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.
In some cases, such as authorization for advertisers running ads about social issues, elections or politics, there may be special ID requirements. Learn more in ID Requirements for Ads About Social Issues, Elections or Politics below.
Please only submit the required documents. Submitting more documents than necessary may delay the review process.
You can also learn more about what happens to your ID after you send it to Facebook.
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. Anything that you send us, must include your name and at least one of the two documents should contain your date-of-birth and/or photo. 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
ID Requirements for Ads About Social Issues, Elections or Politics
If you want to run ads about social issues, elections or politics:
- Your ID should be from the country where you want to run ads, and the name of that country must appear on your ID.
- If your ID has an expiration date, the ID must not be expired.
Visit the Business Help Center to learn more about ads with political content.
To upload a copy of your ID:
- Take a close-up photo of your ID in a well-lit room.
- Save the photo to your mobile device or 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 a few reasons you may be asked to send in a copy of your ID to Facebook:
- To confirm that the account you're trying to access belongs to you: Your security is important to us. We ask for an ID so that we don't let anyone into your account except for you.
- To confirm your name: We ask everyone on Facebook to use the name they go by in everyday life. This helps keep you and our community safe from impersonation.
Other reasons people may be required to confirm their identity include helping prevent abuse such as scams, phishing and foreign political influence.
After you send us a copy of your ID, it'll be encrypted and stored securely. Your ID will not be visible to anyone on Facebook.
To help ensure IDs used for identity confirmation are real, we use both manual review and automated systems. This helps prevent abuse such as scams and impersonation, and helps ensure that ads with political content are authentic.
To help improve our systems for detecting fake IDs and related abuse, we may ask for your permission to use an encrypted copy of your ID for up to one year. Your ID will not be used for this purpose unless that was indicated at the time you sent your ID to Facebook.
If you don't want Facebook to use your ID to improve our automated systems for detecting fake IDs, you can adjust your Identity Confirmation Settings. If you turn this option off, the copy of your ID will be deleted within 30 days of submission or when you turned this option off.
We’ll use your ID or official document to confirm your identity. We'll also use it to help detect and prevent risks such as impersonation or ID theft, which helps to keep you and our Facebook community safe. It will not be shared on your profile, in ads or with other admins of your Pages or ad accounts. After we’ve confirmed your identity and run compliance checks, we’ll delete your ID or document within 30 days. When required by law, we will securely store your name and date of birth for longer.
Learn more about the kinds of IDs we accept and how to send your ID to Facebook.
