Two things cause nearly every failed verification, and both are fixable in a couple of minutes.
1. Your details don't match your ID exactly
This is the most common reason by a wide margin. A shortened first name, a missing middle name, or a transposed date of birth is enough to fail the check.
Your legal name and date of birth have to match your government-issued ID exactly — not the name you go by, not the spelling you prefer. Open the ID and copy from it rather than typing from memory.
2. The selfie couldn't be matched to your ID photo
You'll see: "Your selfie didn't match the photo on your ID. Try again in good lighting, no hat or sunglasses."
Retry from the same screen. A mismatch on the first attempt is common and doesn't count against you — it's usually lighting or a partly covered face rather than a real problem.
What helps: face a window or a lamp rather than having it behind you, remove hats and glasses, hold the ID flat with no glare across it, and don't crop the edges out.
3. Your proof of address is out of date
Less common, but worth checking. The bank statement or utility bill has to be dated within the last three months, and the address on it has to match what you typed.
Still failing?
Verification is reviewed by a person rather than approved automatically, so a pending state isn't a failure. If you've retried and it's still not clearing, chat with us from inside the app and we'll look at what the check is objecting to.