Overview

BGLiD supports several different types of identification. This article aims to outline where to locate information needed to complete an identity request, a requirement for the BGLiD verification process.

The Identification types currently supported by BGLiD are:

Medicare card: How it works as a secondary document

A Medicare card is a secondary document only. You can add it to a BGLiD request, but it needs to be paired with a primary document, either an Australian Passport or Driver's Licence. On its own, it won't work.

How to include a Medicare card in a request

When setting up the BGLiD verification request, select both the primary document type (Passport or Driver's Licence) and the Medicare card option. The contact will then be asked to provide both during the verification flow.

For full details on the Medicare verification step, see Medicare - Australia.

Foreign passports: How the check works

Conditions for acceptance

A non-Australian passport will only work if two things are true:

1. The contact holds a current Australian visa, and
2. The passport details (number, name, date of birth) match the visa grant record held by the Department of Home Affairs.

Visitors, people on expired visas, and anyone whose passport details don't match the Home Affairs record will fail. Even for legitimate visa holders, it's not a guarantee, it depends on whether the details in the system align exactly.

Why foreign passports involve more steps

Australian passports hit the Government's Document Verification Service (DVS) directly, which is a database match that comes back in seconds.

Foreign passports can't go through the DVS. The system has to do more work:

1. Document capture and OCR. The contact uploads a photo of their passport. The system runs optical character recognition (OCR) and authenticity checks to read the details and confirm the document is genuine.
2. Biometric liveness check. The contact completes a live selfie to match their face against the passport photo.
3. VEVO check. The system queries the Department of Home Affairs' Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) to confirm the contact's visa status and establish their identity records within Australia. This is what satisfies the requirement for a government-verified data source under AML/CTF obligations.

That's three steps instead of one, which is why foreign passport verifications take longer and are more likely to fail on photo quality or biometrics than Australian document checks.

Valid visa but still failing? Contact BGL Support with the contact's name, document type, and visa details. The most common cause is a mismatch between the passport details and the visa grant record held by Home Affairs.

Who this applies to

What to do if your contact has no supported document

BGLiD electronic verification isn't available for every contact. If someone can't provide an Australian Driver's Licence, Australian Passport, or an eligible visa-registered foreign passport, you'll need to verify them manually.

In that case:

1. Conduct manual identity verification in accordance with your AML/CTF program requirements.
2. Record the manual verification outcome in CAS 360 using the manual verification fields.
3. Contact BGL Support if you are unsure how to record a manual verification result in the system.

See also: BGLiD Manual Review.

Australian Driver's Licenses

Australian Driver's Licences carry two separate numbers. BGLiD requires the Card Number and not the Licence Number. People mix these up constantly, and it's the most common reason a check fails.

While all Australian Driver's Licenses have a Licence Number and Card Number, these can appear in different positions based on the issuing state.

Refer to the appropriate tab below to see how to locate these numbers: