Document Check
ID document verification for KYC. Authenticate passports and national IDs. Extract OCR, MRZ, barcode, and NFC chip data.
Document Check Overview
A Document Check is an advanced ID document verification service designed for KYC onboarding and digital identity verification.
It allows businesses to verify passports, driving licences, and national identity cards while detecting document fraud, including deepfake portrait swaps, Photoshop edits, and image manipulation, and extracting structured identity data for compliance and downstream processing.
ComplyCube supports verification of over 13,000 document types across 250+ countries and territories, enabling global identity coverage. Supported documents include:
Passports
Driving licenses
National identity cards
Residence permits
Tax identification documents
Other region-specific IDs, including voter, refugee, and health cards
While this check can be run entirely through our API, we highly recommend using the Hosted Solution, Web SDK, or Mobile SDKs. These SDKs guide your customers through the capture process, reducing friction, improving completion rates, and minimizing false positive outcomes.
Common use cases
Document Checks enable businesses to verify identities securely, reduce onboarding fraud, and meet global AML and compliance requirements at scale. They're typically used for:
Digital KYC onboarding: Authenticate passports and government-issued IDs during remote customer acquisition.
Cross-border identity verification: Validate identity documents across multiple countries and jurisdictions with broad global coverage.
Age verification and access control: Verify date of birth from government-issued IDs to confirm age eligibility for restricted services and regulated products.
Fraud prevention: Detect fake, tampered, or manipulated ID documents during customer registration.
Regulated industry compliance: Extract structured ID data and generate audit-ready verification records for regulated industries such as fintech, telcos, crypto, and marketplaces.
How document check works
ComplyCube verifies the submitted document through a series of capture, authenticity, fraud, and data extraction checks:
Real-time capture quality checks: When you use the Hosted Solution, Web SDK, or Mobile SDKs, ComplyCube checks image quality in real time during capture. This helps ensure the document is clear, complete, and suitable for validation before the check runs.
Document authenticity verification: Performs forensic analysis of built-in security features such as holograms, print patterns, layout consistency, and embedded protections to confirm the document is genuine.
Fraud detection: Detects tampering, Photoshop edits, image manipulation, deepfake swaps, camera injections, photocopies, and screen replays.
OCR and MRZ extraction: Extracts identity data, signatures, and images from the document, and validates Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) data in ICAO-compliant format.
Barcode and NFC chip authentication: Extracts data from barcodes and verifies the integrity of embedded RFID chips using NFC on compatible ePassports and identity cards to confirm authenticity.
Lost, stolen, and flagged document screening: Screens documents against global blacklists and databases of lost, stolen, flagged, and otherwise compromised IDs.
Privacy-first redaction: Automatically redacts sensitive data fields in images and extracted data to support data minimization and compliance requirements.
RFID chip data extraction and analysis are available exclusively through our Mobile SDKs, which use NFC to access the chip.
Analysis performed
The Document Check runs multiple layers of analysis to validate the authenticity, integrity, and consistency of identity documents. Each analysis type focuses on a specific set of verifications.
The diagram below outlines the key analysis categories.
Detailed verification checks
Forensic Analysis
Security elements check: Confirms embedded features (e.g., holograms, UV marks) are genuine.
Tamper or manipulation detection: Identifies alterations, Photoshop edits, image manipulation, and other forgeries.
Document liveness analysis: Ensures the document is physically present, not a static copy or AI-generated.
Photo location analysis: Detects mismatched or swapped photos.
MRZ classification and placement: Checks MRZ data is structured correctly and in the right place.
Format Analysis
Country and document model validation: Confirms the ID matches official country formats.
Photocopy detection: Flags photocopied or re-printed documents.
Content Analysis
Expiry and issuance: Validates ID is current and correctly issued.
Data integrity: Ensures consistency across fields.
Specimen analysis: Compares against genuine sample IDs.
Blacklist check: Detects IDs reported lost, stolen, or compromised.
MRZ Analysis
Checksum validation: Confirms MRZ codes are valid.
Format validation: Ensures compliance with ICAO standards.
RFID Analysis
Basic and chip authentication: Confirms the RFID chip is original and untampered.
Passive and active authentication: Validates chip data integrity.
PACE (Password Authenticated Connection Establishment): Ensures the RFID chip is genuine and has not been tampered with.
Facial similarity check: Compares the chip-stored biometric photo with the document’s visible portrait.
Front & Back Analysis
Format and consistency: Ensures details match across both sides of the document.
Consistency Analysis
Cross-validation: Compares OCR data from VIZ, MRZ, barcodes, and RFID chip data for alignment.
Client Validation
Age verification: Confirms whether the customer is older than the defined threshold.
Client data consistency: Ensures submitted customer info matches extracted document data.
Sample result
The example below shows a representative Document Check result for document authenticity, data extraction, and validation outcomes.
Use it to see how extracted identity data, authenticity signals, and verification findings may appear in a Document Check report.
This example is illustrative. Exact fields, values, and layout may vary by workflow, configuration, and result.
Check duration
A Document Check takes an average of 8 seconds to complete.
Frequently asked questions
Which documents can I verify online with Document Check?
You can verify passports, driving licences, national identity cards, residence permits, and many other government-issued IDs.
See Country and ID document coverage for the full list.
Can Document Check detect fake, forged, or tampered IDs?
Yes.
Document Check is designed to detect document fraud such as tampering, Photoshop edits, image manipulation, photocopies, screen replays, and deepfake portrait swaps.
It also checks security features, document format consistency, MRZ validity, and blacklist exposure for lost, stolen, or compromised IDs.
Can Document Check extract OCR, MRZ, barcode, and NFC data?
Yes.
Document Check can extract structured identity data from visual fields, MRZ, and barcodes.
For compatible ePassports and identity cards, it can also verify and extract data from embedded RFID chips through NFC chip verification when you use the Mobile SDKs.
Do I need both sides of the ID document?
Not always.
The required sides depend on the document type and issuing country. Some documents only need the front. Others require both sides for full verification.
If you use the Hosted Solution, Web SDK, or Mobile SDKs, ComplyCube detects the expected sides from the provided document type and guides the user to capture one side or both sides as needed.
See Expected sides per type for details.
Can I run ID document verification without a selfie?
Yes.
Document Check verifies the document itself. Add Identity Check when you also need liveness detection and face match against the document holder.
How do I improve online document verification pass rates?
Use clear images with good lighting, minimal glare, sharp focus, and all document edges visible.
Guided capture through the Hosted Solution, Web SDK, or Mobile SDKs helps reduce submission errors and improve completion rates.
Can Document Check be used for age verification?
Yes.
Document Check can extract and validate date of birth from government-issued IDs, which makes it useful for age verification and access control flows.
For selfie-based age checks without document capture, see Age Estimation Check.
Which checks are commonly combined with Document Check in KYC?
Document Check is often paired with Identity Check for liveness verification, AML Screening Check, Proof of Address Check, and Multi-Bureau Check.
This helps you move from document verification to a fuller identity and compliance decision in one Workflow.
Related checks
You’ll typically run a Document Check alongside:
Identity Check for liveness and selfie verification.
Multi-Bureau Check for identity and address verification via authoritative sources.
Proof of Address Check to validate address documents when required.
AML Screening Check for sanctions, PEP, and adverse media screening.
Related topics
Use these when running or configuring Document Checks:
NFC chip verification for chip-based document integrity checks (mobile).
Autofill for structured data extraction from identity documents.
Workflows to bundle Document Check into an end-to-end KYC journey.
Policies to apply rule-based pass/fail logic and regulatory requirements.