The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) works with ID.me to verify the identity of VA users requesting information online. ID.me provides secure digital identity verification to government agencies and healthcare providers to make sure you are you—and not someone pretending to be you. This article explains how to verify your identity for the VA.
What you need to verify
To verify your identity, you need:
- A smartphone, tablet, or computer with internet connection
- A phone number
- Your Social Security number
- Proof of your identity. You can upload photos of your driver’s license, state ID, passport, or passport card, OR, you can answer questions based on private and public data (like your credit history) to prove you’re you.
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1. Sign in to the VA
When accessing the Department of Veteran Affairs online, you can sign in with your ID.me account, DS Login, My HealtheVet account or with Login.Gov.
To sign in to the VA with your ID.me account:
- Go to VA.gov and select Sign in.
- Select ID.me.
- Enter your email address and password, then select Sign in. Or, sign in using a social media or third-party account. If you don’t have an ID.me account, select Create an account to get started.
- If you are creating an account, you will be asked to accept the ID.me Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, confirm your email address and set up multi-factor authentication (MFA).
To sign in to the VA with your DS Logon:
- Go to VA.gov and select Sign in.
- Select DS Logon.
- Enter your DS Logon username and password, then select Login. You’ll be taken to the ID.me sign-in page.
- Sign in with your email and password or create an ID.me account if you don’t already have one, then confirm your email address.
- Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA).
To sign in to the VA online with your My HealtheVet:
- Go to VA.gov and select Sign in.
- Select My HealtheVet.
- Enter your My HealtheVet User ID and password, then select Sign in. You’ll be taken to the ID.me sign-in page.
- Sign in with your email and password or create an ID.me account if you don’t already have one, then confirm your email address.
- Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA).
2. Verify for the VA
You can verify your identity for Veterans Affairs by uploading a photo of a government-issued photo ID or by answering questions about your financial history. Review the sections below for steps on each verification method:
If you’ve already verified your identity with ID.me in the past, you may not need to verify again. This depends on the requirements of the partner you verified for in the past. If your existing ID.me account meets the policy requirements for the VA, continue to step 3 to confirm your information.
To verify your identity answering questions about your financial history:
- Select Answer questions on your credit history.
- Enter your full name, Social Security Number, date of birth, phone number and address, and confirm the information you entered is correct.
- Answer multiple-choice questions regarding your financial history and select Continue.
Note: This is not a credit inquiry. For more information, visit Does ID.me look at my credit history?
To verify your identity with a government-issued photo ID:
- Select the government ID you want to upload. You can upload a driver’s license, state ID, passport or passport card.
- Follow the prompts to upload a photo of your government-issued ID using your smartphone or upload one from your computer.
- Confirm that the information on your ID is clearly legible in the photo and select Continue.
3. Confirm your information
After you complete your identity verification, you’ll need to confirm your information:
- Review the details and make sure that they are correct.
Note: If you see something that is incorrect, select No and you will be taken back to the verifications option screen. If you make edits to your information, you may be prompted to join a video call with an ID.me Trusted Referee. - Select the checkbox for the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), then select Yes.
- Select Allow to send the information that was just verified to the VA. If you select Deny, your access to the Veterans Affairs website will be limited.
After you verify
After you verify your ID.me account with the VA, you can sign in by selecting Sign in with ID.me.
Manage your ID.me account
After creating your ID.me account, you can also manage your account settings.
Account settings
- Change or add email addresses to your account.
- Reset your password.
- If you can’t access your ID.me account email address, need to reset your password, or see an error message, visit I can't sign in to my account.
Multi-factor authentication
- Learn more about Getting started with multi-factor authentication.
- If you’re having trouble, visit Troubleshooting multi-factor authentication.
Troubleshooting
If you receive an error when attempting to access a Veterans Affairs site after verification, try the following:
- Clear your browser's cache and cookies. Also, enable cookies in your browser settings.
-
Update your browser to the latest version. For more information, visit Updating your web browser.
Note: If you are using Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge, try using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. - Close all of your browser windows before trying to sign in again.
- Return to VA.gov and sign in with your ID.me credentials.
If you continue to have trouble signing in or see an error, contact the VA for more assistance.
Who to contact for support
Who you need to contact for help depends on if you completed the verification process or not.
ID.me
ID.me can help if you have trouble with the identity verification process. Common issues include:
- Account sign-in issues
- Uploading identification documents or selfies
- Fixing documents that were rejected
Veterans Affairs
They can best help with questions and next steps after you complete the verification process. For example, you may have questions about benefits or services you verified for. Before contacting them:
- Confirm your verification was successful
- Confirm you shared your information with the partner
- Review our best practices and sample messages of how to request help from ID.me partners