, take a live selfie so the document and the person can be matched, and come back.
What certo keeps, and what it never keeps
The identity provider runs the check and keeps the images. certo receives the answer.
| certo keeps | certo never keeps |
|---|---|
| The answer, who checked it and the date | Photos of your document |
| Your name as the document prints it | Your selfie |
| The document's kind, country and expiry date | The document number |
| A one-way fingerprint of the document number | Your gender |
| Your date of birth, sealed | The provider's full report |
The fingerprint means one document can open only one passport. Your date of birth is encrypted with a key kept outside certo's database. An employer you approve learns only whether you are over 18 and over 21, unless you choose to share the date.
Who sees it
Anyone who opens your page sees Identity verified, the kind of document, its country and the date. It is never sealed: a reader needs to know the page is about a real, checked person. Your document number, its photos and your selfie are never on any page, for anyone.
If a person needs to look
Sometimes the check is held for a person to look at. Your Identity page then says a person is taking a closer look. There is nothing to redo, and you get an e-mail with the answer.
If a reviewer needs one part again, the page says which: the photos of your document, the live selfie or the chip read of your document. Everything else you did is kept.
When a person at certo looks at your check, they view it at the identity provider. That look is logged, and you see it under Share & Access as certo.
If it is not confirmed
The page shows Your check could not be confirmed and the reason given. Nothing is recorded and no passport is made. You can:
- choose Start a new check, with a valid document, whenever you are ready
- choose Ask certo to look again if you think the answer is wrong. A person at certo looks at that check once more, and the answer appears on the page and by e-mail.
Your photo
A photo on your passport is shown only once it matches the face your identity check verified. Add it on the Overview, then choose Match photo to my ID. The comparison runs only after you agree to it, keeps neither image, and enrols nothing at the provider. A matched photo carries Image verified; readers see that it matched, never a score.
A new name
Your legal name changes only with a document that shows it. On Identity, choose Check a document with my new name and say why it changed. After the identity check, a person at certo confirms it is still you, and you get an e-mail when your name changes.
Certificates already issued keep the name they were issued under, and certo never publishes a list of former names. If your name was read wrong, choose It was read wrong: a correction reissues certificates under the right name and revokes the old ones.
To show a preferred name instead, use Ask for a different name under Personal details. certo checks it against your identity check before it shows.