ID check with live face match for remote candidates

When Simplehire's ID check is set to Required, the candidate must pass a government ID check and a live face match before the screening interview begins. Recruiters can also set it to Optional or Off, so you can insist on it for remote roles where a stand-in would hurt most and leave it off where you'll meet the candidate in person anyway. Like the rest of Simplehire's integrity features, it gives a person evidence to review, and the recruiter decides who goes forward.

Why check ID before a remote screen?

Fake and borrowed identities now turn up in ordinary hiring. In Checkr's survey of 3,000 US managers, published in September 2025, 31% said they had personally interviewed a candidate who turned out to be using a fake identity. The FBI's January 2025 advisory on North Korean IT workers tells employers to "Implement identity-verification processes during interviewing, onboarding, and throughout the employment of any remote worker."

Agencies have a particular reason to care. Your client often treats your screen as its identity check, and once a contractor starts remotely, the client may not see that person's face again for weeks. An ID check at the first screen puts a document and a live face on record at the moment you first meet the candidate.

What do Off, Optional and Required do?

We'd default to Required for any remote role you plan to submit to a client. A fake identity on a remote contract can cost you the account. The check costs the candidate one extra step before the interview.

What does the candidate see?

Before the interview starts, the candidate is asked to show a government ID and complete a live face match. With the setting on Required, they reach the voice interview only after passing both. The screen then runs as normal: the candidate talks with the AI interviewer in their browser, in enforced full-screen mode.

A little preparation helps honest candidates get through on the first try:

• Say in the invite that they'll need a government ID, so nobody is hunting for a passport during setup.
• Suggest a well-lit spot. Glare on a card and a dim room both make a genuine ID harder to read.
• Tell them who to contact if the check fails on a real document, and reply quickly when they do.

What does the recruiter see in the report?

On a screen set to Required, the candidate passed a government ID check and a live face match before the interview began, or they wouldn't have reached it. The rest of the report is the same as any screen: the verdict, Skills demonstrated X/Y, the Screen summary, Strengths, Areas to probe and Key insights.

Integrity events from the interview itself are timestamped in the report. Interview audio is recorded, and alerts come with screenshots and a severity of Low, Medium, High or Critical concern. A person reviews every finding before it affects a decision.

What doesn't the ID check do?

• It doesn't check work authorization or visa status. Simplehire's recruiter screen doesn't verify either, so keep your existing employment eligibility process.
• It won't catch every fake ID. A well-made forgery can still get through, which is why a person reviews the evidence and you keep your other checks.
• It doesn't watch the interview for cheating. Simplehire does not run AI analysis of the candidate's video or audio to judge cheating or AI use. The ID comparison happens before the interview.
• It can't tell you who shows up on day one. The FBI's July 2025 advisory warns that "Sometimes an individual is employed to pass the initial interview" and someone else then does the work. Its advice is to "Capture images for comparison with future meetings," so compare the client interview and onboarding against what you saw at the screen.
• It doesn't see a helper who stays out of frame once the interview starts. Pair it with second-device proctoring, which adds a side view of the candidate's desk.

When should you require the ID check?

Require it when a stand-in would cost you a client, when the role is remote, or when the candidate will get access to client systems. Our usual pattern:

• Remote contract and contract-to-hire IT roles: Required, plus a second device for senior or client-critical reqs. We go through the full setup in AI screening for IT staffing agencies.
• Mid-level professional roles you submit to a client: Required or Optional, depending on how the client checks identity later.
• High-volume hourly or on-site roles: Off is usually fine if you or the client check identity in person before the first shift.

If a screen without the ID check leaves you uneasy, our guide on how to spot a proxy interview covers the next steps, including a short live re-verification with ID on video.

How does it fit with the other integrity checks?

The ID check covers the start of the interview: whether the person sitting down matches a government ID. The browser checks that run on every screen, desktop proctoring on supported Windows and Mac interviews, and the second-device camera cover what happens after that. The integrity features page lists them side by side, and the proctoring overview has the detail.

Screens cost $2 (Basic), $3 (Adaptive) or $5 (Advanced), with 25 free Basic screens every month and no credit card. See pricing for what each tier includes.