Getting started
The Onfido API is based on REST principles. It uses standard HTTP response codes and verbs, and token-based authentication.
If you’re just getting started with our API, read our Quick Start guides or follow the Integration Guide in the Onfido Dashboard.
Request, response format
You should use a Content-Type: application/json header with all PUT and POST
requests except when uploading documents or live
photos. For these requests, use a Content-Type:
multipart/form-data header.
Responses return JSON with a consistent structure, except when downloading documents, photos or videos.
Authentication
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN'
require 'onfido'
Onfido.configure do |config|
config.api_key = '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
end
configuration = onfido.Configuration()
configuration.api_key['Authorization'] = 'token=' + '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
configuration.api_key_prefix['Authorization'] = 'Token'
$config = Onfido\Configuration::getDefaultConfiguration();
$config->setApiKey('Authorization', 'token=' . '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>');
$config->setApiKeyPrefix('Authorization', 'Token');
The API uses token-based authentication. You will be provided with a token which must be included in the header of all requests made to the API.
You will be provided with both live and sandbox tokens. Requests made with the sandbox token can be used to test our API before going live. Requests made in sandbox mode will return dummy responses, and you won’t be charged.
Onfido’s Web SDK uses JSON Web Tokens, and the iOS and Android SDKs use Mobile SDK tokens.
API tokens
You can use API tokens to authenticate any API action described in this documentation.
If you do need to collect applicant data in the frontend of your application, we recommend that you use one of the Onfido SDKs.
You should only share live API tokens with the minimum number of people necessary, but you can use sandbox tokens to freely experiment with the Onfido API. You can read about the differences between the live and sandbox environments.
You should not embed API tokens in your backend code—even if it’s not public—because this increases the risk that they will be discovered. Instead, you should store them in configuration files or environment variables.
Mobile SDK tokens
Mobile SDK tokens are used in the Android and iOS SDKs. These tokens are restricted to only those actions needed by the SDK and are safe to use in mobile applications.
Web SDK tokens
The Web SDK uses JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) for authentication.
Onfido Web SDK tokens are specifically for use with the Onfido Web SDK. They are restricted to an individual applicant and expire after 90 minutes, so you can safely use them in the frontend of your application.
Please refer to the section on generating Web SDK tokens for more detailed information.
Security
You must make all your requests to the API over HTTPS and TLS 1.2, with Server Name Indication enabled. Any requests made over HTTP will fail.
Text fields support UTF-8, but do not allow certain special characters that could be used maliciously.
Error codes and what to do
400 bad_request:
Make sure your request is formatted correctly.
401 authorization_error
Make sure you’ve entered your API token correctly.
401 user_authorization_error:
Contact an administrator about user permissions.
401 bad_referrer:
Check the referrer used to generate the Web SDK token.
401 expired_token:
Request a new Web SDK token.
403 account_disabled:
Please contact client-support@onfido.com.
403 trial_limits_reached:
Please contact client-support@onfido.com.
404 resource_not_found:
Make sure you’ve formatted the URI correctly.
410 gone:
The resource has been deleted or is scheduled for deletion.
422 validation_error:
Check the fields property for a specific error message.
422 missing_billing_info:
Make sure you’ve provided your billing information before starting a check.
422 missing_documents:
Make sure you’ve uploaded the required documents before starting a check.
422 invalid_reports_names:
Make sure you’ve entered the report name(s) in the correct format (string).
422 missing_id_numbers:
Make sure you’ve supplied all required ID numbers.
422 invalid_check_type_for_variant:
Read about report types to see which variants are compatible with different check types.
422 standard_check_photo_facial_sim_without_document:
In standard checks, Facial Similarity reports must be paired with Document reports.
422 failed_check_requirements:
Check that all required information has been provided and correctly specified.
422 incomplete_checks:
There are other ongoing checks associated with this applicant.
429 rate_limit:
The rate limit has been reached. Please try again later.
500 internal_server_error:
The server encountered an error. If this persists, please contact client-support@onfido.com.
Error object
Validation error object
HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": {
"type": "validation_error",
"message": "",
"fields": {
"email": {
"messages": [
"invalid format"
]
},
"name": {
"messages": [
"can't be blank"
]
}
}
}
}
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| type | string The type of error returned |
| message | string A human-readable message giving more details about the error |
| fields | hash The invalid fields and their associated errors. Only applies to validation errors |
Sandbox testing
You’ll find example API responses in the ‘HTTP’ language tab.
To use the sandbox, you’ll need a sandbox API token.
Sandbox tokens start with a test_ prefix, while live tokens start with a live_ prefix.
You can make all the same API requests in the sandbox environment as in the live one. You will also be notified of check and report status changes via your registered webhooks.
You can use the sandbox environment to check:
- your system’s network connectivity with the Onfido API
- your webhooks are working correctly
- you’re posting all required data in the correct format to the Onfido API
- you’re handling the Onfido API responses correctly
Key differences
The key differences between the sandbox and a live environment are:
- check data is not processed by Onfido services or third parties
- check results are pre-determined (but contain the same result response structures as live requests)
- checks do not incur any charges
- applicants are isolated from the live environment (but applicant notification emails still get sent out to sandbox applicants)
Sandbox rate limits
For sandbox requests, there is currently a rate limit of 30 requests per minute.
When you hit the limit, you’ll receive a 429 Too Many Requests error. You can read more about the API’s error codes.
Pre-determined responses
Before you create the example check, create the applicant “Jane Unidentified”
POST /v2/applicants/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"first_name": "Jane",
"last_name": "Unidentified",
"dob": "1990-01-01"
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"first_name": "Jane",
"last_name": "Unidentified",
"dob": "1990-01-01"
}'
Create a check (Identity report) for “Jane Unidentified”
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "identity"
}
]
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "identity"
}
]
}'
Pre-determined response
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<CHECK_ID>",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"sandbox": true,
"href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/<CHECK_ID>",
"type": "express",
"status": "complete",
"result": "consider",
"results_uri": "https://onfido.com/dashboard/information_requests/<REQUEST_ID>",
"redirect_uri": null,
"reports": [
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "unidentified",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>"
...
}
]
}
To help you test your integration, you can trigger pre-determined responses from the API using specific applicant last names:
| Report | Variant | Applicant last name | Report result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | standard | unidentified | unidentified |
| Identity | kyc | consider | consider |
| Document | n/a | consider | consider |
| Watchlist | full | consider | consider |
| Facial Similarity | n/a | consider | consider |
| Right to Work | n/a | consider | consider |
| Proof of Address* | n/a | consider | consider |
- For the Proof of Address report, the document’s
issuing_countrymust be specified when uploading the document via the document upload endpoint in order to trigger aclearorconsiderresult. If theissuing_countryfield is not specified or is from an unsupported country (i.e. it is different from “GBR”), the report result will benulland the report status will becancelled.
All normal applicant attribute requirements apply when you create any sandbox check. For example to trigger an Identity report sandbox response, you need to specify:
titlefirst_namelast_namegenderdobaddressescountry
Pre-determined responses for multiple-report checks
Create a check (Identity report to return ‘consider’, watchlist report) for “Jane Unidentified”
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "identity"
},
{
"name": "watchlist"
}
],
"consider": [
"identity"
]
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "identity"
},
{
"name": "watchlist"
}
],
"consider": [
"identity"
]
}'
Pre-determined response
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<CHECK_ID>",
"created_at": "2019-03-27T12:30:12Z",
"status": "complete",
"redirect_uri": null,
"type": "express",
"result": "consider",
"sandbox": true,
"report_type_groups": [
"<REPORT_TYPE_GROUP_ID>"
],
"tags": [],
"results_uri": "https://onfido.com/dashboard/information_requests/<REQUEST_ID>",
"download_uri": "https://onfido.com/dashboard/pdf/information_requests/<REQUEST_ID>",
"form_uri": null,
"href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/<CHECK_ID>",
"reports": [
{
"created_at": "2019-03-27T12:30:12Z",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "watchlist",
"properties": {
"records": []
},
"result": "clear",
"status": "complete",
"sub_result": null,
"variant": "full",
"breakdown": {
"legal_and_regulatory_warnings": {
"result": "clear"
},
"politically_exposed_person": {
"result": "clear"
},
"sanction": {
"result": "clear"
}
}
},
{
"created_at": "2019-03-27T12:30:12Z",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"properties": {},
"result": "unidentified",
"status": "complete",
"sub_result": null,
"variant": "standard",
"breakdown": {
"mortality": {
"result": null
},
"date_of_birth": {
"result": "unidentified",
"breakdown": {
"credit_agencies": {
"result": "unidentified",
"properties": {}
},
"voting_register": {
"result": "none",
"properties": {}
}
}
},
"address": {
"result": "unidentified",
"breakdown": {
"credit_agencies": {
"result": "unidentified",
"properties": {
"number_of_credit_agencies": "0"
}
},
"telephone_database": {
"result": "none",
"properties": {}
},
"voting_register": {
"result": "none",
"properties": {}
}
}
}
}
}
],
"paused": false,
"version": "2.0"
}
When you create a sandbox check with multiple reports, you can pass specific report types to the consider parameter (in an array). Only these reports will return “consider”.
Go live
Add billing information:
Live checks cannot be requested without valid billing information, so please add billing information to your account via the Onfido Dashboard.
Request a live API token:
Contact Onfido’s Client Support at client-support@onfido.com to request a live token.
Use the live API token:
Update your production system to use the live token.
Update webhook endpoints
Update webhook endpoints to handle live check/report status update events.
Rate limits
Rate limit reached error object
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": {
"type": "rate_limit",
"message": "Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later."
}
}
Onfido’s API enforces a maximum volume of requests per minute for all clients. Unless contractually agreed otherwise, the maximum rate is 400 requests per minute.
For sandbox requests, there is currently a rate limit of 30 requests per minute.
Any request over the limit will return a 429 Too Many Requests error.
Avoiding the limit
The tips below are some simple suggestions to help reduce the possibility of being rate limited. We recommend:
- running non essential or routine batch API jobs outside your peak hours.
- throttling batch jobs.
- implementing an exponential back-off approach for requests essential to your verification process, with an initial delay of 30 seconds.
- prioritising requests that are essential to verify an active user.
- setting up monitors and alerts for error responses on our API.
Regions
Change the region to ‘US’
$ curl https://api.us.onfido.com/v2/ ...
Onfido.configure do |config|
config.region = 'us'
end
$config->setHost($config->getHostFromSettings(1, array("region" => "us")));
configuration.host = configuration.get_host_from_settings(1, {'region': 'us'})
defaultClient.setBasePath("https://api.us.onfido.com/v2");
defaultClient.basePath = 'https://api.us.onfido.com/v2';
Onfido offers region-specific environments. You can use these to store the data in your Onfido account at rest within a specific geographic region.
Regions have unique base URLs and API token formats:
| Region | API base URL | Token format |
|---|---|---|
| EU Default | https://api.onfido.com/ |
live_ and test_ |
| US BETA | https://api.us.onfido.com/ |
us_live_ and us_test_ |
Unless specified, all examples in the documentation refer to the https://api.onfido.com/ base URL and token format.
If you’re using one of the Onfido client libraries, then you must specify the region using the ISO 3166 two-letter country-code in lowercase. For example, us. The correct base URL will be picked up automatically.
Client libraries
You can use supported client libraries to integrate with the Onfido API.
If you write your own library and would like us to link to it, please email api@onfido.com.
All client libraries are hosted on GitHub.
Java
Use the ‘api-java-client’ library.
JavaScript
Use the ‘api-javascript-client’ library.
Ruby
The team at Hassle have developed an open-source Ruby client library.
Python
Use the ‘api-python-client’ library.
PHP
Use the ‘api-php-client’ library.
