Identity verification for prepaid SIM and eSIM registration

What registration-first markets ask of identity checks

In some markets the rule is not "verify someone who wants to activate". It is "do not activate until the owner is registered". The SIM, or the eSIM profile, is sold or downloaded in a deactivated state, and the registration is the key that switches it on. That changes the shape of the work. The check is not a gate in a longer onboarding but the whole transaction, it has to cope with whoever walks into a shop, and it has to be repeated every time the SIM changes hands.

• Complete a registration for every SIM before the line is switched on.
• Handle the customer who buys in a shop and registers on a phone afterwards.
• Route a minor to a parent or guardian, and a foreign visitor to a different document set.
• Find one person behind many registrations.
• Repeat the registration when a SIM is sold on.

The flow

1. Sale. The SIM, or the eSIM profile, leaves the shelf or the store deactivated. Your system holds it in that state.
2. Start. The customer scans a QR code at the point of sale or follows a one-time link, and continues in the web widget on a phone.
3. Registration form. The questionnaire collects the fields your rules require, such as full name, birth date and address, before the KYC starts. Your own fields can be added to it.
4. Document and face. The customer photographs an identity document that carries a photo. The document is read and checked for fraud, the selfie is matched to the document portrait and active liveness confirms a live person.
5. Branches. The scenario editor holds a separate scenario for each customer type, and your system chooses which one starts. A minor goes to a guardian scenario. A foreign national visiting as a tourist gets a scenario with a passport and a proof of address in the Philippines as an extra document, and your own system collects and validates the return ticket, or other ticket showing the date and time of departure, that the Act also lists. A foreign national with another type of visa gets a passport and a proof of address, and your own steps cover the further documents the Act lists, such as an employment permit, a registration card or a school ID for students. The Act leaves detail to implementing rules and regulations, which this page does not cover, so it is not a registration-ready flow until you check them.
6. Many SIMs, one face. Repeat-user search looks for the same face among earlier verified users, and your own person lists and blocklists are checked in the same flow.
7. Activation. Your activation system reads the session status or receives a webhook, and its own rule switches the line on.
8. Resale. When a registered SIM is sold or transferred, the new holder goes through the same registration.

Where this differs from the telecom page

The telecom page is about verifying a subscriber at activation and about finding one face behind many activations, with an Australian regulator's text as its example. This page covers a market where registration comes first and activation second. That puts three branches in the flow that the general page does not need: a minor, a foreign visitor with a time-limited SIM, and a SIM that changes hands. The text below is a different statute, with different consequences for each branch.

Modules used

• Web SDK and widget and QR hand-off.
• Questionnaire for the registration form.
• Document verification, face verification and liveness.
• Proof of address as an extra document for a visitor.
• Scenario editor for a scenario per customer type.
• Repeat-user search and blocklists, described on the face verification page.
• REST API and webhooks.
• Deployment: in the cloud, or installed on your own servers by our engineers.

Regulatory frame

One example from a primary text: Republic Act No. 11934, the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act of the Philippines, dated 10 October 2022, in the text published on the Lawphil site. It is an example of a registration-first law. Other countries differ widely.

• Section 3(f) defines a SIM as a Subscriber Identity Module, and states that for the purposes of the Act this includes e-SIMs and other variations.
• Section 4 requires all end-users to register their SIMs with public telecommunications entities as a prerequisite to the activation, requires SIMs sold by those entities, their agents, resellers or any entity to be in a deactivated state, and allows activation only after the end-user completes the registration.
• Section 5(a) requires a registration form with full name, date of birth, sex and address, accomplished electronically through a platform or website provided by the telecommunications entity, with a declaration by the end-user that the identification documents presented are true and correct and that the end-user is the one who accomplished the form.
• Section 5(b) requires presentation of valid government-issued identification cards or other similar documents with photo that will verify the identity of the end-user, and lists documents such as a passport and a driver's license.
• Section 5(c) requires the input of the assigned mobile number of the SIM with its serial number.
• Section 5(d) provides that the registration of a SIM by a minor is made under the name of the minor's parent or guardian, who gives consent and registers the SIM.
• Section 5(e) requires foreign nationals to register their full name, nationality, passport number and address in the Philippines. For tourists it also lists a passport, a proof of address in the Philippines and a return ticket or other ticket showing the date and time of departure; for foreign nationals with other types of visas it lists a passport, a proof of address and further documents such as an employment permit, a registration card, a school registration and ID for students, or other pertinent documents. It provides that SIMs registered by tourists are valid only temporarily, for thirty days, and are automatically deactivated on expiry.
• Section 7 provides that a registered SIM shall not be sold or transferred without complying with the registration requirements.

This block describes the text, not our service. For information; not legal advice.

Sources

• Republic Act No. 11934, An Act Requiring the Registration of Subscriber Identity Module, Lawphil text, fetched 27 October 2026.

Next

Try the interactive tour, compare with the telecom flow or read how a SIM change is protected on the SIM change page.