Recovery

How to Pass Meta Identity Verification

When Meta asks you to confirm who you are to get back in — what the check looks like, which IDs it accepts, and how to give yourself the best chance of passing the first time.

Sometimes the last step to regaining access is proving you are a real person — and that you are who you say you are. Meta calls this confirming your identity. It is a personal identity check, not the separate business verification that companies do to run ads. This page walks through what the check involves and how to avoid the small mistakes that get submissions rejected.

If your situation is actually …

Work through identity verification

Stage 1 · Stabilize

Make sure verification is actually the right step

  1. Confirm Meta is genuinely asking you to confirm your identity inside an official Facebook flow — start from facebook.com, not from a link in an unexpected email or message.
    Fake "verify your identity" messages are a common phishing tactic. Only trust the prompt when you reached it yourself through Facebook.
  2. If you were hacked rather than simply locked out, begin at the hacked-account flow instead — that path includes its own identity step in the right order.
    Where: facebook.com/hacked
Stage 2 · Diagnose

Gather a document that will pass

  1. Pick an ID where the name matches the name on your account. Meta accepts government photo IDs (such as a passport, driver's licence, or national ID card). If you have no government ID, you can usually submit two different non-government items that show your name instead.
    The name on the document must match the name you use on the account. A mismatch is one of the most common rejection reasons.
  2. Check the document is current — if it has an expiry date, it must not be expired.
  3. If you are submitting non-government documents, make sure at least one shows your date of birth and/or a photo, and that both clearly show your name.
Stage 3 · Reclaim

Submit it cleanly

  1. Photograph the whole document on a flat, well-lit surface so all four corners and every detail are sharp and readable.
    Blurry, cropped, glare-covered, or dark photos are routinely rejected even when the ID itself is fine.
  2. Submit the original, unaltered document. Do not blur, cover, or edit any part of it — Meta does not accept images that have been digitally modified to hide information.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to upload, then wait for the review. Reviews can take anywhere from minutes to several days, and you may be notified by email or in the flow itself.
    There is no way to speed up the review; submitting more documents will not make it faster.
Stage 4 · Harden

Once you are back in, reduce the chance of repeating this

  1. Turn on two-factor authentication and confirm your recovery email and phone are current and ones you control.
    Most identity checks are triggered by a lockout or a suspicious sign-in. Strong recovery options reduce how often you hit them.
    Where: facebook.com/settings (Security and login)
  2. Make sure the name on your profile matches your real ID, so any future verification passes without a name mismatch.
If this flow does not restore access: Contact Meta support for access problems →

A quick pre-submission check

Run through this before you upload — it catches the issues that cause most rejections.

  1. Name matches

    The name on your document is the same as the name on your Facebook account. If they differ, that alone can fail the check.

    Confirm: Document name and account name read the same.

  2. Document is valid

    The ID is not expired, and if it is a government photo ID it is one accepted in your country.

    Confirm: No expiry date in the past.

  3. Photo is clear and complete

    Every edge is visible, text is legible, and there is no glare or shadow obscuring details. Use good lighting and a plain background.

    Confirm: You can read every line on the document in your photo.

  4. Nothing is edited

    Submit the document as-is. Do not redact, blur, or alter any part of it.

    Confirm: The image is an unmodified photo of the real document.

Common questions

No. This is personal identity verification — confirming you are a real, specific person, usually to regain access. Business verification is a separate process where a company proves its legal details to unlock things like ad features. The two are not interchangeable; passing one does not satisfy the other. If you are unsure which you are being asked for, the verification-types page lays out the differences.

Delvia

Access issues are easier to prevent when roles, owners, and responsibilities are recorded clearly

Most access problems trace back to the same gap — no clear record of who has access, what role they hold, and what should happen when that changes. Delvia helps you keep that record so problems are visible before they become incidents.

Delvia is free on iPhone and Android. Keep a clear record of who has access to your accounts — and what to do when that changes — wherever you are.