Versioning
Backwards compatibility
The following changes are considered backwards compatible:
- adding new API endpoints
- adding new properties to the responses from existing API endpoints
- adding optional request parameters to existing API endpoints
- altering the format or length of IDs
- altering the message attributes returned by validation failures or other errors
- sending webhooks for new event types
- reordering properties returned from existing API endpoints
Changelog
| Added endpoint to download a live video frame. | |
| Removed ‘Conditional checks’ section. | |
| Added testing data for Proof of Address. | |
| Added a ‘Run in Postman’ button linking to a Postman API collection. | |
| Removed documentation for UK credit and criminal history reports. | |
| Updated the Proof of Address documentation. | |
| Added a new rate limits feature. | |
| Removed documentation for India Aadhaar and PAN Card reports. | |
| Added applicant deletion feature | |
| Added Proof of Address report. | |
| Added age_validation as a new breakdown on the Document report | |
| Removed documentation for US-specific reports. | |
| Added documents as a new report argument | |
| Added new OCR Autofill endpoint | |
| Updated documentation on basic criminal history report Added support for additional criminal history report details for basic criminal history reports in create check Removed support for basic criminal history report as an express check |
|
| Added new events to the webhooks section | |
| Updated documentation on Facial Similarity checks Added support for Facial Similarity reports under sandbox responses |
|
| Added a new token authentication scheme for the web SDK | |
| Added report options for Watchlist full report | |
| Added support for additional reports under sandbox responses | |
| Added new client libraries | |
| Added social_insurance as a id number type | |
| Added support for basic criminal history report as an express check | |
| Added support of testing multiple-report scenarios inside sandbox | |
| Added support of additional criminal history report details in create check | |
| Added documentation around tag support for checks Added more detailed description of applicant address requirements |
|
| Added endpoint to download document for a particular applicant | |
| Added charge_applicant_for_check support for standard check Added Drug Test support Updated Right to Work report document requirements Added SSN format specification |
|
Added two new sections:
|
|
| Added the referrer argument to the JSON web token endpoint | |
| Added endpoint: Added new check: |
|
| Added two new endpoints: | |
| Added Right to Work support Added documentation on criminal history supported options Added documentation on supported Applicant title values Added documentation on UK Address street attribute character limit restriction Added documentation on Create check suppress_form_email attribute |
|
| Added Resume Report endpoint and Conditional Checks documentation | |
| Added Report Type Groups (packages) support | |
Released API version v2:
v1) is available here |
Postman
You can run the Onfido API collection in Postman:
The Postman collection is at version 1.3.
In your Postman environment, you’ll need to define the apiToken variable. If you know you need to use a non-default region API base URL, you should also set the baseUrl variable in Postman.
You can read more in Postman’s documentation about managing environments.
Sample document, photo
You can use the following files for running test checks:
Applicants
An applicant represents the individual the check is being performed on. An applicant must exist before a check can be initiated.
Applicant object
An example applicant object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<APPLICANT_ID>",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"delete_at": "2018-10-31T04:39:52Z",
"href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>",
"title": "Mr",
"first_name": "John",
"middle_name": null,
"last_name": "Smith",
"gender": "Male",
"dob": "2013-02-17",
"telephone": "02088909293",
"mobile": null,
"country": "GBR",
"mothers_maiden_name": "Johnson",
"previous_last_name": null,
"nationality": "USA",
"country_of_birth": "USA",
"town_of_birth": "New York City",
"id_numbers": [
{
"type": "ssn",
"value": "433-54-3937"
},
{
"type": "driving_licence",
"value": "I1234562",
"state_code": "CA"
}
],
"addresses": [
{
"flat_number": null,
"building_name": null,
"building_number": "100",
"street": "Main Street",
"sub_street": null,
"state": null,
"town": "London",
"postcode": "SW4 6EH",
"country": "GBR",
"start_date": "2013-01-01",
"end_date": null
},
{
"flat_number": "Apt 2A",
"building_name": null,
"building_number": "1017",
"street": "Oakland Ave",
"sub_street": null,
"town": "Piedmont",
"state": "CA",
"postcode": "94611",
"country": "USA",
"start_date": "2006-03-07",
"end_date": "2012-12-31"
}
]
}
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier for the applicant |
| created_at | datetime The date and time when this applicant was created |
| delete_at | datetime The date and time when this applicant is scheduled to be deleted, or null if the applicant is not scheduled to be deleted |
| href | string The URI of this resource |
| title | string The applicant’s title. Valid values are Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms |
| first_name | string The applicant’s first name |
| middle_name | string The applicant’s middle name(s) or initial |
| last_name | string The applicant’s surname |
| string The applicant’s email address |
|
| gender | string The applicant’s gender. Valid values are male and female |
| dob | date The applicant’s date of birth in yyyy-mm-dd format |
| telephone | string The applicant’s landline phone number |
| mobile | string The applicant’s mobile phone number |
| country | string The country where this applicant will be checked. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. If not provided the default is GBR. |
| mothers_maiden_name | string The applicant’s mother’s maiden name |
| previous_last_name | string The applicant’s previous surname |
| nationality | string The applicant’s current nationality. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA |
| country_of_birth | string The applicant’s country of birth. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA |
| town_of_birth | string The applicant’s town of birth |
| id_numbers | list id number A collection of identification numbers belonging to this applicant |
| addresses | list address The address history of the applicant |
ID number
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| type | string Type of ID number. Valid values are ssn, social_insurance (e.g. UK National Insurance), tax_id, identity_card and driving_licence |
| value | string Value of ID number Note that ssn supports both the full SSN or the last four digits. If providing the full SSN the value has to be supplied with dashes in the following format: xxx-xx-xxxx |
| state_code | string Two letter code of issuing state (state-issued driving licences only) |
Address
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| flat_number | string The flat number of this address |
| building_number | string The building number of this address |
| building_name | string The building name of this address |
| street | string The street of the applicant’s address. There is a 32-character limit on this field for UK addresses |
| sub_street | string The sub-street of the applicant’s address |
| town | string The town of the applicant’s address |
| state | string The address state. US states must use the USPS abbreviation (see also ISO 3166-2:US), for example AK, CA, or TX. |
| postcode | string The postcode or ZIP of the applicant’s address. For UK postcode, specify the value in the following format: SW4 6EH |
| country | string The 3 character ISO country code of this address. For example, GBR is the country code for the United Kingdom |
| start_date | date The date the applicant started living at this address in yyyy-mm-dd format |
| end_date | date The date the applicant left this address in yyyy-mm-dd format. If current residence, leave null |
street, postcode and country are the basic required fields. Most addresses will contain other information such as flat_number, etc. Please make sure they are supplied as separate fields, and do not try and fit them all into the street field, as this will affect check performance (e.g. lower match rates for Identity reports).
For US addresses, the state field is also recommended.
Create applicant
Create an applicant
POST /v2/applicants/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"first_name": "Jane",
"last_name": "Doe",
"dob": "1990-01-31",
"country": "GBR",
"addresses": [
{
"building_number": "100",
"street": "Main Street",
"town": "London",
"postcode": "SW4 6EH",
"country": "GBR",
"start_date": "2013-01-31"
}
]
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"first_name": "Jane",
"last_name": "Doe",
"dob": "1990-01-31",
"country": "GBR",
"addresses": [
{
"building_number": "100",
"street": "Main Street",
"town": "London",
"postcode": "SW4 6EH",
"country": "GBR",
"start_date": "2013-01-31"
}
]
}'
applicant_details = {
title: "Ms",
first_name: "Jane",
last_name: "Doe",
dob: Date.new(1990, 1, 31),
country: "GBR",
addresses: [{
building_number: 100,
street: "Main Street",
town: "London",
postcode: "SW4 6EH",
country: "GBR",
start_date: Date.new(2013, 1, 31)
}]
}
api.applicant.create(applicant_details)
address = onfido.Address(
building_number=100,
street='Main Street',
town='London',
postcode='SW4 6EH',
country='GBR',
start_date=datetime.date(2013, 1, 31),
)
applicant_details = onfido.Applicant(
first_name='Jane',
last_name='Doe',
dob=datetime.date(1990, 1, 31),
country='GBR',
addresses=[address]
)
api.create_applicant(applicant_details)
$applicant_details = new Onfido\Model\Applicant();
$applicant_details->setFirstName('Jane');
$applicant_details->setLastName('Doe');
$applicant_details->setDob('1990-01-31');
$applicant_details->setCountry('GBR');
$address1 = new \Onfido\Model\Address();
$address1->setBuildingNumber('100');
$address1->setStreet('Main Street');
$address1->setTown('London');
$address1->setPostcode('SW4 6EH');
$address1->setCountry('GBR');
$applicant_details->setAddresses(array($address1));
$api->createApplicant($applicant_details);
Applicant applicant = new Applicant();
applicant.setFirstName("Jane");
applicant.setLastName("Doe");
applicant.setDob(LocalDate.parse("1990-01-31"));
applicant.setCountry("GBR");
Address address = new Address();
address.setBuildingNumber("100");
address.setStreet("Main Street");
address.setTown("London");
address.setPostcode("SW4 6EH");
address.setCountry("GBR");
List<Address> addresses = new ArrayList<Address>();
addresses.add(address);
applicant.setAddresses(addresses);
Applicant newApplicant = apiInstance.createApplicant(applicant);
String applicantId = newApplicant.getId();
System.out.println("Applicant ID: " + applicantId);
const applicant_details = new Onfido.Applicant();
applicant_details.first_name = 'Jane';
applicant_details.last_name = 'Doe';
applicant_details.dob = new Date('1990-01-31');
(async () => {
try {
const applicant = await api.createApplicant(applicant_details);
console.log(applicant);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Creates a single applicant.
Before you create any checks, you need to create an applicant.
The parameters required depend on whether you are planning to perform standard or express checks on this applicant. Standard checks require the applicant to provide their information using Onfido’s applicant form, whereas express checks are performed using data provided through the API.
The table below highlights which arguments are required for each check type.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/
Request body parameters
| title | optional The applicant’s title. Valid values are Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms. |
| first_name | required The applicant’s forename. |
| last_name | required The applicant’s surname. |
| middle_name | optional The applicant’s middle name(s) or initials. |
| required if doing a US check or a standard UK check The applicant’s email address. |
|
| gender | optional The applicant’s gender. Valid values are male and female. |
| dob | optional The applicant’s date of birth in yyyy-mm-dd format. |
| telephone | optional The applicant’s landline phone number. |
| mobile | optional The applicant’s mobile phone number. |
| country | optional The country where this applicant will be checked. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. If not provided the default is GBR. |
| mothers_maiden_name | optional The applicant’s mother’s maiden name. |
| previous_last_name | optional The applicant’s previous surname. |
| nationality | optional The applicant’s current nationality. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. |
| country_of_birth | optional The applicant’s country of birth. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. |
| town_of_birth | optional The applicant’s town of birth. |
| id_numbers | optional A collection of identification numbers belonging to this applicant |
| addresses | optional The address history of the applicant |
Retrieve applicant
Retrieve an applicant
GET /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.applicant.find('<APPLICANT_ID>')
api.find_applicant('<APPLICANT_ID>')
$api->findApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
Applicant result = apiInstance.findApplicant(applicantId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const applicant = await api.findApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
console.log(applicant);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single applicant.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}
Update applicant
Update an applicant
PUT /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"first_name": "New",
"last_name": "Name"
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"first_name": "New",
"last_name": "Name"
}' \
-X PUT
applicant_details = {
first_name: "New",
last_name: "Name"
}
api.applicant.update('<APPLICANT_ID>', applicant_details)
applicant_details_new = onfido.Applicant()
applicant_details_new.first_name = 'New'
applicant_details_new.last_name = 'Name'
api.update_applicant('<APPLICANT_ID>', applicant_details_new)
$applicant_details = new Onfido\Model\Applicant();
$applicant_details->setFirstName('New');
$api->updateApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>', $applicant_details);
Applicant applicant = new Applicant();
applicant.setFirstName("New");
applicant.setLastName("Name");
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
Applicant result = apiInstance.updateApplicant(applicantId, applicant);
System.out.println(result);
const applicant_details = new Onfido.Applicant();
applicant_details.first_name = 'New';
applicant_details.last_name = 'Name';
(async () => {
try {
const applicant = await api.updateApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>', applicant_details);
console.log(applicant);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Updates an applicant’s information.
