The complete guide to passing identity verification on your first try. No more rejection emails. No more guessing games.
There is a special circle of hell reserved for "Verification Failed" emails.
You know the feeling. You spend twenty minutes filling out forms, you take the awkward selfie, you upload your life story, and then you wait. You just want to get on Binance or Upwork to do some actual work.
Then the notification hits. Rejected.
It makes you want to throw your phone across the room. I get it. I have been there more times than I care to admit.
But before you try again and get your account locked for "suspicious activity," you need to understand something important. You are not trying to prove you are real to a human being. Humans are reasonable. Humans can squint and say "yeah, that looks like him."
They are automated scripts looking for very specific patterns, and if your photo is even 1% off, they panic and hit the red button.
I have analyzed about 2.8 million of these documents. No joke. I have seen it all. Here is the actual truth about why you are failing and how to fix KYC verification so you can move on with your life.
Most people think their ID was rejected because the system thinks they are a criminal. Usually, it is much dumber than that.
The AI is looking for three things:
| What AI Checks | What Makes It Fail |
|---|---|
| Borders | Card edges not visible or blending into background |
| Text Sharpness | Any blur that prevents OCR from reading characters |
| Light Reflection | Glare covering any part of the document |
If you mess up any of these, you fail. That is actually why we built Fix Your KYC in the first place. We got tired of guessing, so we built a tool that looks at your ID with the same "robot eyes" the exchanges use and tells you exactly what is wrong before you upload it.
But if you want to try fixing KYC verification on your own, here is the cheat sheet.
You don't need luck. You need better lighting.
You think your photo looks clear. The bot disagrees. If there is even a tiny bit of motion blur, the OCR (optical character recognition) can't read your name.
The Fix: Stop holding the phone. Seriously. Put it on a coffee cup or a stack of books to stabilize it. Tap the screen to focus right on the text.
This is the most common mistake I see. You turn on the camera flash because it's dark. The flash hits the plastic ID card and creates a giant white explosion of light. That white spot hides your details.
The Fix: Turn the flash OFF. Never use it for documents. Ever.
Taking photos in a dark room introduces "noise." That is the grainy fuzz you see in low-light photos. To an AI, that grain looks like digital alteration.
The Fix: Go find a window. Natural sunlight is the best filter in the world.
Don't try to be perfect and crop the photo right to the edge of the card. The AI needs to see the background so it knows the card is a physical object sitting on a table.
The Fix: Back up a bit. Leave some room around the card. Show the table.
If you put a white ID card on a white sheet of paper, the camera can't tell where the card ends and the paper begins.
The Fix: Contrast is king. Put your light-colored ID on a dark table or a dark piece of cloth.
Did you take a picture of a picture on your laptop screen? Or maybe you screenshotted an old photo from your gallery?
The Fix: Don't do that. Screens have pixels that create weird wave patterns called Moiré lines. The bot sees those and assumes you are faking it. Use the original file only.
It sounds obvious, but go check the date. Right now.
The Fix: If it expired last week, don't even bother. Even if you look exactly the same. The computer can read numbers better than it can read faces.
If your ID says "William" but you signed up as "Bill," you are going to have a bad time.
The Fix: Your signup name must match the ID character for character. Middle names included.
Sending a PDF of a photo pasted into a Word doc? Yeah, that's not going to work.
The Fix: Keep it simple. JPG or PNG. That is it.
You kept your hat on. Or your sunglasses. Or you tried to look cool.
The Fix: Look boring. Look like you are getting a mugshot. Good light on your face, no shadows under the eyes, neutral expression.
| ❌ Don't Do This | ✓ Do This Instead |
|---|---|
| Use camera flash | Use natural window light |
| Crop tight to card edges | Leave visible background margin |
| White card on white surface | High contrast backgrounds |
| Screenshot of a photo | Original camera capture only |
| Edit or filter photos | Submit completely unedited |
| Use nickname on account | Exact name match with ID |
| Selfie with glasses/hat | Plain face, neutral expression |
If you want to pass this on the first try, stop rushing. Treat it like a mini photoshoot.
Clear off a table near a window. Wipe the camera lens on your shirt because it is probably greasy.
Lay the ID on the table. If there is a glare from the window, tilt the card slightly by putting a coin under one corner. Just a tiny lift changes the angle of the light.
Stand up. Hold the phone directly over the card, totally parallel. If you shoot from an angle, the text gets warped and the robot can't read it.
Take three or four photos. Zoom in on them. If you can't read the smallest text clearly, delete it and try again.
This is the pro move. Run the photo through Fix Your KYC first. It takes like ten seconds. It will tell you if the glare is too high or the blur is too bad. It is way better to fix it now than to wait 48 hours for a rejection email.
Let our AI check your document with the same "robot eyes" verification systems use. Know exactly what's wrong before you submit.
Check Your ID FreeEvery site has its own little quirks. Here's what you need to know about the major platforms.
Do not open Photoshop. Don't use a "beauty filter" to smooth your skin on the selfie. Don't try to brighten the ID card in Instagram editor. These files have metadata, and the verification bots can smell an edited photo from a mile away. Even if you are just trying to make it look better, the system will flag it as "Fraud - Tampered."
Just take a clean, honest, boring photo in good light. That is the secret.
And if you are still stuck after trying everything, seriously, just use the tool. That's why we made it.
KYC verification typically fails due to image quality issues, not identity concerns. About 90% of failures are caused by motion blur, flash glare, low lighting, incorrect cropping, or name mismatches between your ID and account. The AI systems are looking for very specific technical criteria, and even small deviations cause rejection.
To fix KYC on Binance: use a passport if available (they prefer passports), disable your VPN completely, ensure good natural lighting without flash, and verify your account name matches your ID exactly. Binance's verification is stricter than most platforms, so take extra care with photo quality.
Never edit KYC photos. Verification systems check file metadata (EXIF data) and can detect any editing—even simple brightness or contrast adjustments. Edited photos are automatically flagged as potentially fraudulent, regardless of your intentions. Always submit the original, unedited photo.
KYC verification typically takes 24-48 hours, though some platforms offer instant verification. Rejection emails usually arrive within 1-3 days. If you haven't heard back after 3 days, check your spam folder or contact the platform's support directly.
Passports generally work best for KYC verification because they have a standardized international format that AI systems recognize easily. Driver's licenses are a close second. Avoid using student IDs, work badges, or other non-government-issued documents unless specifically allowed.
Your account name must match your ID character for character. If you signed up as "Bill" but your ID says "William," you'll fail verification. Contact support to update your account name before submitting, or create a new account with the exact name shown on your ID.
Stop wasting time on rejected submissions. Our free tool analyzes your document in seconds and tells you exactly what to fix.
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