Verifying your ID in myID

Why you need to verify your ID

When you set up myID as your Digital ID, your details are checked against existing government records. 

To increase your identity strength, you need to verify at least 2 documents. If you’ve had a change in name or your name doesn’t match across your Australian ID documents, see Verifying a change in name.

When using government online services, your personal information won’t be shared without your permission – putting you in control. Find out how myID protects your ID.

Australian passport

To achieve Strong identity strength, one of your documents must be an Australian passport and you must verify your photo.

Enter your given name (or names) and family name as listed on your passport.

• The Given name/s and Family name fields are limited to 31 characters (including spaces). If your given or family name as listed on your passport contain more than 31 characters, enter as many characters as possible.
• If you have only one name on your passport, enter the name in the Family name field and leave the Given name/s field blank.

Your passport cannot be verified online if it:

• has been cancelled (replaced, reported lost or stolen) 
• has been expired for more than 3 years
• is not an Australian passport. 

If you have renewed your passport, you need to verify the new passport.

If your passport fails verification, and you are sure the passport is valid and you entered the correct details, contact the Australian Passport Office.

Verifying your passport photo

To achieve a Strong identity strength, you must verify your photo after you’ve verified your passport. To verify your photo, you need to:

• grant access to your device’s camera
• take a photo of yourself using your device’s front-facing camera when prompted by the myID app. 

The technology scans your face while taking the photo. This one-off process checks that you’re:

• a real person – by checking for impersonation attempts, such as wearing a mask
• the right person – by comparing your image to the photograph on your passport
• verifying in real time – by checking that you’re present and taking the photo, and not (for example) someone trying to scan a video.

When the process starts, the screen will be orange toned. Once you’re in the frame it will go green. If it doesn’t go green, you may need to move your device closer.

To verify your photo successfully, ensure you:

• have granted access to your device's camera
• are in a well-lit area 
• remove anything that obscures your face, such as glasses
• have your eyes open and are looking at your screen
• hold your device still during the scanning process
• are close enough to your device – the screen will go from orange toned to green once you’re in the right position.

After this one-off verification process, your photo is deleted.

To find out how the Face Verification Service and Document Verification Service works, see IDMatch.Opens in a new window

Driver’s licence

To verify your driver’s licence you’ll need to provide the following information in your myID app:

• state or territory that issued your licence
• licence number
• card number
• name (first and family name)
• date of birth.

See Driver’s licences by state and territory to find the location of these details on your licence.

Your licence cannot be verified online if it has:

• been cancelled or refused
• expired and it was issued in Tasmania or Western Australia.

Entering your name

Enter your first and family names as they appear on your licence, up to the character limits for each field (even if you can enter only part of your name):

• First name – up to 20 characters
• Family name – up to 40 characters.

If you have only one name on your licence (either your first or family name), enter it in the Family name field and leave the First name field blank.

Driver’s licences by state and territory

Birth certificate

The requirements to verify your birth certificate depend on the state or territory you were born in. Check Birth certificates by state and territory to find out what you need to do. 

Generally, you'll need to provide the following information in your myID app:

• registration state or territory
• given name/s
• family name
• date of birth
• registration number or registration date or both (depending on the state or territory that issued your certificate).

Enter your details exactly as they appear on your birth certificate.

If you’ve changed your name and your name doesn’t verify in myID, it’s possible your birth record has not been updated. This might happen if, for example, you changed your name in a different state or territory to the one you were born in.

You’ll need to either:

• contact the registrar of births, deaths and marriages in the state or territory you were born in and ask them to update your birth record
• use an alternative document to set up myID.

Birth certificates by state and territory

Visa (using your foreign passport)

You can use your Australian visa (including electronic visas) to set up your myID if you’re a permanent or temporary resident of Australia.

If you receive the error ‘could not verify’, check you’ve:

• entered the details exactly as they appear on your foreign passport
• entered the details from the passport you used to enter Australia
• converted any non-standard charactersOpens in a new window correctly
• entered your date of birth in the order day/month/year (DD/MM/YYYY).

Your Australian visa cannot be verified online if:

• it was issued before 1 July 1990
• it’s expired, cancelled or has been re-issued
• it doesn’t display your full date of birth (day, month and year)
• you recently received Australian citizenship
• you’re a temporary resident not currently in Australia.

You can check your visa detailsOpens in a new window online through the Department of Home Affairs.

ImmiCard

You can use your ImmiCard to set up your myID. This includes:

• Evidence of Immigration Status (EIS) ImmiCard
• Australian Migration Status (AMS) ImmiCard
• Permanent Resident Evidence (PRE) ImmiCard
• Residence Determination ImmiCard (RDI).

If you receive the error ‘could not verify’, check:

• your ImmiCard displays your full date of birth – if it doesn’t, you will not be able to verify your document online
• you’ve entered your name exactly as it appears on your ImmiCard
• you’ve entered your date of birth in the order day/month/year (DD/MM/YYYY)
• you haven’t used any spaces when entering your ImmiCard number – you should only use the 3 letters and 6 numbers, for example ABC123456.

Citizenship certificate

You can use the following citizenship documents to set up your myID:

• Australian citizenship certificate
• evidence of Australian citizenship
• declaratory certificate of citizenship
• citizenship by descent extract (issued from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2021)
• citizenship by adoption extract (issued from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2021)
• extract from register of citizenship by descent (issued from 23 November 1984 to 30 June 2007)
• extract from Register of Births (issued from 26 January 1949 to 22 November 1984).

If you receive the error ‘could not verify’, check:

• your certificate displays your full date of birth – if it doesn’t, you will not be able to verify your document online
• you’ve entered your name exactly as it appears on your certificate
• you’ve entered your date of birth in the order day/month/year (DD/MM/YYYY)
• you’ve entered the correct Document ID. If there is an ID on the back, try that first. Some certificates may title this differently – for example, Stock number, CAS number, Evidence number, Client ID, Extract number or Entry number, or have no title (this number can be found either on the back of the certificate, or on the front of the certificate in the top right corner or bottom left corner)
• you haven’t used any spaces, brackets, full stops or the abbreviations ‘No’ or ‘Vol’ when entering your Document ID. For example, if your Document ID was E.F.(2)No12345, you would enter it as EF212345
• you’ve joined the Extract number and Entry number (extract from register of births, citizenship by descent extract and citizenship by adoption extract only) with a ‘/’ when entering your Document ID. For example, if your Extract number was 123 and Entry number 456, you would enter it as 123/456.

Medicare card

Once you verify one of the documents above in the app, you’ll have the option to verify your Medicare card.

Ensure your Medicare details, including your date of birth, are correct.

When verifying your Medicare card, check:

• you’ve entered your details as they appear on your physical Medicare card – you can add an extra name field if required
• you’ve selected the correct individual reference number – this is the number located to the left of your name
• you’ve selected the relevant card colour – there are 3 colours you can choose from: green (default), blue or yellow
• you’re using the current version of your card – for example, you may have received a new card as the result of a new family member.

Your Medicare card cannot be verified online if it has been reported lost or stolen.

Verifying a change in name 

When setting up your myID, your name needs to match across your Australian ID documents. 

If you’ve had a change in name or your name doesn’t match across your Australian ID documents, you may be able to verify your change of name with a:

• marriage certificate 
• change of name certificate (in Tas, SA, NT and ACT only).