Document Verification
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The Document Verification product lets you verify the authenticity of Identity documents submitted by your users and confirm that the document actually belongs to the user by comparing the user's selfie to the photo on the document. To run a document verification job, we require:
A selfie of the user
An image of the document
The country of issuance (this must be one of our supported document type and country, all supported documents and countries is listed in the next section)
Document Authentication: Verify the authenticity of identity documents by checking security features, MRZ and barcodes.
User Authentication: Confirm that the submitted document belongs to the user by comparing their selfie with the photo on the document. This step ensures that the person presenting the document is indeed its rightful owner.
Global Coverage: Document Verification supports a wide range of document types and countries. You can rely on our extensive database of supported documents and countries to ensure comprehensive coverage.
For the full list of supported documents, please refer to the .
Available via the , , and .
To check the authenticity of the document, we require high-resolution images. The image should be cropped to include the entire document with minimal background.
The following are the minimum specifications we require for the document image:
The minimum resolution on the horizontal (longer) side of credit card-sized ID cards should be 1500 pixels.
Minimum resolution on the horizontal (longer) side of passports should be 2200 pixels.
The total Image size should be at least 600KB but no more than 10MB.
To get the best results on document verification, we recommend the document image meets the following criteria:
Ensure the image is not tightly cropped. All edges of the ID document should be visible.
The face in the ID photo should be visible.
The document should be placed on a flat, non-white surface for the capture.
If the document contains an MRZ code, ensure no part of the code is covered by a finger or is cut off in the image.
Avoid fingers covering any part of the document.
Ensure no glare or bright light (flash) obstructs information on the document.
All text on the document must be readable after capture.
You need to perform two steps to use this product:
Make a request to Smile ID for a job to be performed
Upload the job payload
NOTE: The value of the job_type for this product is 6
Request Type: POST
Sandbox
Production
Keys
Type
Required
Description
source_sdk
string
Yes
The integration option you are using. For rest api send the value as "rest_api"
source_sdk_version
string
Yes
The version of the integration option you are using
signature
string
Yes
Your calculated access signature
timestamp
string
Yes
The timestamp that was used to calculate the signature (in ISO date/time format)
smile_client_id
string
Yes
partner_params
object
Yes
A JSON object containing the partner parameters below as well as any additional key value pairs you wish to include for tracking which will be returned in the response
partner_params.job_type
string
Yes
The type of job you want to perform. This should be set to 6
partner_params.job_id
string
Yes
A value generated by you, so you can track jobs on your end. This value must be unique, can be any string and can follow your identifier convention
partner_params.user_id
string
Yes
A value generated by you, so you can track users on your end. This value must be unique, can be any string and can follow your identifier convention
model_parameters
string
No
This parameter is specific to mobile SDK, can be left as an empty JSON object
callback_url
string
Yes
A publicly available endpoint on your system where Smile ID will send the results of a job to in the form of a POST request (with no authorisation headers)
At the end of the request, you will receive a job number for tracking and a url where you will be uploading your images.
In the response body to the prep upload request, you will receive an AWS s3 bucket link. You will upload the images for face and identity document verification to this link. The URL is structured like:
"https://smile-uploads-test.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/videos/
<partner_id>/<partner_id>-<smile_job_id>-<random hash>/attachments.zip
?AWSAccessKeyId=<>
&Content-Type=application%2Fzip
&Expires=1598449184&Signature=<>
&x-amz-security-token=<>&x-amz-server-side-encryption=AES256"
200: OK
A record has now been created waiting for the job to be processed once the required data has been uploaded
400: Bad Request
Trying to use a job_id in partner_params that has already been used
To perform a job, Smile ID requires a Zip file that contains the following information:
images - images are ID document photo (bearer's face must be visible), selfie and liveness images (optional)
Info.json file - the structure of the info.json file is detailed below
The Zip file must have the same name as the file_name specified while making a job request (prep upload). In the case of the example request above, the filename will be attachments.zip.
Request Type: PUT
Sandbox
Upload URL you were supplied while making a Job Request
Production
Upload URL you were supplied while making a Job Request
The request body will be of type binary (the zip file)
The info.json file contains the selfie and ID card images required to process the document verification job. The images can either be parsed inline as a base64 encoded string or the image files themselves can be zipped with the info.json file. Only .jpg file type is supported.
The structure of the info.json file is detailed below
package_information
This contains information about the rest api you’re calling. We recommend you use the following as the package_information:
"package_information":
{
"apiVersion": {
"buildNumber": 0,
"majorVersion": 2,
"minorVersion": 0
} }
id_info
{
"country":"<country code e.g. KE>",
"id_type":"<smile ID type keyword e.g. NATIONAL_ID>"
}
⚠️ id_type is optional. If a job is submitted without id_type and the machine can't classify the document, we will reject the job.
images
The images required for the document verification job. There are 3 image types that can be uploaded:
Selfie - a single coloured selfie image of the user.
