How to confirm your identity online for a new or renewed passport

Applying for a passport using the new online online system requires the applicant to ask someone to digitally confirm their identity through an emailed photograph. Here we look at who can do this and how the online system works.

In the past, applying for a passport would need someone to physically sign and make a declaration on the back of a photograph, but now the process can be carried out digitally online.

Here we look at who can be asked to carry out this digital identification and how the system works.

Who can sign confirm my passport identity onlue Find out who can confirm your passport photo identity online

Who can I ask to confirm my identity online for a passport?

Just like physically signing a photograph, only a selected collection of people are able to confirm your identity online.

To confirm someone's identity, the person chosen must:

Be 18 or over
Live in the UK
Have a current UK passport
Have known the person applying for at least 2 years (this is the adult making the application if the passport is for a child under 16)
Know the person applying as a friend, neighbour or colleague (not just someone who knows you professionally)

What professions that I can ask to confirm my identity online for a passport?

Along with the criteria above, the person asked to confirm your identity for a passport must be working in, or retired from, a recognised profession. The professions include:

Accountant
Airline pilot
Articled clerk of a limited company
Assurance agent of recognised company
Bank or building society official
Barrister
Chairman or director of a limited company
Chiropodist
Commissioner for oaths
Councillor, for example local or county
Civil servant (permanent)
Dentist
Director, manager or personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
Engineer with professional qualifications
Financial services intermediary, for example a stockbroker or insurance broker
Fire service official
Funeral director
Insurance agent (full time) of a recognised company
Journalist
Justice of the Peace
Legal secretary (fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs)
Licensee of a public house
Local government officer
Manager or personnel officer of a limited company
Member, associate or fellow of a professional body
Member of Parliament
Merchant Navy officer
Minister of a recognised religion (including Christian Science)
Nurse (RGN or RMN)
Officer of the armed services
Optician
Paralegal (certified paralegal, qualified paralegal or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals)
Person with honours, for example an OBE or MBE
Pharmacist
Photographer (professional)
Police officer
Post Office official
President or secretary of a recognised organisation
Salvation Army officer
Social worker
Solicitor
Surveyor
Teacher or lecturer
Trade union officer
Travel agent (qualified)
Valuer or auctioneer (fellow or associate members of the incorporated society)
Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers

Who is not allowed to confirm someone's identity?

The following are not able to confirm your identity for an online passport application:

You’re related by birth or marriage
You’re in a relationship with them or live together
You work for HM Passport Office
You work for UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) on British citizenship or right of abode applications
You’re a doctor - unless you know the person who has asked you well (for example, you’re a good friend)

How is a person's identity confirmed online?

The person put forward to confirm your identity will get an email from HM Passport Office.

Your nominated person will receive an email form HM Passport Office, asking them to confirm your identity through a digital photograph.

It will not be possible to process the passport until the identification is completed.

What will the person confirming the identity need?

The person will need the following information to complete the identification process:

The reference number from the email they received
Their own passport details

They will also need to know the following information about the person having their identity confirmed:

The date of birth and address of the person applying for a passport
Where the child was born and their parent’s names and years of birth (if confirming a child’s identity)