# How to vet a national digital ID before you build KYC on it

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/blog/vetting-a-national-digital-id-for-kyc/
Last updated: 2026-06-23
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Expanding into a new market usually means accepting a new national ID for onboarding. Teams often treat that as a document-template problem. It is bigger than that. A national ID carries an assurance level, a legal regime, a set of standards, and a verification path, and getting those wrong creates fraud gaps or compliance exposure. Here is the checklist we use, with the references to move quickly.

## The seven-point check

**1. What type of scheme is it?** A document-based national ID card, a bank-led eID, a government login, and a wallet credential verify in completely different ways. Identify the type first. Each entry in the [digital ID directory](https://startwithidentity.com/digital-ids/) is tagged by type.

**2. What is the assurance level?** An eIDAS "high" eID, a NIST IAL2 proofing, and a self-asserted app account are not interchangeable. Match the assurance to the risk of what you are onboarding for.

**3. Which standards does it use?** ICAO Doc 9303 for passport chips, ISO/IEC 18013-5 for mobile driver licenses, eIDAS for EU schemes. Standards tell you how to read and trust the credential. See the [standards deep dives](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/).

**4. Who issues it, and what is its status?** A live, government-issued card is different from a pilot or a planned scheme. The directory records the issuer, launch year, and status for each.

**5. What does the privacy law require?** Verifying identity means processing personal and often biometric data. Check the country's rules before you collect anything. Every scheme links to its [data-protection regulation](https://startwithidentity.com/regulations/), mapped to identity impact.

**6. Which verification vendors support it?** You rarely verify a foreign document yourself. Know which [identity verification providers](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/) cover the document, and confirm coverage with them directly, because it varies by region and document.

**7. How broad is coverage, and is it mandatory?** A near-universal mandatory ID gives you reach. A voluntary or early-rollout scheme means you still need fallbacks. Coverage notes are on each scheme page.

## A worked example

Say you are onboarding customers in India. The scheme is [Aadhaar](https://startwithidentity.com/digital-ids/india/india-aadhaar/), a document and biometric national ID. Assurance is high, but verification is special: Aadhaar e-KYC is licensed and India-specific, so you use India-focused verification vendors rather than a generic global one. The governing law is the [DPDP Act](https://startwithidentity.com/regulations/india/dpdp-act/), which shapes consent and data handling. In four clicks you have the type, the law, and the verifier path.

## The point

KYC built on a shallow read of a national ID is how fraud slips in and how compliance findings happen. Spend twenty minutes on the seven points before you write the integration. The [digital ID directory](https://startwithidentity.com/digital-ids/), the [regulations directory](https://startwithidentity.com/regulations/), and the [verification vendor profiles](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/identity-verification/) are built to make that twenty minutes fast.