- Partial updates
- Addresses and ID numbers present will replace existing ones
- Same applicant validations to create applicant
Endpoint
PUT
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}
Request body parameters
| title | The applicant’s title. Valid values are Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms. |
| first_name | The applicant’s forename. |
| last_name | The applicant’s surname. |
| middle_name | The applicant’s middle name(s) or initials. |
| The applicant’s email address. | |
| gender | The applicant’s gender. Valid values are male and female. |
| dob | The applicant’s date of birth in yyyy-mm-dd format. |
| telephone | The applicant’s landline phone number. |
| mobile | The applicant’s mobile phone number. |
| country | The applicant’s country. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. |
| mothers_maiden_name | The applicant’s mother’s maiden name. |
| previous_last_name | The applicant’s previous surname. |
| nationality | The applicant’s current nationality. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. |
| country_of_birth | The applicant’s country of birth. This must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. GBR or USA. |
| town_of_birth | The applicant’s town of birth. |
| id_numbers | A collection of identification numbers belonging to this applicant. |
| addresses | The address history of the applicant. |
Delete applicant
Delete an applicant
DELETE /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X DELETE
api.applicant.destroy('<APPLICANT_ID>')
api.destroy_applicant('<APPLICANT_ID>')
$api->destroyApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
String applicantId="<APPLICANT_ID>"
apiInstance.destroyApplicant(applicantId);
(async () => {
try {
await api.destroyApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Deletes a single applicant.
Sending a deletion request adds the applicant and all associated documents, photos, videos, checks, and reports to our deletion queue. A 204 response is sent back to confirm the deletion request has been received. The objects will be permanently deleted 20 days after a deletion request is made.
Endpoint
DELETE
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}
Restore applicant
Restore an applicant
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/restore HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/restore \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X POST
api.applicant.restore('<APPLICANT_ID>')
api.restore_applicant('<APPLICANT_ID>')
$api->restoreApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
apiInstance.restoreApplicant("<APPLICANT_ID>");
(async () => {
try {
await api.restoreApplicant('<APPLICANT_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Restores a single applicant scheduled for deletion.
A restore request will also restore all associated documents, photos, videos, checks, and reports. A 204 response is sent back to confirm the restore request has been received. Applicants that have been permanently deleted cannot be restored.
Endpoint
POST https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/restore
List applicants
Return all applicants you’ve created
GET /v2/applicants/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.applicant.all(page:1, per_page: 20)
api.list_applicants(page=1, per_page=20)
$page = 1;
$per_page = 20;
$api->listApplicants($page, $per_page);
Integer page = 1;
Integer perPage = 20;
Boolean includeDeleted = false;
ApplicantsList result = apiInstance.listApplicants(page, perPage, includeDeleted);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { applicants } = await api.listApplicants();
applicants.forEach(applicant_details => console.log(applicant_details));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/
Returns all applicants you’ve created, sorted by creation date in descending order.
Requests to this endpoint will be paginated to 20 items by default.
Query string parameters
include_deleted=true (optional): include applicants scheduled for deletion.
per_page (optional): set the number of results per page. Defaults to 20.
page (optional): return specific pages. Defaults to 1.
Link header
The Link header contains pagination information. For example:
Link: <https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants?page=3059>; rel="last", <https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants?page=2>; rel="next"
Possible rel values are:
| Name | Link relation (description) |
|---|---|
next |
Next page of results |
last |
Last page of results |
first |
First page of results |
prev |
Previous page of results |
The custom X-Total-Count header gives the total resource count.
You can read more about Link headers on the IETF website.
Documents
If documents are required for your check, they can be uploaded via the upload documents endpoint. Some reports require documents (passport, visas, etc) in order to be processed. Documents belong to a single applicant, so they must be uploaded after an applicant has been created.
Document object
An example document object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<DOCUMENT_ID>",
"created_at": "2019-02-11T13:49:20Z",
"file_name": "sample_driving_licence.png",
"file_type": "png",
"file_size": 490408,
"type": "driving_licence",
"side": "front",
"issuing_country": null,
"href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID>",
"download_href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID>/download"
}
The example given is for a driving licence document.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier of the document |
| created_at | datetime The date and time at which the document was uploaded |
| href | string The URI of this resource |
| download_href | string The URI that can be used to download the document |
| file_name | string The name of the uploaded file |
| file_type | string The file type of the uploaded file |
| file_size | integer The size of the file in bytes |
| type | string The type of document. The possible values are detailed below. |
| side | string The side of the document, if applicable. The possible values are front and back |
| issuing_country | string The issuing country of the document, in 3-letter ISO code, specified when uploading it. |
Document types
Identity documents
The following table is a list of some of the identity documents that we accept. You can review a full list of supported identity documents.
| Country | Name | Type | Both sides required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | Passport | passport | No |
| EU and EFTA states | National Identity Card | national_identity_card | Yes |
| CAN | Driving Licence | driving_licence | Yes |
| CHN | Hong Kong Identity Card | national_identity_card | No |
| GBR | Driving Licence | driving_licence | No |
| GBR | Biometric Residence Permit | uk_biometric_residence_permit | Yes |
| IND | Aadhaar | national_identity_card | No |
| IND | PAN | tax_id | No |
| MEX | INE | voter_id | Yes |
| USA | Driving License | driving_licence | No; back optional |
If you’re unaware of the type of identity document you want to verify, it can also be submitted with type unknown and we will attempt to classify and recognize the document type when processing a Document report.
Other documents
In addition, we also accept uploads of the following non-identity documents, which are specific to certain reports (such as the Right to Work report):
| Type |
|---|
| work_permit |
| national_insurance_card |
| birth_certificate |
| bank_statement |
Upload document
Upload “passport.png”
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data
<YOUR FILE DATA (path/to/passport.png)>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-F 'type=passport' \
-F 'file=@path/to/passport.png;type=image/png'
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
file = File.new('path/to/passport.png')
type = 'passport'
api.document.create(applicant_id, file: file, type: type)
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
sample_file = 'path/to/passport.png'
document_type = 'passport'
api.upload_document(applicant_id, document_type, sample_file)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$type = 'passport';
$file = 'path/to/passport.png';
$side = null;
$api->uploadDocument($applicant_id, $type, $file, $side);
String type = "passport";
String side = null;
String issuing_country = null;
File file = new File("/path/to/passport.png");
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
Document result = apiInstance.uploadDocument(applicantId, type, file, side, issuing_country);
System.out.println(result);
const fs = require('fs');
const file = fs.createReadStream('sample_driving_licence.png');
(async () => {
try {
const docData = await api.uploadDocument('<APPLICANT_ID>', 'driving_licence', file, {side: 'front', issuing_country: 'GBR'});
console.log(docData);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
You can upload documents to this endpoint as part of multipart requests.
The valid file types are: jpg, png and pdf. The file size must be between 32KB and 10MB.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/documents/
Request body parameters
| file | required The file to be uploaded |
| type | required The type of document |
| side | optional Either the front or back of the document. |
| issuing_country | optional The issuing country of the document in 3-letter ISO code. |
Retrieve document
Retrieve a document for a specific applicant
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
document_id = '<DOCUMENT_ID>'
api.document.find('applicant_id', 'document_id')
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
document_id = '<DOCUMENT_ID>'
api.find_document(applicant_id, document_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$document_id = '<DOCUMENT_ID>';
$api->findDocument($applicant_id, $document_id);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
String documentId = "<DOCUMENT_ID>";
Document result = apiInstance.findDocument(applicantId, documentId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const doc = await api.findDocument('<APPLICANT_ID>', '<DOCUMENT_ID>');
console.log(doc);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single document.
ENDPOINT
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/documents/{document_id}
List documents
List all documents for a specific applicant
GET /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
api.document.all(applicant_id)
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
api.list_documents(applicant_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$api->listDocuments($applicant_id);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
DocumentsList result = apiInstance.listDocuments(applicantId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { documents } = await api.listDocuments('<APPLICANT_ID>');
documents.forEach(document => console.log(document));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Lists all documents belonging to an applicant.
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/documents/
Download document
Download a document associated with an applicant
GET /v2/applicant/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID>/download HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/documents/<DOCUMENT_ID>/download \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
document_id = '<DOCUMENT_ID>'
api.document.download(applicant_id, document_id)
Downloads specific documents belong to an applicant.
The response will be the binary data representing the image.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/documents/{document_id}/download
Live photos
Live photos are images of the applicant’s face, typically taken at the same time as documents are provided. These photos are used to perform the standard variant of the Facial Similarity check on the applicant.
Live photo object
An example live photo object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>",
"created_at": "2016-05-11T11:45:26Z",
"href": "/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>",
"download_href": "/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>/download",
"file_name": "localfile.png",
"file_type": "png",
"file_size": 282123
}
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier of the live photo |
| created_at | datetime The date and time at which the live photo was uploaded |
| href | string The URI of this resource |
| download_href | string The URI that can be used to download the live photo |
| file_name | string The name of the uploaded file |
| file_type | string The file type of the uploaded file |
| file_size | integer The size of the file in bytes |
Upload live photo
Upload “sample_photo.png”
POST /v2/live_photos/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: multipart/form-data
<YOUR FILE DATA (path/to/sample_photo.png)>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-F 'applicant_id=<APPLICANT_ID>' \
-F 'file=@path/to/sample_photo.png;type=image/png'
sample_file='path/to/sample_photo.png'
applicant_id='<APPLICANT_ID>'
api.upload_live_photo(applicant_id, sample_file)
$file = 'path/to/sample_photo.png';
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$api->uploadLivePhoto($applicant_id, $file)
File file = new File("/path/to/sample_photo.png");
Boolean advancedValidation = true;
/* advancedValidation is a required argument of #uploadLivePhoto */
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
LivePhoto result = apiInstance.uploadLivePhoto(applicantId, file, advancedValidation);
System.out.println(result);
const fs = require('fs');
const file = fs.createReadStream('sample_photo.png');
(async () => {
try {
const livePhotoData = await api.uploadLivePhoto('<APPLICANT_ID>', file, {'side': 'front', 'issuing_country': 'GBR'});
console.log(livePhotoData);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
You can upload live photos to this endpoint as part of multipart requests.
Valid file types are jpg, and png. The file size must be between 32KB and 10MB. Live photos are validated at the point of upload to check that they contain exactly one face. This validation can be disabled by setting the advanced_validation argument to false.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/
Request body parameters
| file | required The file to be uploaded |
| applicant_id | required The applicant_id to associate the live photo to |
| advanced_validation | optional A boolean which defaults to true Validates that the live photo contains exactly one face |
Retrieve live photo
Retrieve a single live photo’s object
GET /v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
live_photo_id = '<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>'
api.find_live_photo(live_photo_id)
$live_photo_id = '<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>';
$api->findLivePhoto($live_photo_id);
String livePhotoId = "<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>";
LivePhoto result = apiInstance.findLivePhoto(livePhotoId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const photo = await api.findLivePhoto('<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>');
console.log(photo);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single live photo. Returns the corresponding live photo object.
ENDPOINT
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/{live_photo_id}
List live photos
List all live photo (objects) for a specific applicant
GET /v2/live_photos/live_photos?applicant_id=<APPLICANT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/live_photos?applicant_id=<APPLICANT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
applicant_id = '<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>'
api.list_live_photos(applicant_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$api->listLivePhotos($applicant_id);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
LivePhotosList result = apiInstance.listLivePhotos(applicantId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { live_photos } = await api.listLivePhotos('<APPLICANT_ID>');
live_photos.forEach(photo => console.log(photo));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Lists the live photos that belong to an applicant. Returns the corresponding live photo objects.
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos
Query string parameters
applicant_id (required): the ID of the applicant whose live photos you want to list.
Download live photo
Download the data representing a photo
GET /v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>/download HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_PHOTO_ID>/download HTTP/1.1 \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
Downloads a live photo.
