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Overview

When customers require additional information during verification, Fern provides detailed verification issues to help you understand what needs to be corrected. These issues are returned when a customer’s status changes to NEEDS_ADDITIONAL_INFORMATION, giving you specific guidance on how to resolve verification problems. Verification issues help you:
  • Understand exactly what information needs to be corrected
  • Provide clear guidance to your customers
  • Reduce verification turnaround time
  • Improve the customer verification experience
Related guides:

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When verification issues appear

Verification issues are included in API responses when a customer’s status is NEEDS_ADDITIONAL_INFORMATION, UNDER_REVIEW, or REJECTED. You can access these issues through: The verificationIssues array provides actionable information to help customers resolve verification problems and complete their verification successfully.

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Verification issues schema

Each verification issue contains the following information:
Schema properties:
  • code: Standardized error code identifying the specific issue
  • message: User-friendly description explaining what needs to be corrected
  • timestamp: When the issue was detected

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Common verification issues

The table below shows some of the most common verification issues and their meanings:
If you receive a VERIFICATION_ISSUE code, this indicates our system detected an issue but couldn’t provide a specific error code. Please contact support for further investigation and assistance resolving the verification problem.

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Resolving verification issues

When you receive verification issues, you can resolve them by updating the customer’s information using the PATCH /customers/{id} endpoint. This allows you to correct any problematic data and automatically restart the verification process. Resolution workflow:
  1. Parse the issues array - Extract the specific codes and messages from verificationIssues
  2. Display clear guidance - Show user-friendly messages to your customers
  3. Collect corrected information - Allow customers to provide updated data or documents
  4. Update customer data - Use PATCH /customers/{id} to submit corrections
  5. Automatic restart - Verification process restarts automatically after the update

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How to resolve verification issues

Use the PATCH /customers/{id} endpoint to update customer information and resolve verification issues. The endpoint accepts the same fields as customer creation, allowing you to correct any problematic data. Common resolution actions:
  • Document issues: Upload new, higher-quality document images
  • Information mismatches: Correct name, address, or other personal details
  • Missing data: Provide additional required information
  • Expired documents: Upload current, valid identification
Once you update the customer data, the verification process automatically restarts. The customer status will change from NEEDS_ADDITIONAL_INFORMATION to UNDER_REVIEW, and you’ll receive a new customer.updated webhook notification.