Liveness images (optional) - 8 colour images of the user’s face captured while the user was prepping to take the selfie image (it’s recommended you use either our mobile SDKs or Javascript SDK to capture the liveness images).
ID card image - a single front image of the user’s ID card or two images (front and back of ID card) if the back of the ID card contains vital information such as MRZ code.
The images can be added as base64 encoded strings or the image files themselves can be added to the zip and the filename specified in the info.json. {
"image": "<base64 string of image>",
"file_name": "<name of file in the zip that will be uploaded>"
}
Depending on the image_type_id one of the other parameters (image or file_name) will be an empty string (“”)
The zip file contains the info.json file only (if images are inline i.e. supplied as base64 encoded strings) or both an info.json file and image files (if the image files themselves are uploaded).
Example zip file and info.json when images are inline (i.e. base64 encoded strings)
The content of the info.json file below:
Example zip file and info.json when images are uploaded as files
The content of the info.json file below:
Action
Description
Proof of life & spoof detection
Performed on user submitted selfie
Selfie compares
Selfie comparison to user submitted document image
Document Verification
To verify the document we confirm the following:
The name, date of birth, and ID number are clearly stated on the document
The data on the document is consistent i.e. MRZ or barcode and human readable information match
Document has visible security features
Document image is not blurry and can be processed
The document image provided matches the document type the user claims to have submitted
The full list of keys and possible return values are highlighted below:
Name
Type
Description
Value
PartnerParams.job_id
String
A unique reference defined by you to keep track of the job
PartnerParams.job_type
String
The type of job you performed.
6
PartnerParams.user_id
String
A unique reference defined by you to keep track of the user
ResultCode
String
Numeric value of the job outcome.
ResultText
String
Textual value of the job outcome. Human readable value for the result.
SmileJobID
String
The Smile internal reference number for the job
Country
String
The country of issuance of the ID type
IDType
String
The ID type of the document ID
IDNumber*
String
The ID number extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
FullName*
String
The full names on the document ID extracted either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
DOB*
String
The date of birth extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
Gender*
String
The gender extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
IssuanceDate
string
The issuance date of the document extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
ExpirationDate*
String
The expiration date of the document ID extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
Document
String
The cropped and upright document image returned as a base64 string
PhoneNumber*
String
The phone number extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
PhoneNumber2*
String
The second phone number extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
Address*
String
The address extracted from the document ID either by OCR or decoding the MRZ
signature
String
The outgoing signature, you can use this to verify that the response is from Smile ID
timestamp
String
The outgoing timestamp in ISO date/time format, use this to calculate the outgoing Signature
Actions
Object
The JSON object contains the results of checks Smile ID performed on the job
Actions.Human_Review_Compare
String
If the Smile ID system can not automatically decide on the face compares it will be reviewed by humans and the result will be displayed here
“Passed”
“Failed”
“Unable to Determine”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Human_Review_Liveness_Check
String
If the Smile ID system can not automatically decide on the liveness of the user submitted selfie, it will reviewed by humans. The result is displayed here.
NOTE: the machine liveness check result Liveness_Check is reported as failed even if the reviewer passes the review
“Passed”
“Failed”
“Unable To Determine”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Liveness_Check**
String
Liveness check on user provided selfie
“Passed”
“Failed”
“Under Review”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Register_Selfie
String
Register selfie of user
“Approved”
“Rejected”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Verify_Document
String
Verify the document ID submitted by the user
“Passed”
“Failed”
“Under Review”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Return_Personal_Info
String
Return user’s PII from OCR / MRZ
“Returned”
“Not Returned”
“Not Applicable”
Actions.Selfie_To_ID_Card_Compare
String
Compare user-submitted selfie to photo on user-submitted ID card
“Completed”
“Under Review”
“Not Applicable”
*Only returned if information is on the physical ID card
Actions performed on the product are not completed at the same time, so we send results to your callback endpoint when they are ready. Also, if the Smile ID system can not automatically make a decision on an action it is passed to our human reviewers, the system decision is sent via callback once the reviewers make a final decision.
The Document Verification can fail for multiple reasons:
A spoof was detected on the submitted selfie - if we believe the selfie has been tampered with or is a picture of a picture, the document verification will fail.
The submitted selfie does not match the face on the document - if the selfie and face on the document do not match, the document verification job will fail.
The OCR extracted information and the decoded MRZ or barcode information do not match e.g. name encoded in the MRZ does not match the name that can be seen on the document.
The document image or selfie is blurry.
Some known visible security features on the document are missing e.g. the coat of arms on a Nigerian driver’s license.