The response is the binary data representing the image.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/{live_photo_id}/download
Live videos
Live videos are footage of the applicant’s face, recorded and uploaded by the Onfido iOS, Android or Web SDKs, at the same time as the document image is captured. These videos are used to perform the video variant of the Facial Similarity check on the applicant.
Live video object
An example live video object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>",
"created_at": "2018-05-14T16:44:53Z",
"href": "/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>",
"download_href": "/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>/download",
"file_name": "video_name.mp4",
"file_type": "video/mp4",
"file_size": 1431121,
"challenge": [
{
"type": "recite",
"query": [
1,
2,
3
]
},
{
"type": "movement",
"query": "turnRight"
}
]
}
During the video recording end users are asked to perform randomily generated actions, represented in challenge. Challenges always have two parts recite and movement, but the order in which these happen can vary. The order of the challenges is maintained in the live video object. recite asks the user to say three randomly generated digits, whearas movement asks the user to look over their right or left shoulder.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier of the live video |
| created_at | datetime The date and time at which the live video was uploaded |
| href | string The URI of this resource |
| download_href | string The URI that can be used to download the live video |
| file_name | string The name of the uploaded file |
| file_type | string The file type of the uploaded file |
| file_size | integer The size of the file in bytes |
| challenge | hash Challenge the end user was asked to perform during the video recording |
Retrieve live video
Retrieve a single live video’s object
GET /v2/live_videos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_photos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
live_video_id = '<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>'
api.find_live_video(live_video_id)
$live_video_id = '<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>';
$api->findLiveVideo($live_video_id);
String liveVideoId = "<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>";
LiveVideo result = apiInstance.findLiveVideo(liveVideoId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const video = await api.findLiveVideo('<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>');
console.log(video);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single live video. This will return the corresponding live video object.
ENDPOINT
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/{live_video_id}
List live videos
List all live videos for a specific applicant
GET /v2/live_videos?applicant_id=<APPLICANT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos?applicant_id=<APPLICANT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
api.list_live_videos(applicant_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$api->listLiveVideos($applicant_id);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
LiveVideosList result = apiInstance.listLiveVideos(applicantId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { live_videos } = await api.listLiveVideos('<APPLICANT_ID>');
live_videos.forEach(video => console.log(video));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Lists all the live videos that belong to an applicant.
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/
Query string parameters
applicant_id (required): the ID of the applicant whose live videos you want to list.
Download live video
Download the data representing a live video
GET /v2/live_videos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>/download HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>/download \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
Downloads a live video.
The response is the binary data representing the video.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/{live_video_id}/download
Download live video frame
Download the data representing a live video frame
GET /v2/live_videos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>/frame HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/<LIVE_VIDEO_ID>/frame \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
Instead of the whole video, a single frame can be downloaded using this endpoint.
The response is the binary data representing the frame.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/live_videos/{live_video_id}/frame
Unsuccessful frame extraction
Unsuccessful frame extraction response: failure
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": {
"type": "frame_extraction_failed",
"message": "<Reason>"
}
}
Unsuccessful frame extraction response: temporarily unavailable
HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": {
"type": "frame_extraction_unavailable",
"message": "Frame extraction is temporarily unavailable"
}
}
If a frame cannot be extracted from the live video, a frame_extraction_failed response will be returned. On the other hand, if the extraction feature is temporarily unavailable, a frame_extraction_unavailable response will be returned instead.
Checks
Checks are performed on an applicant.
A check consists of many reports. You can read about the different report types.
The Onfido API offers two different check types: “express” and “standard”.
Depending on the type of check you wish to perform, different information will be required when you create an applicant.
A check is composed of one or more reports. Some reports require specific applicant details or uploads or both.
Express checks
If your system already has the information you require from applicants then you should use express checks. Express checks submit applicants' information via the client application.
The steps in an express check are as follows:
An applicant object is created.
If required: documents, photos and videos are uploaded to the applicant object (on GitHub: read about the Android, iOS and Web SDKs for capture and uploads).
A check is constructed consisting of one or more reports.
After a check is created, an express check will start processing immediately.
Standard checks
If you require Onfido to collect information from an applicant, you may wish to use standard checks.
Standard checks require applicants to enter their information in a form, which is sent to applicants via email.
A standard check will only start processing when the applicant has submitted the form.
Check object
An example check object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<CHECK_ID>",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"href": "/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/<CHECK_ID>",
"type": "express",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"redirect_uri": "https://somewhere.else",
"results_uri": "https://onfido.com/dashboard/information_requests/<REQUEST_ID>",
"download_uri": "https://onfido.com/dashboard/pdf/information_requests/<REQUEST_ID>",
"reports": [
"<REPORT_ID>",
"<REPORT_ID>"
],
"tags": [
"My tag",
"Another tag"
]
}
The check object is used to track the type and status of a check, and contains the nested resource reports.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier for the check. |
| created_at | timestamp The date and time at which the check was initiated. |
| href | string The API endpoint to retrieve the check. |
| type | string The type of check: standard or express. |
| status | string The current state of the check in the checking process. |
| tags | list [string] A list of tags associated with this check. |
| result | string The overall result of the check, based on the results of the constituent reports. |
| download_uri | string A link to a PDF output of the check results. Append .pdf to get the pdf file. |
| form_uri | string A link to the applicant form, if the check is of type standard |
| redirect_uri | string For standard checks, redirect to this URI when the applicant has submitted their data. |
| results_uri | string A link to the corresponding results page on the Onfido dashboard |
| reports | list reports expandable The list of report objects associated with the check. |
Check status
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| in_progress | We are currently processing the check. |
| awaiting_applicant | Applicant has not yet submitted the applicant form, either because they have not started filling the form out or because they have started but have not finished. |
| complete | All reports for the applicant have been completed or withdrawn. |
| withdrawn | Check has been withdrawn. |
| paused | Check is paused until you, i.e. the client, switch it on manually. Special case used by clients who wants to collect data and run the checks when they want and not immediately. |
| reopened | Insufficient/inconsistent information is provided by the applicant, and the report has been bounced back for further information. |
Create check
Create a check (Document report, Facial Similarity report)
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "document"
},
{
"name": "facial_similarity",
"variant": "standard"
}
]
}
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"type": "express",
"reports": [
{
"name": "document"
},
{
"name": "facial_similarity",
"variant": "standard"
}
]
}'
reports = [{name: 'document'}, {name: 'facial_similarity', variant: 'standard'}]
check = api.check.create(applicant_id, type: 'express', reports: reports)
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
check_data = onfido.Check(type='express')
document_report = onfido.Report(name='document')
facial_similarity_report = onfido.Report(name='facial_similarity', variant='standard')
check_data.reports = [document_report, facial_similarity_report]
api.create_check(applicant_id, check_data)
$check_data = new Onfido\Model\Check();
$check_data->setType('express');
$document_report = new Onfido\Model\Report();
$document_report->setName('document');
$facial_similarity_report = new Onfido\Model\Report();
$facial_similarity_report->setName('facial_similarity');
$facial_similarity_report->setVariant('standard');
$check_data->setReports(array($document_report, $facial_similarity_report));
$check = $api->createCheck($applicant_id, $check_data);
Check check = new Check();
check.setType("express");
check.setAsynchronous(true);
Report report_one = new Report();
report_one.setName("document");
Report report_two = new Report();
report_two.setName("facial_similarity");
report_two.setVariant("standard");
List<Report> reports = new ArrayList<Report>();
reports.add(report_one);
reports.add(report_two);
check.setReports(reports);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
Check newCheck = apiInstance.createCheck(applicantId, check);
System.out.println(newCheck);
const check = new Onfido.Check();
check.type = 'express';
const document_report = new Onfido.Report();
document_report.name = 'document';
const facial_similarity_report = new Onfido.Report();
facial_similarity_report.name = 'facial_similarity';
check.reports = [document_report, facial_similarity_report];
(async () => {
try {
const checkData = await api.createCheck('<APPLICANT_ID>', check);
console.log(checkData);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Initiates a check for an applicant.
Certain reports are generated instantly and their results are returned in the response, while other reports take longer to be processed. You will need to set up a webhook to listen for the results of non-instant reports.
Having created the first check, you are allowed to create further checks for the same applicant, as long as the previous check is not still ongoing (i.e. check has been completed, withdrawn or cancelled). You will receive an error message if you try to create a check for an applicant with an ongoing check. Applicant details can be updated between check creations.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/checks/
Request body parameters
| type | requiredstandard or express. See “Checks”. |
| redirect_uri | optional For standard checks, redirect to this URI when the applicant has submitted their data. |
| reports | optional Array of reports being requested for this check. |
| report_type_groups | optional Array containing ids of the report type groups** being requested for |
| tags | optional Array of tags being assigned to this check. |
| suppress_form_emails | optional For standard checks, applicant form will not be automatically sent if this is set to true. You can manually send the form at any time after the check has been created, using the link found in the form_uri attribute of the check object.Defaults to false (i.e., form will be sent automatically by default) |
| async asynchronous (alias) |
recommended If this is set to true, checks will be queued for processing. You can configure webhooks to notify you when the report is complete.Defaults to falseNote: async and asynchronous cannot be provided together. |
| charge_applicant_for_check | optional For standard checks, applicants will be presented with a mandatory payment screen before they can submit the applicant form, if this is set to true. In this case, your account will not be charged. Defaults to false |
| consider | optional Array of names of the reports to return consider as their results. This is a sandbox testing specific argument for testing multiple-report scenarios. |
Request body parameters (report)
| name | required The name of the report type. You can read about the different report types. |
| variant | optional The name of the report type variant, if required. |
| options | optional Array of report options hashes |
| documents | optional Array of report documents hashes. This argument allows you to specify which document to use as part of the Document report. If unspecified, the most recently uploaded document (or documents for a two-sided ID document) will be used. |
Request body parameters (report options)
| name | required The option to be applied (used by Watchlist ‘full’ reports). |
Request body parameters (report documents)
| id | required ID of uploaded document to use. |
Retrieve check
Retrieve a single check
POST /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/<CHECK_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/<CHECK_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=YOUR_API_TOKEN'
api.check.find('<APPLICANT_ID>', '<CHECK_ID>')
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
check = api.find_check(applicant_id, check_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$check_id = '<CHECK_ID>';
$api->findCheck($applicant_id, $check_id);
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
CheckWithReportIds result = apiInstance.findCheck(applicantId, checkId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const check = await api.findCheck('<APPLICANT_ID>', '<CHECK_ID>');
console.log(check);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single check.
ENDPOINT
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/checks/{check_id}
List checks
List all checks associated with an applicant
GET /v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/<APPLICANT_ID>/checks/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.check.all('<APPLICANT_ID>')
applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>'
checks = api.list_checks(applicant_id)
$applicant_id = '<APPLICANT_ID>';
$api->listChecks($applicant_id);
Integer page = 1;
Integer perPage = 20;
Boolean includeDeleted = false;
String applicantId = "<APPLICANT_ID>";
ChecksList result = apiInstance.listChecks(applicantId, page, perPage);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { checks } = await api.listChecks('<APPLICANT_ID>');
checks.forEach(check => console.log(check));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/applicants/{applicant_id}/checks/
Returns all checks for an applicant.
You can expand the reports value to return a list of the report objects in the response instead of the default list of report IDs.
Query string parameters
expand=reports (Optional)
Resume check
Resume a paused check
GET /v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/resume HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/resume
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X POST
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
api.resume_check(check_id)
$check_id = '<CHECK_ID>';
$api->resumeCheck($check_id);
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
apiInstance.resumeCheck(checkId);
(async () => {
try {
await api.resumeCheck('<CHECK_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Resumes a paused check.
A check is paused if all the reports that it contains are in the paused state. A 204 No Content response is sent back to confirm the request has been received.
When a standard check gets resumed, all its reports are going to start processing immediately if the applicant has already submitted the form. The check status will automatically change to in_progress. Otherwise, the check will remain as awaiting_applicant and the reports are only going to start processing after the applicant submits the form.
