Uploading Your ID
If you need to confirm your name on Facebook, or if you've lost access to your account, you may be asked to send us a copy of something with your name on it. You have several different options for this, including photo IDs issued by the government, IDs from non-government organizations, official certificates or licenses that include your name or other physical items like a magazine subscription or a piece of mail.
Any time you send us something that confirms your name or identity, please cover up any personal information we don't need to see (ex: credit card number, Social Security number). Also keep in mind that we encrypt everyone's connection to Facebook by default and delete anything that you've sent to us after we've confirmed your name or identity.
Learn more about how Facebook protects the privacy and security of your information when you submit an ID.
Group One
You can send us one of the items from group one to confirm your name or get back into your account. Anything that you send us should contain either your name and date of birth or your name and photo.
- Birth certificate
- Driver's license
- Passport
- Marriage certificate
- Official name change paperwork
- Personal or vehicle insurance card
- Non-driver's government ID (ex: disability, SNAP card, national ID card, pension card)
- Green card, residence permit or immigration papers
- Tribal identification or status card
- Voter ID card
- Family certificate
- Visa
- National age card
- Immigration registration card
- Tax identification card
Group Two
If you don't have anything from group one, you can send us two different items from group two. The name on the items that you send us should be the same name that you want to show on your profile.
Keep in mind that if you've lost access to your account, you may be asked to provide something from the list that also shows a photo or date of birth that matches the details on your Facebook account. This extra precaution is so that we can make sure that the only one with access to your account is you.
- Bank statement
- Transit card
- Check
- Credit card
- Employment verification
- Library card
- Magazine subscription stub
- Medical record
- Membership ID (ex: pension card, union membership, work ID, professional ID)
- Paycheck stub
- Permit
- School ID card
- School record
- Social Security card
- Utility bill
- Yearbook photo (actual scan or photograph of the page in your yearbook)
- Company loyalty card
- Contract
- Family registry
- Diploma
- Religious documents
- Certificate of registration for accreditation or professional
- Professional license card
- Polling card
- Health insurance
- Address proof card
- Social welfare card
To upload a copy of your ID:
- Take your ID and cover up anything we don't need to see, like your address or Social Security number
- Scan or take a close-up photo of your ID in a well-lit room
- Save the photo or scan to your computer
- Follow the on-screen instructions for uploading your ID
If you're not sure what type of IDs Facebook can use to confirm your identity, please review our ID list.
There are two reasons why you may be asked to send a scan or photo of an ID to Facebook:
- To show account ownership: Your security is important to us. We ask for an ID so that we don't let anyone into your account except you.
- To confirm your name: We ask everyone on Facebook to use the name they go by in everyday life. This helps keep our community safe.
Keep in mind that after you send us a photo or scan of your ID, we'll permanently delete it from our servers.
After you send us a copy of your ID, it'll be stored securely while we resolve your issue. We also delete the copy of your ID after 30 days.
Please keep in mind that Facebook only uses IDs to confirm that an account belongs to you, and that you're using the name you go by in everyday life on that account. We encourage everyone who sends us an ID to cover up any information that we don't need to see. The only parts of your ID that we need to see are your name, photo and date of birth.
Learn more about what happens when you send us something from our ID list, and how Facebook protects the privacy and security of your information.
There are several ways that Facebook ensures the privacy and security of the documents that you send to us.
- We encourage you to send us documents through your Support Inbox because Facebook uses a secure connection (https) by default. This means when you send us something through Support Inbox, the information is encrypted when we receive it.
- We also encrypt this information on disk, and only team members who work on helping people with account issues can read the encrypted documents.
- We automatically delete IDs 30 days after they've been submitted.
- We encourage anyone who submits a document to cover up any personal information that we don't need to see (ex: address, social security number).
- We accept many different types of documents, not just government-issued IDs. The full list of documents includes things like transit or other membership cards.
We care about the security of your account, and want to make sure that the only person with access to your Facebook account is you. One of the ways we do this is to ask that you provide your phone number.
To confirm your account, you'll need to log into Facebook and follow the on-screen instructions to add your mobile number. Your phone number will be added to your profile, but you can choose who can see it using your privacy settings.