The id type specified by the user does not match our system’s classification of the document type.
Result codes details what the current (or final) result of a job is. Result Codes for all jobs fall into one of two categories:
Approved (or Pass) This means that all applicable Actions passed and the overall job was approved.
Rejected (or Fail) This means that one or more of the applicable Actions for job failed, and thus, the overall job was rejected according to Smile ID standards.
This means no further processing is possible on the job. General failures occur when a job could not be submitted due to a logical/technical issue. These jobs do not show up in the portal and do not have a Smile Job ID.
Code
Text
Description
Category
0001
Data Invalid
Uploaded zip is corrupted
Rejected
0001
Data Invalid - Images corrupt or not present
info.json lists an image file that was not included in the zip
Rejected
0001
ID Card image not provided
There was no ID card image submitted with the job
Rejected
0001
Unable to Verify Document - Selfie unusable
Selfie image quality too poor and couldn't be processed by system
Rejected
0001
Unable to Verify Document - ID Card image unusable
Document image quality too poor and couldn't be processed by system
Rejected
0001
System Error
A system error occurred
Rejected
0903
Zip Corrupt
The uploaded Zip file is corrupted.
Rejected
2405
Error - "You are not authorised to do that" *
An invalid signature was used to sign the request.
-
2314
Error - No Zip File Received
No Zip files was uploaded.
-
2203
Error - Invalid JSON
The info.json file in the Zip is not properly structured. Ensure all keys are present and properly named.
-
2213
Error - A required parameter is missing
-
2204
Error - A parameter is of the wrong data type
-
2205
Error - You are not authorised to do that. *
An invalid signature was used to sign the request. Please ensure you are using the correct signature for the environment (ie: sandbox vs production)
-
2220
You have not completed your KYC.
-
2212
Error - Invalid job type
An invalid value was inputted in the job_type key. Change the value to 6.
-
2209
Error - Wrong user id. This user is already enrolled with user_id
An existing user_id was inputted. Enter a unique user id.
2215
Error - Job already exists for job_id
An existing job_id was inputted. Enter a unique job id.
-
0810
Document Verified
Images matched, no spoof was detected on Selfie and the document is valid.
Approved
0811
Unable to Verify Document - reason
Document image was usable but document verification failed due to any of the following reasons: - The selfie did not match the photo on document - Selfie failed liveness checks - Some security features were missing on the document - The information on document is inconsistent i.e. the MRZ information did not match the OCR'ed information - A wrong document type was uploaded - Based on the Date of Birth on the document, the subject is under 18 years old
Rejected
0812
Unable to verify Document - reason
Document verification failed because the document wasn't classified by system or an invalid document image was uploaded e.g. work ID card
Rejected
0816
Unable to verify Document - Unsupported Document
Provided document is not supported for KYC i.e. document is one of the following: - Carry Permit - Hunting Permit - Sex Offender ID - SIM Card
Rejected
0817
Approved with Attention - Document is Expired
The document is expired but didn't fail any security checks.
Approved with Attention*
0817
Approved with Attention - Photocopied Document
The document appears photocopied, scanned or grayscale but didn't fail any security checks.
Approved with Attention*
1014
Unsupported ID Type
Rejected
For documents that go through human review and are failed after the review, the result message details the reason for the failure:
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Cropped Document)
Image of the document is cropped to the extent that it is missing key elements to identify authenticity
Rejected
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Not A Document)
Any image other than a document (an object, the environment etc.) was submitted
Rejected
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Potential Fraud Attempt)
Photo of photo, or visible alteration and manipulation of the document
Rejected
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Unreadable Document)
Blurry/damaged document or cannot see key details on the document
Rejected
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Unsupported Document)
A document type we do not currently support was submitted
Rejected
0811
Unable to Verify Document After Human Review (Wrong Document Type)
The wrong document type was selected on job submission
Rejected
* If a job is approved with attention, we suggest that you determine the appropriate course of action in your system by considering the reason for the attention.
Document verification can be tested in our sandbox environment. However, you will get a simulated response. In sandbox, the document verification job is processed as described below:
The selfie is compared to the photo on the identity document, if both images do not match the document verification job fails
The authenticity of the document is not confirmed and we will always return the document as been valid
The values you parse in id_type and country are not checked with the supported countries and ids
Document verification can be performed on users that have been previously enrolled successfully through an Biometric KYC or SmartSelfie™ Authentication - User Registration.
When performing document verification for an already enrolled user, you do not need to submit a selfie in the info.json file. You only send the user_id of the user, the image of the document ID, and set the flag use_enrolled_image to true during prep upload.