ENDPOINT
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/{check_id}/resume
Reports
Report object
An example report object (Identity report, awaiting data)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "awaiting_data",
"result": null,
"sub_result": null,
"variant": null,
"options": {},
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {},
"properties": {},
"documents": []
}
The report object contains the state and relevant details of the particular report. The structure of the object is listed at right, under the shell tab.
The breakdown hash contains the details of the particular report and differs for each report type. The format of the breakdown and properties for each report type is listed in the “Document report” section.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier for the report |
| created_at | timestamp The date and time at which the report was first initiated |
| name | string Report type string identifier. See “Report types” |
| href | string The API endpoint to retrieve the report |
| status | string The current state of the report in the checking process |
| result | string The result of the report |
| sub_result | string The sub_result of the report. It gives a more detailed result for document reports only, and will be null otherwise |
| variant | string Report variant string identifier. Some reports have sub-types, which are identified by this field. These are detailed in the “Report types” section |
| options | array Report options usable with Watchlist ‘full’ reports |
| breakdown | hash The details of the report. This is specific to each type of report |
| properties | hash The properties associated with the report, if any |
| documents | array The document ids that were processed. Only for Document report. |
Report status
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| awaiting_data | Onfido has made a request to one of its data providers and we are waiting on their reply. |
| awaiting_approval | Report is going through manual review. |
| complete | Report is done. |
| withdrawn | Report has been cancelled. |
| paused | Report is paused until you, i.e. the client, switch it on manually. Special case used by clients who wants to collect data and run the reports when they want and not immediately. |
Results
The result field indicates the overall result of a report. The possible values of this field are detailed below:
| Report result | |
|---|---|
| clear | If all underlying verifications pass, the overall result will be clear |
| consider | If the report has returned information that needs to be evaluated, the overall result will be consider. |
| unidentified | Identity report (standard variant only) - this is returned if the applicant fails an identity check. This indicates there is no identity match for this applicant on any of the databases searched. |
For convenience, the check object also has a result field. Its value is derived from the results of the individual reports that it contains:
| Check result | |
|---|---|
| clear | If all the reports contained in the check have clear as their results. |
| consider | If some of the reports contained in the check have either consider or unidentified as their results. |
Sub results
The sub_result field indicates a more detailed result for Document reports.
| Report sub_result | |
|---|---|
| clear | If all underlying verifications pass, the overall sub result will be clear |
| rejected | If the report has returned information where the check cannot be processed further (poor quality image or an unsupported document). |
| suspected | If the document that is analysed is suspected to be fraudulent. |
| caution | If any other underlying verifications fail but they don’t necessarily point to a fraudulent document (such as the name provided by the applicant doesn’t match the one on the document) |
Retrieve report
Retrieve a single report
GET /v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.report.find('<CHECK_ID>', '<REPORT_ID>')
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
report_id = '<REPORT_ID>'
report = api.find_report(check_id, report_id)
$check_id = '<CHECK_ID>';
$report_id = '<REPORT_ID>';
$api->findReport($check_id, $report_id);
String reportId = "<REPORT_ID>";
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
Report result = apiInstance.findReport(checkId, reportId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const report = await api.findReport('<CHECK_ID>', '<REPORT_ID>');
console.log(report);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single report.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/{check_id}/reports/{report_id}
List reports
List all reports associated with a check
GET /v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.report.all('<CHECK_ID>')
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
api.list_reports(check_id)
$check_id = '<CHECK_ID>';
$api->listReports($check_id);
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
ReportsList result = apiInstance.listReports(checkId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { reports } = await api.listReports('<CHECK_ID>');
reports.forEach(report => console.log(report));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Lists all reports belonging to a particular check.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/{check_id}/reports/
Resume report
Resume a single paused report
POST /v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>/resume HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>/resume \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X POST
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
report_id = '<REPORT_ID>'
api.resume_report(check_id, report_id)
$check_id = '<CHECK_ID>';
$report_id = '<REPORT_ID>';
$api->resumeReport($check_id, $report_id);
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
String reportId = "<REPORT_ID>";
apiInstance.resumeReport(checkId, reportId);
(async () => {
try {
await api.resumeReport('<REPORT_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Resumes a single paused report.
A 204 No Content response is sent back to confirm the request has been received.
When an individual report gets resumed in a standard check, it will start processing immediately if the applicant has already submitted the form. The report status will automatically change from paused to awaiting_data. Otherwise, the status change will happen but the report processing will only start after the applicant submits the form.
Note that you can resume all reports within a check by resuming the check itself.
ENDPOINT
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/{check_id}/reports/{report_id}/resume
Cancel report
Cancel a single paused report
POST /v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>/cancel HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>/cancel \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X POST
check_id = '<CHECK_ID>'
report_id = '<REPORT_ID>'
api.cancel_report(check_id, report_id)
$check_id ='<CHECK_ID>';
$report_id = '<REPORT_ID>';
$api->cancelReport($check_id, $report_id);
String checkId = "<CHECK_ID>";
String reportId = "<REPORT_ID>";
apiInstance.cancelReport(checkId, reportId);
(async () => {
try {
await api.cancelReport('<CHECK_ID>', '<REPORT_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Cancels single paused reports. If successful, returns a 204 No Content response.
When a report gets cancelled in a standard check, its status will change from paused to cancelled and the report will never get processed.
ENDPOINT
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/{check_id}/reports/{report_id}/cancel
Document report
An example document report object (UK passport)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"created_at":"2016-03-31T13:24:17Z",
"href":"/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id":"<REPORT_ID>",
"name":"document",
"properties":{
"document_type":"passport",
"issuing_country":"GBR",
"first_name":"JOHN",
"last_name":"OLIVER",
"document_numbers":[
{
"type":"document_number",
"value":"AA000000"
}
],
"date_of_birth":"2004-03-16",
"date_of_expiry":"2025-07-05",
"nationality":"GBR",
"gender":"Male",
"mrz_line1":"P<GBRJOHN<OLIVER<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<",
"mrz_line2":"AA000000<0GBR0403162M2507053<<<<<<<<<<<<<<04"
},
"result":"clear",
"sub_result":"clear",
"status":"complete",
"variant":"standard",
"breakdown":{
"police_record":{
"result":"clear"
},
"data_comparison":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"date_of_expiry":{
"result":null,
"properties":{
}
},
"issuing_country":{
"result":null,
"properties":{
}
},
"document_type":{
"result":null,
"properties":{
}
},
"document_numbers":{
"result":null,
"properties":{
}
},
"gender":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"date_of_birth":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"last_name":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"first_name":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
},
"data_consistency":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"date_of_expiry":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"document_type":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"gender":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"date_of_birth":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"nationality":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"issuing_country":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"document_numbers":{
"result":"clear",
"properties": {
}
},
"last_name":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"first_name":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
},
"data_validation":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"gender":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"expiry_date":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"date_of_birth":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"document_numbers":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
"document_number":"clear"
}
},
"mrz":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
},
"visual_authenticity":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"face_detection":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
},
"image_integrity":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"supported_document":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"image_quality":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"colour_picture":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
},
"conclusive_document_quality":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
},
"compromised_document":{
"result":"clear"
},
"age_validation":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"minimum_accepted_age":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
}
}
}
}
}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document report | document |
- | yes | yes |
The Document report is composed of data integrity, visual authenticity and police record checks. It checks the internal and external consistency of the most recent identity document provided by the applicant to identify potential discrepancies.
In addition, any data extracted from the document through OCR is returned in the properties attribute.
The Document report combines software and an expert team to maximise fraud detection. The majority of documents will be processed instantly. However, when document analysis falls back to expert review, the report status will be delivered asynchronously via webhook notifications.
Expert review is required when we encounter images that use sophisticated counterfeiting techniques, or the image is of poor quality (blurred, low resolution, obscured, cropped, or held at an unreadable angle).
Required applicant data (Document report)
For Document reports, first_name and last_name must be provided but can be
dummy values if you don’t know an applicant’s name.
Breakdown
| visual_authenticity | hash Asserts whether visual, non-textual, elements are correct given the type of document |
| image_integrity | hash Asserts whether the document was of sufficient quality to verify |
| data_validation | hash Asserts whether algorithmically-validatable elements are correct e.g. MRZ lines and document numbers |
| data_consistency | hash Asserts whether data represented in multiple places on the document is consistent e.g. between MRZ lines and OCR extracted text on passports |
| data_comparison | hash Asserts whether data on the document is consistent with data provided by an applicant (either through Onfido’s applicant form or when creating an applicant through the API) |
| police_record | hash Asserts whether the document has been identified as lost, stolen or otherwise compromised |
| compromised_document | hash Asserts whether the image of the document has been found in our internal database of compromised documents |
| age_validation | hash Asserts that the age based on the date of birth on the document is under the minimum age set on the client account (default: 16). To have this age altered reach out to your contact at Onfido. |
Sub breakdowns that are part of visual_authenticity may point to a fraudulent document if their result is consider:
| fonts | Fonts in the document don’t match the expected ones |
| security_features | Security features expected on the document are missing or wrong |
| picture_face_integrity | The pictures of the person identified on the document show signs of tampering or alteration. In most cases this will focus on the primary picture yet it may also apply to the secondary and tertiary pictures when documents contain them |
| digital_tampering | Indication of digital tampering in the image (for example, name altered) |
| original_document_present | The document is a genuine document and not, for example, a photo of a photo of a document |
| template | The document doesn’t match the expected template for the document type and country it is from |
A result of clear in the conclusive_document_quality breakdown of image_integrity will assert if the document was of enough quality to be able to perform a fraud inspection. A result of consider will mean that even if sub breakdowns of visual_authenticity fail, we cannot positively say the document is fraudulent or not (in cases such as parts of the document are not visible).
Facial Similarity report
An example Facial Similarity report object
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "facial_similarity",
"created_at": "2016-05-10T13:50:33Z",
"result": "clear",
"status": "complete",
"variant": "standard",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {
"visual_authenticity": {
"result": "clear"
},
"face_comparison": {
"result": "clear"
},
"properties": {
"score": 0.789
}
}
}
Example ‘video’ variant response (Facial Similarity report)
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"created_at": "2016-05-13T11:19:37Z",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "facial_similarity",
"properties": {},
"result": "clear",
"status": "complete",
"variant": "video",
"breakdown": {
"visual_authenticity": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"spoofing_detection": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
},
"liveness_detected": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
}
}
},
"face_comparison": {
"result": "consider"
},
"image_integrity": {
"result": "clear"
}
}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Facial Similarity report | facial_similarity |
standardvideo |
yes* no |
yes yes |
The Facial Similarity report will compare the most recent live photo or live video provided by the applicant to the face on the most recent identity document provided, where the attribute side is front. If none exists the latest document will be used.
When side is not specified, it will take a default value of front. It is recommended that all documents contain the side attribute, as this minimises the cases where the back of the document is used for comparison and thus failed as no face is detected.
There are two different variants of Facial Similarity report: standard which uses live photos and video which uses live videos.
Required applicant data (Facial Similarity report)
For all Facial Similarity report variants, first_name and last_name must
be provided but can be dummy values if you don’t know an applicant’s name.
Breakdown
| face_comparison | hash Asserts whether the face in the document matches the face in the live photo or live video |
| image_integrity | hash Asserts whether the quality of the uploaded files and the content contained within them were sufficient to perform a face comparison |
| visual_authenticity | hash Asserts whether the person in the live photo or live video is real (not a spoof) and live (only done for live videos) |
Properties
The score property is a number between 0 and 1 that expresses how similar the two faces are, where 1 is a perfect match. If the face matching algorithm fails to detect a face, the score property will not be present and the face matching task will be done manually.
The score only measures how similar the faces are, and does not make an assessment of the nature of the photo or video. If tampering (such as photos of printed photos or photos of digital screens) is detected the applicant will be rejected independently of the Facial Similarity score.
Standard
The standard variant uses live photos. The photo needs to be a live photo taken at the time of check submission, so that it can assess whether the holder of the identity document is the same person as the one on the document.
