Why Can’t I Verify My Identity on LinkedIn, and What Can I Do to Fix It?

If you’ve tried to verify your identity on LinkedIn over and over again and it still keeps failing, you’re definitely not the only one. It’s especially frustrating when you’ve already checked the obvious things: your photos are clear, your name matches, your dates match, and you’ve even tried more than one document. At that point, it starts to feel less like a security check and more like a broken loop.

For an Italian user dealing with repeated failures using both a passport and a national identity card, there are actually a few specific things that could be causing the issue. Some are technical, some are document-related, and some come down to how LinkedIn’s identity verification provider reads your information.

So let’s break it down in a simple way and talk through what may be going wrong, what you can try next, and when it makes sense to stop retrying and contact support instead.

First, what usually causes LinkedIn identity verification to fail?

Even when everything looks correct to you, verification systems can reject IDs for reasons that aren’t obvious on the screen. A few of the most common ones include:

• Lighting or glare issues that make part of the document hard for the system to read
• Reflections on laminated IDs, especially on identity cards
• Mismatch in formatting between your LinkedIn name and the name on your document
• Unsupported document version or a document format the system struggles to process
• Region-specific verification limitations for certain countries or document types
• Browser, app, or device issues during the upload or camera scan process
• Too many failed attempts, which can temporarily lock or flag the verification flow

That last point matters more than people think. If you’ve already tried 20 times, the system may not be giving you a clean attempt anymore. In other words, the issue may no longer be the document itself. It may now be the verification session.

Questions to ask yourself before trying again

Before doing another upload, it helps to pause and check a few details carefully:

• Is your LinkedIn profile name written exactly the same way as your passport or ID?
• Does your profile include middle names, extra surnames, accents, or abbreviations that don’t fully match the document?
• Are you scanning the original physical document, not a photo or photocopy?
• Is there any glare, shadow, or cropping on the edges of the ID?
• Are you trying through the LinkedIn app, or a browser on desktop/mobile?
• Have you cleared cache or changed devices?
• Has your document expired, even recently?

Sometimes the problem is something tiny, like a profile name written in a different style. For example, if your document includes multiple given names or surnames and LinkedIn only shows part of them, the verification system can reject it even if a human would understand it’s the same person.

What should you try next?

Here’s a practical step-by-step approach that gives you the best chance of getting through without wasting more time.

1) Stop retrying for a little while

If you’ve already failed many times, don’t keep pushing immediately. Wait at least 24 to 48 hours before trying again. Some identity systems temporarily limit repeated verification attempts.

2) Use a different device

If you were using your phone, try a desktop browser. If you were using desktop, try a different phone with a better camera. A lot of verification failures are actually device-related.

3) Try a different browser

Use an updated version of Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Disable extensions if possible. Sometimes camera permissions or upload scripts fail quietly in the background.

4) Check your LinkedIn profile name

Make sure your name on LinkedIn matches the document exactly as closely as possible. If your legal name includes accents, multiple surnames, or a second first name, that may matter. You can review LinkedIn’s name guidance here: LinkedIn profile name policies.

5) Use the passport first

In many cases, passports are easier for automated systems to read than national identity cards because they are more standardized internationally. If you’ve tried both, try one more time later using only the passport in very good lighting.

6) Improve the image setup

• Place the document on a dark, flat surface
• Use natural light, but avoid direct sunlight
• Turn off flash if it creates glare
• Make sure all 4 corners of the document are visible
• Clean your camera lens before taking the photo
• Hold the phone steady and let it focus fully before capturing

7) Make sure the document is fully valid

This sounds basic, but even a nearly expired or recently renewed document can sometimes create issues if the system isn’t reading the date fields properly. Double-check that the ID is current and undamaged.

Could this be a country or provider issue?

Yes, possibly. LinkedIn identity verification may rely on third-party verification partners, and sometimes those systems work better with certain document types than others. That doesn’t mean your Italian passport or identity card is invalid. It may just mean the verification pipeline is struggling to parse or confirm the information properly.

If you want broader context on how LinkedIn verification and account support works, LinkedIn’s official Help Center is worth checking: LinkedIn Help Center.

You can also review their page on identity verification if available in your region and account flow. Since LinkedIn changes these flows from time to time, the exact screens may differ.

When should you contact LinkedIn support?

Honestly, after this many failed attempts, now is a good time.

If you’ve already tried around 20 times with multiple valid IDs, it’s reasonable to stop troubleshooting on your own and escalate it. You don’t want to keep hitting the same wall if the issue is on LinkedIn’s side.

When contacting support, include:

• A short explanation that you are based in Italy
• The fact that you used both passport and national ID card
• That the photos were clear and the personal details matched
• How many attempts you made
• What device and browser/app you used
• Whether the error message stayed the same each time

Try LinkedIn’s support/contact flow here: Contact LinkedIn Support.

Keep the message calm and specific. Something like: “I am unable to complete identity verification despite repeated attempts with valid Italian documents. I have used both my passport and national ID card, and all details match my LinkedIn profile. Could you please review whether there is a technical issue or a restriction on my verification attempts?”

A few extra things that are easy to miss

Here are some smaller issues people don’t always think about:

• VPN enabled: Turn it off before verifying
• Old app version: Update the LinkedIn app if you’re using it
• Profile recently edited: If you just changed your name or country, wait a bit before retrying
• Special characters: Accents and formatting can sometimes create matching issues
• Camera permission problem: Re-enable camera access in phone settings

If you want a general explanation of how to take better document photos for verification systems, this guide from Onfido is useful: How to take a good photo of your ID. There are also practical YouTube walkthroughs showing how to reduce glare and improve document capture, like this search page: YouTube results for scanning a passport without glare.

What’s the most likely best move in your situation?

If I were texting a friend back about this, I’d say: stop trying for a day or two, make sure your LinkedIn name matches your document exactly, then retry once using your passport on a different device and browser. If it still fails, go straight to LinkedIn support and explain that this has happened repeatedly with valid Italian documents.

At this stage, the issue probably isn’t that you’re doing something obviously wrong. It’s more likely that the verification system is misreading something, the session is stuck after too many attempts, or LinkedIn needs to manually review the situation.

Final thought

Identity verification issues on LinkedIn can be weirdly stubborn, and yes, they can feel rage-inducing when you’ve done everything right. The main thing is not to keep burning attempts without changing your approach. Slow it down, test one clean attempt, and then escalate.

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