Facial Match to the Home Affairs photograph
Biometrically matches a selfie to the latest photograph the Department of Home Affairs holds for that ID number, and returns a match probability.
Your customer takes a selfie through their own camera, in front of you or over a remote link you send them to complete wherever they are. Facial Match compares it with the latest photograph Home Affairs holds for the ID number presented and returns a probability that the two faces match; you set the probability you accept.
What you get, and where it stops
What you get
- How likely it is that the face on camera and the Home Affairs photograph for that ID number show the same face, as a percentage.
- A reference image the customer did not supply: the latest photograph Home Affairs holds for that number.
- Capture in front of you or over a remote link, through the customer’s own camera.
Where it stops
- That a living person completed the capture. Where you need that tested and recorded, add the Liveness Test, which returns a pass or fail result. Facial Match runs without it.
- Intent or free will. No verification shows that a person understood what they were agreeing to, or acted under no duress.
Chain it with
A flow is several verifications run as one journey. These pair naturally with Facial Match.
- ID VerificationRuns first, on the ID number whose latest Home Affairs photograph the selfie is compared against.
- Liveness TestOptional here: add it when you need a recorded pass or fail result on whether a living person completed the step. Liveness always runs with Facial Match; Facial Match does not need Liveness.
What you need to run it
- South African ID number
- The number whose latest Home Affairs photograph the selfie is compared against. ID Verification runs first, on the same number.
- A selfie captured in the flow
- Taken through the customer’s own camera: in your flow, or over a remote link you send them.
What comes back
A match probability, returned in real time as a percentage.
- Match probability
- How likely it is that the face on camera and the Home Affairs photograph show the same face, as a percentage.
Every result is filed with a timestamped audit record.
| Outcome | What it means |
|---|---|
| Probability returned | A match probability comes back as a percentage. How to read it is set out below. |
How to read the score
- The number is a percentage: how likely it is that the two faces show the same face. Pass or fail is not returned.
- You set the probability you accept. For example, a client might treat 85% and above as a match; where your level sits is your decision.
Where it fits in your compliance programme
Where your Risk Management and Compliance Programme requires you to satisfy yourself that the person presenting an identity is its holder, a match probability at or above the level you accept is evidence towards that. It supports the identity-verification step of section 21 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA) rather than replacing it.
Questions
Is a facial match a yes or a no?
Neither. It is a probability that the two faces match, returned as a percentage. You set the probability you accept, and what you do at the margin is a risk decision that stays with you.
Does Facial Match need the customer present?
They have to take part (the selfie is captured in the flow, through their own camera), but they do not have to be in front of you. Send a remote link and they complete the verification wherever they are.
What happens to the selfie?
It is compared against one record only: the latest photograph Home Affairs holds for the ID number given. It is not searched against a collection of faces. Veriflow does not keep a searchable index of faces, does not run one-to-many searches, and does not keep a facial template that could be used to recognise the person in a different business’s verification. It is used for the verification and nothing else, and it is not used to build, train or improve any product. The person being verified can read how their information is handled on our page for individuals.
How do I run Facial Match, and what does it cost?
It runs inside a flow, after ID Verification on the same ID number. Run it from the portal, or through the API with a sandbox to build against (credentials on request). There is no public price list: book a demo and a specialist prepares a pricing proposal built around your volumes. You can pay as you go from a wallet or settle monthly on invoice.
About results
Veriflow will perform the Services with the reasonable skill and care of a competent provider of identity-verification services in South Africa. Veriflow transmits results sourced from third-party data sources, including registered South African credit bureaux, banks, official registers and published watchlists. Veriflow does not compile that underlying data, does not warrant its accuracy, completeness or currency, and gives no warranty that any verification result is correct.
A Result is an input to the Client's own assessment. Veriflow does not decide whether any person or entity is onboarded, declined, priced, offboarded, employed, granted credit or reported, and makes no recommendation as to any of those outcomes. Those decisions are made solely by the Client, on its own criteria and under its own legal obligations, and the Client must not use a Result as the sole basis for any adverse outcome affecting a person.
Every verification
People & identity
- ID Verification
- Facial Match
- Liveness Test
- Contact Verification
Business & compliance
Build the flow, not the verification
Tell us the journey you run and we will show you how it chains together.
Last updated .