Video
In the video variant, live videos are collected and uploaded by the Onfido iOS, Android or JS SDKs.
In addition to confirming the two faces match, the video variant assesses liveness by asking users to repeat randomly generated numbers and perform a random head movement. Thus preventing user impersonation via photos of photos, photos of screens, etc. This is reflected in visual_authenticity which is augmented with two sub breakdowns: spoofing_detection and liveness_detected.
| spoofing_detection | hash Asserts whether the live video is not a spoof (such as videos of digital screens) |
| liveness_detected | hash Asserts whether the numbers and head movements were correctly executed |
Identity report
An example Identity report object
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"variant": "kyc",
"breakdown": {
"mortality": {
"result": "clear"
},
"address": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"credit_agencies": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {
"number_of_agencies": "5"
}
},
"voting_register": {
"result": "none",
"properties": {}
},
"telephone_database": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
}
}
},
"date_of_birth": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"credit_agencies": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
},
"voting_register": {
"result": "none",
"properties": {}
}
}
}
},
"properties": {}
}
Example response (US Identity report with social security number provided)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {
"date_of_birth": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"date_of_birth_matched": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {
"sources": "Credit Agencies"
}
}
}
},
"address": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"address_matched": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {
"sources": "Credit Agencies, Telephone Database"
}
}
}
},
"ssn": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"last_4_digits_match": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
},
"full_match": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {}
}
}
},
"properties": {}
}
}
Example response (Identity report for jurisdictions other than UK and US)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {
"date_of_birth": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"date_of_birth_matched": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {
"sources": "Credit Agencies"
}
}
}
},
"address": {
"result": "clear",
"breakdown": {
"address_matched": {
"result": "clear",
"properties": {
"sources": "Credit Agencies, Telephone Database"
}
}
}
}
},
"properties": {}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identity report | identity |
kycstandard |
yes yes |
yes yes |
An Identity report validates an applicant’s address, date of birth, name, and mortality (where applicable) by cross-referencing their details against a range of verified databases.
For applicants in the United States, the Identity report can optionally match the Social Security Number, either the full 9 digits or the last 4.
The result breakdowns indicate which of these elements was positively matched, and the underlying source or sources of that database match.
The Identity report will be run in the jurisdiction specified as country in the applicant object, not the applicant’s address country field. The country field in the applicant object will default to GBR if not provided.
Please make sure that the applicant object’s country field matches the applicant’s address country field when creating an applicant, and that the country is supported for Identity reports.
Report results vary depending on the jurisdiction they were run in. The examples to the right detail:
- UK: Results for an Identity report conducted in the United Kingdom, where sources (
credit_agencies,voting_register,telephone_database) are displayed as breakdowns with their ownresultvalue. - US with SSN: Results for an Identity report conducted in the United States, which includes Social Security Number as an additional breakdown, and lists sources as comma separated under
properties. - Non-UK: Results for an Identity report conducted on a jurisdiction other than United Kingdom, where sources are shown as comma separated under
properties.
When a match for date of birth or address cannot be found (i.e. result is not clear) the corresponding properties bucket will be empty as such "properties":{}.
Supported countries for Identity reports
You can review the full list of supported countries for Identity reports.
The column Onfido Identity Report on that page lists supported and
unsupported countries.
Required applicant data (Identity report)
For all Identity report variants, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
dob
country (the country of jurisdiction, where the check will be performed. Must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. “GBR”)
address[]street
address[]state (US only)
address[]postcode (ZIP code in US)
address[]country (must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. “GBR”)
Source names and definitions
| Source name |
Definition |
| Credit Agencies | Data comprised of consumer credit applications |
| Voting Register | Data comprised of voter registration within a country |
| Telephone Database | Data provided by both landline and mobile providers. In the UK, this is landline only |
| Government | Any standard publicly accessible data collected by government entities. These include driving licence data, motor vehicle registration, court filings, property ownership registers, permanent place of residence registration and other similar data sets |
| Business Registration | Data comprised of business registrations, corporate directors filings and business hierarchy data |
| Consumer Database | Opt-in consumer data leveraging database marketing and other similar opt-in data sources |
| Utility Registration | Data comprised of utility registrations such as electricity, gas, water accounts |
| Postal Authorities | Data provided by postal authorities |
| Commercial Database | These are corporate/private databases where users have opted-in and allowed for their information to be used for the purpose of verification of their identities |
| Proprietary | This is when a data provider chooses not to divulge the source of the data to us for varied reasons, and also includes social media based data |
| Register of Deaths | Negative source for known deaths (UK only) |
There are two different variants of the Identity report: kyc and standard. To specify which one you want, pass variant with the create check request. If not provided the default is standard.
KYC
This check should be used for “Know Your Customer” (KYC) purposes, for instance, if you are providing a financial service.
Overall result logic:
If the applicant address is in the UK:
"result": "clear"the applicant is not found in mortality lists AND- at least one match on the applicant’s name and current address, and a match on the applicant’s name and date of birth (either in the same or different source) OR
- two matches on the applicant’s name and current address from two different sources
"result": "consider"either:- the applicant is found in mortality lists, or;
- only one match on the applicant’s name and current address or name and date of birth
"result": "unidentified"no matches are found
This follows the definition of 2+2 as per the JMLSG Guidelines 2014 Section 5.3.69.
If the applicant address is outside of the UK:
"result": "clear"at least one source matches the applicant’s name and current address"result": "consider"the name and date of birth is matched, but no name and address matches are found"result": "unidentified"no matches are found
When the SSN or the last four digits of the SSN are provided:
"result": "clear"at least one source matches the applicant’s name and address, and the last four digits of the SSN are matched"result": "unidentified"no matches are found"result": "consider"otherwise
Number of addresses: As per JMLSG definitions, this check will only attempt to find a match using the applicant’s current address.
Mortality: Only checked in the UK.
Standard
This check should be used for employment or recruitment purposes, or where identity verification is performed in an unregulated industry.
Overall result logic:
"result": "clear"at least one source matches the applicant’s name and address"result": "consider"the name and date of birth is matched, but no name and address matches are found"result": "unidentified"no matches are found
When the SSN or the last four digits of the SSN are provided:
"result": "clear"at least one source matches the applicant’s name and address, and the last four digits of the SSN are matched"result": "unidentified"no matches are found"result": "consider"otherwise
Number of addresses: This check will attempt to find an address match for the current applicant address. If no match is found it will attempt to match the previous address (if provided), up to a total of 3 applicant addresses.
Mortality: Not checked.
Watchlist KYC report
An example Watchlist ‘KYC’ report object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"created_at": "2018-08-20T16:42:52Z",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "watchlist",
"result": "consider",
"status": "complete",
"variant": "kyc",
"breakdown": {
"adverse_media": {
"result": "consider"
},
"politically_exposed_person": {
"result": "consider"
},
"sanction": {
"result": "consider"
}
},
"properties": {
"records": {
"full_name": "Doe, John David",
"date_of_birth": [
"1974",
"1973"
],
"address": [
{
"locator_type": "BIRTH",
"address_line1": "District Number 1, Kanar City, Kandahar Province",
"country": "AFG"
},
{
"address_line1": "Post Office Box 2679",
"town": "Fort Myers",
"state_province": "Florida",
"postal_code": "33902",
"country": "USA"
}
],
"alias": [
{
"alias_type": "Localised name",
"alias_name": "Jon Doe"
},
{
"alias_type": "AKA",
"alias_name": "Jonny Davey Doe"
}
],
"attribute": [
{
"attribute_type": "Image URL",
"attribute_value": "https://www.interpol.int//extension/produce_sqli/design/produce_sqli/images/NotAvailable_w111.png;b54106294f"
},
{
"attribute_type": "Nationality",
"attribute_value": "AFGHANISTAN"
},
{
"attribute_type": "Remark",
"attribute_value": "Other Info: UN Ref TI.H.143.01. Believed to be in Afghanistan/Pakistan border area."
},
{
"attribute_type": "Sex",
"attribute_value": "Male"
},
{
"attribute_type": "Entity URL",
"attribute_value": "http://www.unx.org/sc/committees/1999/lists.shtml"
}
],
"associate": [
{
"relationship_direction": "To",
"relationship_type": "Employee",
"entity_name": "Taliban"
},
{
"relationship_direction": "To",
"relationship_type": "Sister in law",
"entity_name": "Sarah Jayne Doe"
}
}
},
"address":{
"result":"clear",
"breakdown":{
"address_matched":{
"result":"clear",
"properties":{
"sources":"Credit Agencies, Telephone Database"
}
}
}
}
},
"properties":{
}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watchlist report | watchlist |
kyc |
yes | yes |
A Watchlist ‘KYC’ check provides a granular breakdown of any records found when searching global watchlists. These include: Government Sanctions Lists, Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) Lists, and more generally Adverse Media, including Terrorism, Money Laundering, Regulatory Action, and Most Wanted lists.
If no match is found against the subject, the records field will read [] and the overall result will be clear.
If one or more matches are found, each match will be returned under records and includes, but is not limited to: name and date of birth of match, aliases and associates, and relevant events and sources. Each event will correspond to a relevant category of list, which drives one of the breakdowns (see below), and the overall result will be consider.
When available, URLs to data sources are provided, as well as pictures of the individual found in the match. This, along with other detail in the response, allows you to quickly assess the relevancy of the match and eliminate false positives.
Required applicant data (Watchlist KYC report)
For Watchlist (KYC) reports, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
country (the country of jurisdiction, where the check will be performed. Must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. “GBR”)
Recommended applicant data (Watchlist KYC report)
dob
address[]street
address[]postcode (ZIP code in US)
address[]country
Date of birth
Submitting a date_of_birth with the name is optional but recommended, to narrow the search of the relevant individual.
More than one date of birth might be found per match due to the nature of the data sources, such as newspaper articles, which might include someone’s age but not their full date of birth.
Address
Submitting an address with the name is also optional but recommended. This will narrow the search to the country specified in the address, for all lists except for Sanctions and Terrorist lists.
If a match is found but the date_of_birth or address fields are null, this means there is no date_of_birth or address data on file associated with that match.
Response breakdowns
adverse_media |
|
politically_exposed_person |
|
sanction |
Watchlist full report
An example Watchlist ‘full’ report object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"created_at": "2017-12-14T17:26:08Z",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "watchlist",
"properties": {
"records": [
{
"associates": "Justin Doe, Jane Doe, Maria Doe",
"keywords": "",
"last_updated_utc": "2017-12-13T06:29:27Z",
"entity_type": "person",
"sources": "PEPs list, PEPs list-adverse-media, pep-uk-parliament, pep-uk-parliament-mps",
"types": "adverse-media, pep, pep-class-1",
"name": "John David Doe",
"external_id": "A0A2LJ9AAA66J9T",
"match_types": "name_exact",
"related_urls": "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/123.stm, http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/",
"picture_urls": "http://bbc.com/1234.png, http://bbc.com/abc.jpeg",
"all_dobs": "1912-01-14, 1913, 1914",
"entity_fields_dob": "1912-01-14",
"entity_fields_countries": "Austria, Bangladesh, Egypt",
"report_id": 9999999
}
]
},
"result": "consider",
"status": "complete",
"sub_result": null,
"variant": "full",
"breakdown": {
"legal_and_regulatory_warnings": {
"result": "consider"
},
"politically_exposed_person": {
"result": "consider"
},
"sanction": {
"result": "consider"
}
}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watchlist report | watchlist |
full |
yes | yes |
A Watchlist ‘full’ check provides a granular breakdown of any records found when searching global watchlists. The watchlists include: government sanctions lists, politically exposed persons lists, and more generally: warnings lists such as anti-terrorism watchlists, anti-money-laundering (AML) watchlists and most wanted watchlists.
Required applicant data (Watchlist full report)
For Watchlist ‘full’ checks, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
Recommended applicant data (Watchlist full report)
dob
Extra report options
You can specify the following options when creating a check for Watchlist full reports:
peps
sections
Specifying peps will search only politically exposed persons lists. Specifying sanctions will search sanctions lists and warnings lists. If no options are specified, all types will be searched: PEPs, Sanctions and Warnings.
Each match will be returned under records and includes, but is not limited to: name of match, associates, date of birth, related keywords, type of list, name of list, and when the entry was last updated. When available, URLs to data sources are provided, as well as pictures of the individual found in the match. This allows you to quickly assess the relevancy of the match and eliminate false positives.
More than one date of birth might be found per match, due to the nature of the data sources, such as news papers articles, which might include someone’s age but not their full date of birth.
Breakdown
| legal_and_regulatory_warnings | hash |
| politically_exposed_person | hash |
| sanction | hash |
Street Level report
An example Street Level report object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "street_level",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {
"slv_address": {
"result": "clear"
}
},
"properties": {}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Street Level report | street_level |
- | yes | yes |
A Street Level report confirms a person’s address by sending a letter to their home with a unique verification code. The applicant enters this code online to confirm their address, which yeilds a "result": "clear". If after 15 days no response is received, the report will return a "result": "consider".
Required applicant data (Street Level report)
For Street Level reports, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
address[]street
address[]postcode (ZIP code in US)
address[]country
Delivery times
The time at which the 15 day counter starts depends on the check type. For express checks, it starts from the report creation date. For standard checks, time starts counting from the moment the applicant has submitted their details in the applicant form.
Letters to UK addresses are sent out by Royal Mail second class postal service. Letters to countries other than the UK are sent out by Royal Mail first class postal service.
All mail is collected Monday-Friday at 3:00pm UK time, excluding UK bank holidays. This means that letters for any reports created after 3pm on a Friday will only be collected on the following Monday at 3pm.
Delivery times from time of mail collection:
- UK: 2 to 3 working days, including Saturdays.
- Europe: 3 to 5 working days.
- Rest of the World: 5 to 7 working days.
Remote areas may take longer.
Royal Mail claim to have a 99% deliverability rate in the UK and 93% for Rest of the World. Providing good quality address data, with all fields correctly filled in the applicant object, greatly increases the deliverability of the letter. Do note that deliverability of the letter is not enough to clear the report. The applicant must enter the code online within the 15 days in order for the report to return as clear.
Customisation
The default letter is Onfido branded and directs the applicant to enter their code at https://onfido.com/slv.
Alternatively the letter can be customised with your branding of choice. If you wish to discuss this please contact your account manager or email client-support@onfido.com.
You can also build your own front end for the applicant to input their code using the submit code endpoint.
Breakdown
| address | hash Contains the result and details of an address match |
Proof of Address report
The Onfido Proof of Address (PoA) solution allows users to upload PoA documents from anywhere in the world. Currently, the Onfido platform can only process UK PoA documents.
The document’s issuing country must be specified when uploading the document via the document upload endpoint by setting the issuing_country field.
If the issuing_country field is not specified or is from an unsupported country (i.e. it is different from “GBR”), the document will be uploaded on the system however it will not be processed and the report will complete with the status set to cancelled and the result set to null.
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proof of Address report | proof_of_address |
- | no | yes |
Required applicant data (Proof of Address report)
For Proof of Address reports, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
address[]street
address[]town
address[]postcode
address[]country (must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. “GBR”)
Supported document types
| Bank Statement/Building Society Statements | bank_building_society_statement |
| Utility Bill (electricity, water, gas, broadband ) | utility_bill |
| Council Tax | council_tax |
| Benefits Letter (i.e. Job seeker allowance, House benefits, Tax credits) | benefit_letters |
For PoA documents from unsupported countries (i.e. non-UK PoA documents), the following document types can be uploaded to the system:
“Capture Only” Document Types
| Bank Statement/Building Society Statements | bank_building_society_statement |
| Utility Bill (electricity, water, gas, broadband ) | utility_bill |
| Government Letters | government_letter |
A PoA report upon completion is composed of three breakdowns: image integrity, document classification and data comparison.
Breakdowns
| image_integrity | hash Asserts whether the quality of the uploaded document was sufficient to verify the address |
| document_classification | hash Asserts whether the document is of a valid type as PoA |
| data_comparison | hash Asserts whether the first name, last name and address provided by the applicant match those on the PoA document |
In addition, data points extracted from PoA documents are returned in the properties attribute:
Properties
| document_type | This property provides the document type according to the set of supported documents |
| issue_date | This property provides the issue date of the document |
| summary_period_start | This property provides the summary period start date |
| summary_period_end | This property provides the summary period end date |
| issuer | This property provides the document issuer (e.g. HSBC, British Gas) |
| first_names | This property provides the first names on the document, including any initials and middle names |
| last_names | This property provided the last names on the document |
| address | This property provides the address on the document |
The summary period and the issue date are mutually exclusive, in the sense that only one of them is returned in the report properties attribute (either the summary period start and end dates or the issue date).
Overall result logic
The PoA report can return a result of clear or consider or null.
The overall report result will be clear if all of the following are true:
- the quality of the provided PoA document is sufficient to process it
- the provided PoA document is a supported UK PoA document
- the data provided by the applicant matches the data that is on their PoA document
The overall report result will be null if any of the following is true:
- the
issuing_countryfield set when uploading the document is from an unsupported country (i.e. it is different from “GBR”) - the
issuing_countryfield is not provided when uploading the document
Please note that if the report result is null, the report status will be cancelled.
The overall report result will be consider if any of the following is true:
- the document was not of enough quality to be processed (e.g. image blurred, data points not visible on the document). In this scenario, the value of the
image_qualitybreakdown (which is part of theimage_integritybreakdown) will beunidentifiedand no data will be extracted from the document, hence the report properties attribute will be empty and all the other breakdowns will benull - the document is not a valid UK PoA document (i.e. it does not feature in the list of supported document types above). In this scenario the value of the
supported_documentbreakdown (which is part of thedocument_classificationbreakdown) will beunidentified, no data will be extracted from the document, hence the report properties attribute will be empty and the data comparison breakdowns will be set tonull - the data provided by the applicant does not match the data extracted from the PoA document. In this scenario the breakdowns
first_name,last_nameandaddress(which are part of thedata_comparisonbreakdown) will have a value ofunidentified. Data is extracted from the document and returned as part of the report properties attribute.
Right to Work report
An example “Right to Work” report object
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "right_to_work",
"created_at": "2014-05-23T13:50:33Z",
"status": "complete",
"result": "clear",
"href": "/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>",
"breakdown": {},
"properties": {}
}
| Report | Name | Variants | Standard check | Express check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right to work report | right_to_work |
yes | yes |
The Right to Work report is for use in the United Kingdom only.
A Right to Work report identifies whether an applicant has the right to work within the United Kingdom.
Required applicant data (Right to Work report)
For all Right to Work reports, the following applicant data must be provided:
first_name
last_name
gender
dob
nationality (must be a three-letter ISO code e.g. “GBR”)
email
Document requirements
Document requirements for a Right to Work report are
for UK/EU/EEA (European Economic Area)/Swiss citizens
- a national identity document (i.e., Passport, UK Biometric Residence Permits, EU/EEA/Swiss National ID card) OR
- a UK birth certificate, along with an NI document (i.e., NI card itself, government letter displaying the name and the NI number, P45/P60 document)
for citizens of other nationalities
- a passport, along with a valid UK work visa/work permit page of same passport
When requesting a Right to Work report as an express check, make sure these are uploaded before the check is created.
Webhooks
An example webhook object (check started)
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"webhooks": [
{
"id": "<WEBHOOK_ID>",
"url": "https://demo.com",
"enabled": false,
"href": "/v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID>",
"token": "<WEBHOOK_TOKEN>",
"environments": [
"sandbox"
],
"events": [
"check.started"
]
}
]
}
Onfido provides webhooks to alert you of changes in the status of your resources (i.e. checks and reports). These are POST requests to your server that are sent as soon as an event occurs. The body of the request contains details of the event.
Sandbox checks and reports also trigger webhook notifications. You can create and configure webhooks to receive status changes from sandbox, live or both environments.
Upon receiving a webhook notification, you should acknowledge success by
responding with an HTTP 20x response within 10 seconds. Otherwise, we will
attempt to resend the notification up to 4 times within the following 12
hours.
IP addresses
All webhook requests will come from the following IPs:
Europe:
52.51.171.2552.51.228.22852.51.234.203
United States:
34.232.2.22252.55.124.5834.224.182.19
Please make sure that you’ve whitelisted these IPs in order to receive webhook notifications.
Events
By default, webhooks are subscribed to all events, but can be subscribed to a
subset using the events array.
You can configure the following events to trigger a message to registered webhooks:
| Resource | Events | Description |
|---|---|---|
| check | check.started | A check has been started. When check.type = standard, this indicates the applicant has submitted all required information. |
| check | check.reopened | A check has been reopened. This indicates the applicant needs to re-submit required information. |
| check | check.withdrawn | A check has been withdrawn. |
| check | check.completed | A check has been completed. |
| check | check.form_opened | An applicant has opened the applicant form. It fires every time the applicant opens the form. |
| check | check.form_completed | An applicant has submitted their information using the check form. |
| report | report.withdrawn | A report has been withdrawn. |
| report | report.resumed | A paused report has been resumed. |
| report | report.cancelled | A paused report has been cancelled. |
| report | report.awaiting_approval | A report has transitioned to the “Awaiting Approval” status. |
| report | report.completed | A report has been completed and results are available. |
Event object
An example event object (report completed)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"payload": {
"resource_type": "report",
"action": "report.completed",
"object": {
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"status": "complete",
"completed_at": "2014-05-23 13:50:33 UTC",
"href": "https://api.onfido.com/v2/checks/<CHECK_ID>/reports/<REPORT_ID>"
}
}
}
Attributes
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| payload | hash The top level element |
| resource_type | string Indicates the resource affected by this event |
| action | string The event that triggered this webhook, e.g. report.completed |
| object | hash The object affected by this event. This will contain an id and an href to retrieve that resource |
Webhook security
X-Signature: <HMAC_VALUE>
Validating the X-Signature in Sinatra
signature = OpenSSL::HMAC.hexdigest(OpenSSL::Digest.new('sha1'), <YOUR_SECRET_TOKEN>, <PAYLOAD_OBJECT>)
return halt 500, "Signatures did not match!" unless Rack::Utils.secure_compare(signature, request.env['X_SIGNATURE'])
You should verify request signatures on your server to prevent attackers from imitating valid webhooks.
Each webhook is associated with a secret token (see the webhook object’s
token field). Events sent to your application will have an X-Signature
header in the request, containing an
HMAC generated using SHA-1,
When you receive an event, you should use your secret token to compute a hash
based on the complete event payload. Make sure that this matches the
X-Signature header sent by Onfido.
Register webhook
Register a webhook
POST /v2/webhooks/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"url": "https://<URL>",
"enabled": true,
"environments": [
"live",
"sandbox"
],
"events": [
"report.completed",
"report.withdrawn",
"check.completed",
"check.started",
"check.form_opened",
"check.form_completed"
]
}
curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-F 'url=https://<URL>'
url = {url: "https://<URL>"}
api.webhook.create(url)
webhook = onfido.Webhook(url='https://<URL>')
api.create_webhook(webhook)
$webhook = new \Onfido\Model\Webhook();
$webhook->setUrl('https://<URL>');
$api->createWebhook($webhook);
Webhook webhook = new Webhook();
webhook.setUrl("https://<URL>");
webhook.setEnvironments(null);
Webhook result = apiInstance.createWebhook(webhook);
const webhook = new Onfido.Webhook();
webhook.url = 'https://<URL>';
(async () => {
try {
const create_webhook = await api.createWebhook(webhook);
console.log(create_webhook);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Example response (register webhook)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<WEBHOOK_ID>",
"url": "https://webhookendpoint.url",
"token": "<WEBHOOK_TOKEN>",
"enabled": true,
"href": "/v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID>",
"environments": [
"live",
"sandbox"
],
"events": [
"report.completed",
"report.withdrawn",
"check.completed",
"check.started",
"check.form_opened",
"check.form_completed"
]
}
Registers a webhook.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/
Request body parameters
| url | required The url that will listen to notifications (must be HTTPS). |
| enabled | optional Determine if the webhook should be active. If omitted, will be set to true by default. |
| environments | optional The environments from which the webhook will receive events. Allowed values are “sandbox” and “live”. If omitted, the webhook will receive events from both environments. |
| events | optional The events that should be published to the webhook. If omitted, all events will be subscribed by default. You can read about the supported events. |
Register a webhook using the Dashboard
You can register webhook endpoints through the Onfido dashboard.