You need to perform two steps to use this product:
Make a request to Smile ID for a job to be performed
Upload the job payload
Request Type: POST
Sandbox
Production
Keys
Type
Required
Description
source_sdk
string
Yes
The integration option you are using. For rest api send the value as "rest_api"
source_sdk_version
string
Yes
The version of the integration option you are using
signature
string
Yes
Your calculated access signature
timestamp
string
Yes
The timestamp that was used to calculate the signature (in ISO date/time format)
smile_client_id
string
Yes
use_enrolled_image
boolean
No
Perform document verification for a registered user i.e. use the user’s registered selfie
partner_params
object
Yes
A JSON object containing the partner parameters below as well as any additional key value pairs you wish to include for tracking which will be returned in the response
partner_params.job_type
string
Yes
The type of job you want to perform. This will be set to 6.
partner_params.job_id
string
Yes
A value generated by you, so you can track jobs on your end. This value must be unique, can be any string and can follow your identifier convention
partner_params.user_id
string
Yes
An existing user_id. The uploaded document will be compared to the selfie registered to this user.
model_parameters
string
No
This parameter is specific to mobile SDK, can be left as an empty JSON object
callback_url
string
Yes
A publicly available endpoint on your system where Smile ID will send the results of a job to in the form of a POST request (with no authorisation headers)
At the end of the request, you will receive a job number for tracking and a url where you will be uploading your images
In the response body to the prep upload request, you will receive an AWS s3 bucket link. You will upload the images for face and identity document verification to this link. The URL is structured like:
"https://smile-uploads-test.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/videos/
<partner_id>/<partner_id>-<smile_job_id>-<random hash>/attachments.zip
?AWSAccessKeyId=<>
&Content-Type=application%2Fzip
&Expires=1598449184&Signature=<>
&x-amz-security-token=<>&x-amz-server-side-encryption=AES256"
200: OK
A record has now been created waiting for the job to be processed once the required data has been uploaded
400: Bad Request
Trying to use a job_id in partner_params that has already been used
To perform a job, Smile ID requires a Zip file that contains the following information:
ID card image
Info.json file - the structure of the info.json file is detailed below
The Zip file must have the same name as the file_name specified while making a job request (prep upload). In the case of the example request above, the filename will be attachments.zip.
Request Type: PUT
Sandbox
Upload URL you were supplied while making a Job Request
Production
Upload URL you were supplied while making a Job Request
The request body will be of type binary (the zip file)
The info.json file contains the ID card image required to process the document verification job. The image can either be parsed inline as a base64 encoded string or the image files themselves can be zipped with the info.json file. Only .jpg file type is supported.
The structure of the info.json file is detailed below
package_information
This contains information about the rest api you’re calling. We recommend you use the following as the package_information:
"package_information":
{
"apiVersion": {
"buildNumber": 0,
"majorVersion": 2,
"minorVersion": 0 }
}
id_info
{
"country":"<country code e.g. KE>",
"id_type":"<smile ID type keyword e.g. NATIONAL_ID>"
}
images
The image required for the document verification job. There is only one image type required, since the job will use a registered selfie:
ID card image - a single front image of the user’s ID card or two images (front and back of the ID card) if the back of the ID card contains vital information such as MRZ code.
The images can be added as base64 encoded strings or the image files themselves can be added to the zip and the filename specified in the info.json. {
"image": "<base64 string of image>",
"file_name": "<name of file in the zip that will be uploaded>"
}
Depending on the image_type_id one of the other parameters (image or file_name) will be an empty string (“”)
The zip file contains the info.json file only (if images are inline i.e. supplied as base64 encoded strings) or both an info.json file and image files (if the image files themselves are uploaded).
Example zip file and info.json when images are inline (i.e. base64 encoded strings)
The content of the info.json file below:
Example zip file and info.json when images are uploaded as files
The content of the info.json file below:
The return values, result codes and texts all remain the same as submitting the job with a selfie
This is your partner id which can be found on the side navigation panel of the
The country and id type you want to verify. The uploaded ID card image must match the country and id type you specify in this json object. To view the list of supported documents check the section on this page. "id_info":
"image_type_id": “varies based on image type and type of upload either base64 string or filename. Read more on ”,
For a list of potential error codes see .
List of all result text is listed .
Not all the required keys were submitted in the info.json or request payload. Please check for this product.
The format of one of the request values was wrong. Please check for this product.
Error - Production is not enabled for this account. Please complete your
* Read more on how to troubleshoot this error
The country_code and or the id_type in the info.json file is not supported, please use any of the supported country_codes and id_types in the
This is your partner id which can be found on the side navigation panel of the
The country and id type you want to verify. The uploaded ID card image must match the country and id type you specify in this json object. To view the list of supported documents check thesection on this page. "id_info":
"image_type_id": “varies based on image type and type of upload either base64 string or filename. Read more on ”,
