Checking your identity

Before you join the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), you need to prove who you are.

This page explains how we confirm your identity.

NDIS partners are people who help others find and use services.

When you first meet with your NDIS partner, they will ask you for documents that prove who you are. 

When you prove who you are, you share your identity.

These identity documents:

• show who you are
• have your personal information on them.

Your NDIS partner will also need to check the identity documents of anyone who can make decisions for you.

For example:

• a child representative – an adult who makes decisions about the NDIS for a child

• a nominee – someone you choose to make decisions or do things for you.

You can find our factsheet about nominees on the Booklets and factsheets page of the NDIS website.

You can find our factsheet about child representatives on the Booklets and factsheets page of the NDIS website.

Confirming your identity helps protect your privacy.

Privacy means we must keep your information:

• private 
• safe.

It helps makes sure we only talk about your information with the right people.

We will ask for 3 different identity documents. 

Your NDIS partner will help you find the identity documents you need.

If you cannot find these documents, your NDIS partner will help you to find another way to prove your identity.

We need one birth or arrival document. 

This is a document that shows:

• when you were born in Australia

or 

• when you arrived in Australia.

For example, your:

• birth certificate
• Australian Citizenship Certificate.

We also need 2 documents you use in the community.

These are documents that show you live in the community.

For example:

• your Medicare card
• your bank card
• a water or electricity bill.

We need to check that your identity documents belong to you.

We do this by making sure you are the person in the photo on the documents. 

We call this a face-to-identity check.

We also need to make sure your identity documents are real.

We do this by using the Document Verification Service (DVS).

We will ask you to show us the original documents:

• in person

or

• by video call. 

We will ask you if we can use our computer system to record:

• the information from your documents 
• how we checked your documents.

If you cannot meet with us in-person, you can send us copies of your documents by:

• mail 
• email.

Once we add the information from your documents to our computer system, we will destroy the paper copies.

You can do a face-to-identity check:

• in person
• by video call.

In a face-to-identity check we will make sure:

• you have the right identity documents
• the documents are the originals, not copies.

We will check that each document has your:

• personal details
• signature.

We will also compare your face to the photos on your documents. 

We want to make sure the photos are of you.

The DVS is an online system that we use to check that your identity documents are real. 

Different government agencies across Australia use the DVS.

You need to give us consent before we can use the DVS to check your documents.

When you give your consent, you say it is okay for someone to do something.

If you do not give your consent, it will take us longer to finish confirming your identity.

You can find our factsheet about understanding consent on the Booklets and factsheets page of the NDIS website.

You can find our factsheet about confirming your identity on the Booklets and factsheets page of the NDIS website.

For most people, we will only need to check your identity documents once.

We usually do this the first time we meet you.

If you change your name, we will ask for proof. 

We will then update our computer system with your new: 

• documents
• name.

We will check we are talking to the right person each time someone else contacts us for you. 

We will do this by asking for 3 pieces of personal information about you. 

We then check it matches the information in our computer system. 

You can find our factsheet about confirming your identity on the Booklets and factsheets page of the NDIS website.

You can ask us to do more to protect your privacy.

We call this restricted access.

This means only certain NDIA staff and partners can look up your information on our computer system.

If you would like your information to have restricted access, you can contact your:

• my NDIS contact
• NDIS partner.

You can also call us.

1800 800 110