Webhook logs
To help you diagnose webhook issues, you can review logs on the Onfido Dashboard.
List webhooks
List all webhooks you’ve created
GET /v2/webhooks/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
curl https://api.eu-west-1.dev.onfido.xyz/v2/webhooks/ \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=test_vrkuXHTuZL6g_I1fy9K5I4UQoSq1ObaR' \
api.webhook.all
api.list_webhooks()
$api->listWebhooks();
WebhooksList result = apiInstance.listWebhooks();
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const { webhooks } = await api.listWebhooks();
webhooks.forEach(webhook => console.log(webhook));
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Lists all webhooks you’ve created.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/
Retrieve webhook
Retrieve a single webhook
GET /v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
api.webhook.find('<WEBHOOK_ID>')
api.find_webhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>')
$api->findWebhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>')
String webhookId = "<WEBHOOK_ID>";
Webhook result = apiInstance.findWebhook(webhookId);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const webhook = await api.findWebhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>');
console.log(webhook);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Retrieves a single webhook.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/{webhook_id}
Edit webhook
Edit a webhook (change the URL)
PUT /v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"url": "https://<NEW_URL>"
}
curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"url": "https://<NEW_URL>"
}' \
-X PUT
update_webhook = onfido.Webhook(url='https://<NEW_URL>')
webhook_id = '<WEBHOOK_ID>'
api.edit_webhook(webhook_id, update_webhook)
$update_webhook = new \Onfido\Model\Webhook();
$update_webhook->setUrl('https://<NEW_URL>');
$api->editWebhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>', $update_webhook));
Webhook webhook = new Webhook();
webhook.setEnvironments(null);
webhook.setEvents(null);
webhook.setUrl("https://<NEW_URL>");
String webhookId = "<WEBHOOK_ID>";
Webhook result = apiInstance.editWebhook(webhookId, webhook);
const update_webhook = new Onfido.Webhook();
update_webhook.url = 'https://<NEW_URL>';
(async () => {
try {
const webhook = await api.editWebhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>', update_webhook);
console.log(webhook);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Edits a webhook.
Endpoint
PUT
https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/{webhook_id}
Delete webhook
Delete a webhook
DELETE /v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/<WEBHOOK_ID> \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-X DELETE
webhook_id = '<WEBHOOK_ID>'
api.delete_webhook(webhook_id)
$webhook_id = '<WEBHOOK_ID>';
$api->deleteWebhook($webhook_id);
String webhookId = "<WEBHOOK_ID>";
apiInstance.deleteWebhook(webhookId);
(async () => {
try {
await api.deleteWebhook('<WEBHOOK_ID>');
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Deletes a webhook.
Endpoint
DELETE
https://api.onfido.com/v2/webhooks/{webhook_id}
Report type groups
Report type groups provide a convenient way to group and organize different types of reports, so that you can easily request different sets of reports for different buckets of applicants. For example, you may want to only run an identity report and a right_to_work report on a junior-level role, but you may want additional reports on a more senior-level role.
To set up or update your report type groups, please contact client-support@onfido.com.
Report type group object
An example report type group object (Identity, Right to Work)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"id": "<REPORT_TYPE_GROUP_ID>",
"name": "Junior level",
"group_only": false,
"report_types": [
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "identity"
},
{
"id": "<REPORT_ID>",
"name": "right_to_work"
}
]
}
The report type group object defines the set of reports to be requested in a check. The structure of the object is listed below.
Note that more than one report type group can be requested in a single check.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| id | string The unique identifier for the group. |
| name | string The group’s name, as specified under your account. |
| group_only | boolean If false, individual reports in that group can be requested; if true, all reports must be requested together. |
| report_types | list [object] A list of objects containing information regarding the different report types included in this group. |
Retrieve report type group
Retrieve a single report type group
GET /v2/report_type_groups/<REPORT_TYPE_GROUP_ID> HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
A single report type group can be retrieved by calling this endpoint with the group’s unique identifier.
ENDPOINT
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/report_type_groups/{report_type_group_id}
List report type groups
List report type groups
GET /v2/report_type_groups/ HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
All report type groups belonging to your account can be listed from this endpoint.
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/report_type_groups/
Address picker
Search for an address using a postcode
GET /v2/addresses/pick?postcode=SW46EH HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
$ curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/addresses/pick?postcode=SW46EH \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>'
api.address.all('SW4 6EH')
api.find_addresses('SW4 6EH')
$postcode = 'SW4 6EH';
$api->findAddresses($postcode);
String postcode = "SW4 6EH";
GenericAddressesList result = apiInstance.findAddresses(postcode);
System.out.println(result);
(async () => {
try {
const address = await api.findAddresses('SW4 6EH');
console.log(address);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Example response (search for an address using a postcode)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"addresses": [
{
"flat_number": "",
"building_number": "100",
"building_name": "",
"street": "Main Street",
"sub_street": "",
"town": "London",
"postcode": "SW4 6EH",
"country": "GBR"
},
{
"flat_number": "",
"building_number": "101",
"building_name": "",
"street": "Main Street",
"sub_street": "",
"town": "London",
"postcode": "SW4 6EH",
"country": "GBR"
}
]
}
The address picker endpoint performs a search for addresses by postcode (UK only).
This resource can be used to aid in ensuring addresses passed to /applicants are valid.
Endpoint
GET
https://api.onfido.com/v2/addresses/pick?postcode={postcode}
Query string parameters
postcode (required): the applicant’s postcode.
Generate Web SDK token
Generate a new SDK token
POST /v2/sdk_token HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"applicant_id": "<APPLICANT_ID>",
"referrer:": "https://<URL>"
}
curl https://api.onfido.com/v2/sdk_token \
-H 'Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"applicant_id": "<APPLICANT_ID>",
"referrer": "https://*.example.com/example_page/**"
}' \
-X POST
api.sdk_token.create(applicant_id: '<APPLICANT_ID>', referrer: 'https://*.example.com/example_page/*')
sdk_token_request = onfido.SdkTokenRequest(applicant_id, 'https://*.example.com/example_page/*')
api.generate_sdk_token(sdk_token_request)
$sdk_token_request = new Onfido\Model\SdkTokenRequest();
$sdk_token_request->setApplicantId('<APPLICANT_ID>');
$sdk_token_request->setReferrer('https://*.example.com/example_page/*');
$api->generateSDKToken($sdk_token_request);
SdkTokenRequest sdkTokenRequest = new SdkTokenRequest();
sdkTokenRequest.setApplicantId("<APPLICANT_ID>");
sdkTokenRequest.setReferrer("https://*.example.com/example_page/*");
SdkTokenResponse sdkToken = apiInstance.generateSdkToken(sdkTokenRequest);
System.out.println(sdkToken);
const sdk_token_request = new Onfido.SdkTokenRequest();
sdk_token_request.applicant_id='<APPLICANT_ID>';
sdk_token_request.referrer='https://*.example.com/example_page/*';
(async () => {
try {
const sdk_token = await api.generateSdkToken(sdk_token_request);
console.log(sdk_token);
} catch(e) {
console.log(e)
}
})();
Example response (generate a new SDK token)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"token": "header.payload.signature"
}
The Onfido Web SDK uses JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) for authentication. The Web SDK tokens are restricted to an individual applicant and expire after 90 minutes, so you can safely use them in the frontend of your application.
You can read more about using the Web SDK in the guide published on our Developer Hub.
We recommend upgrading to the latest version of the Web SDK.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/sdk_token
Request body parameters
applicant_id |
required Specifies the applicant for the SDK instance |
referrer |
required The referrer URL pattern |
Each authenticated instance of the SDK will correspond to a single Onfido applicant. You must specify the applicant when generating the SDK token.
The referrer argument
The referrer argument specifies the URL of the web page where the Web SDK will be used. The referrer sent by the browser must match the referrer URL pattern in the JWT for the SDK to successfully authenticate. The referrer is based on the Google Chrome match pattern URLs. URLs can contain wild card characters.
The referrer pattern included in the JWT guarantees that other malicious websites cannot reuse the JWT in case it is lost. You can read more about referrer policy in Mozilla’s documentation.
Permitted referrer patterns are as follows:
| Section | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Referrer | scheme://host/path |
https://*.<DOMAIN>/<PATH>/* |
| Scheme | * or http or https |
https |
| Host | * or *. then any char except / and * |
*.<DOMAIN> |
| Path | Any char or none | <PATH>/* |
An example of a valid referrer is https://*.example.com/example_page/*.
OCR autofill (beta)
Return information extracted from a document
POST /v2/ocr HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"document_id": "<DOCUMENT_ID>"
}
Example response (return information extracted from a document)
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json
{
"document_id": "<DOCUMENT_ID>",
"doc_info": {
"country": "FRA",
"type": "national_identity_card"
},
"extracted_data": {
"ocr_results": {
"date_of_birth": "1973-03-21",
"document_number": "123456K12345",
"first_name": "HUGO",
"gender": "Male",
"last_name": "MARTIN"
}
}
}
OCR Autofill takes an uploaded document and returns information extracted from the document. This is a synchronous request, which means the extracted information will be presented immediately in the API response.
Endpoint
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/ocr
Request body parameters
| document_id | required The unique identifier of the uploaded document to run extraction on |
Extraction result
If data has been successfully extracted, the API response will contain the properties doc_info and extracted_data.
doc_info has the following properties:
| country | Document country in three-letter ISO code |
| type | Type of document. See “Document types”. Note that only certain document types are supported by OCR Autofill. Please contact client-support@onfido.com to find out more. |
extracted_data has a child property ocr_results which itself contains the following properties:
| document_number | The official document number |
| first_name | First name |
| last_name | Last name |
| gender | Gender. Valid values are Male and Female. |
| date_of_birth | Date of birth in yyyy-mm-dd format |
| date_of_expiry | Date of expiry in yyyy-mm-dd format |
| nationality | Nationality in three-letter ISO code |
| mrz_line_1 | Line 1 of the MRZ code |
| mrz_line1 | Line 1 of the MRZ code |
| mrz_line_2 | Line 2 of the MRZ code |
| mrz_line2 | Line 2 of the MRZ code |
| mrz_line_3 | Line 3 of the MRZ code |
| mrz_line3 | Line 3 of the MRZ code |
Unsuccessful extraction
Unsuccessful extraction response: classification failure
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: application/json
{
"document_id": "<DOCUMENT_ID>",
"error": {
"type": "classification_failure",
"message": "We couldn’t recognise the type of this document."
}
}
Unsuccessful extraction response: extraction failure
HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: application/json
{
"document_id": "<DOCUMENT_ID>",
"error": {
"type": "extraction_failure",
"message": "We couldn’t extract data from this document."
}
}
If the document cannot be recognised, a classification_failure will be returned. On the other hand, if no data can be extracted, an extraction_failure will be returned.
Street Level code
The Street Level report sends applicants a letter with a unique verification code. This code then needs to be submitted for the address to be validated.
Submit code
Submit a street level code
POST /v2/slv HTTP/1.1
Host: api.onfido.com
Authorization: Token token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"code": "<STREET_LEVEL_CODE>"
}
Example response (submit a street level code)
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{
"success": true
}
You can submit Street Level report codes to this endpoint.
ENDPOINT
POST
https://api.onfido.com/v2/slv
Request body parameters
| code | required The unique code present in the Street Level report letter |