Identity/KYC Verification in Kenya

National ID, Driver's Licence & Passport

Verify a Kenyan identity document (National ID, Driver's Licence, or Passport) and retrieve the holder's identity details such as name and date of birth.

Prerequisites

You'll need an API key. See Quickstart or Authentication if you don't have one yet.

Note

Verification endpoints use an API key in the X-API-Key header, not a Bearer token. Verification POST requests also require an Idempotency-Key header.

Supported document types

Document	`idType`	Notes
National ID	`national_id`	Kenyan national identity card number. Returns split name fields plus date of birth.
Driver's Licence	`drivers_license`	Requires the holder's name (`validation.firstName` and `validation.lastName`) alongside the licence number.
Passport	`passport`	Kenyan passport number.

All three use the same endpoint (POST /verify/identity). Set country to KE and idType to one of the values above.

Make the verification request

National ID

Terminal

curl -X POST https://api.lira.com/api/v1/verify/identity \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: YOUR_IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "country": "KE",
    "idType": "national_id",
    "idNumber": "12345678"
  }'

Driver's Licence

The driver's licence lookup is matched against the holder's name, so validation.firstName and validation.lastName are required.

Terminal

curl -X POST https://api.lira.com/api/v1/verify/identity \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: YOUR_IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "country": "KE",
    "idType": "drivers_license",
    "idNumber": "B1234567",
    "validation": {
      "firstName": "John",
      "lastName": "Doe"
    }
  }'

Passport

Terminal

curl -X POST https://api.lira.com/api/v1/verify/identity \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: YOUR_IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "country": "KE",
    "idType": "passport",
    "idNumber": "A1234567"
  }'

Request body fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`country`	string	Yes	Always `KE`.
`idType`	string	Yes	One of `national_id`, `drivers_license`, `passport`.
`idNumber`	string	Yes	The document number. See format requirements below.
`mode`	string	No	`sync` (default).
`validation`	object	Conditional	Required for `drivers_license` (`firstName` + `lastName`). Optional cross-check fields for other types. See below.

idNumber format requirements

`idType`	Format
`national_id`	Up to 9 digits (e.g. `12345678`).
`drivers_license`	Alphanumeric licence number (e.g. `B1234567`). Holder name required.
`passport`	6–12 alphanumeric characters (e.g. `A1234567`).

Optional validation (cross-check)

Include a validation object to check whether caller-provided fields match the record. Each submitted field is returned with a boolean match result, and the verification status becomes inconclusive if any field does not match. For drivers_license, firstName and lastName are required inputs rather than optional cross-checks.

Validation field	Type	Match rule
`firstName`	string	Case-insensitive, trimmed.
`lastName`	string	Case-insensitive, trimmed.
`dateOfBirth`	string	Exact match. Format `YYYY-MM-DD`.

Note

Cross-check fields are never persisted on the verification record and never logged. They are compared in-memory against the record and only the boolean match result is stored.

Read the result

Successful verification

JSON

{
  "id": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-345678901234",
  "status": "success",
  "verificationType": "KE_NATIONAL_ID",
  "idType": "national_id",
  "country": "KE",
  "identifier": "12345678",
  "verifiedAt": "2026-06-14T10:00:00.000Z",
  "origin": "api",
  "verified": true,
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Doe",
  "middleName": "Otieno",
  "fullName": "John Otieno Doe",
  "dateOfBirth": "1990-03-15",
  "gender": "M",
  "nationality": "Kenyan",
  "validation": null
}

Note

Passport and Driver's Licence records usually return a single combined fullName string rather than split firstName / lastName. Always read fullName, and treat the individual name components as optional.

Failed verification

JSON

{
  "id": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-345678901234",
  "status": "failed",
  "verificationType": "KE_NATIONAL_ID",
  "idType": "national_id",
  "country": "KE",
  "identifier": "00000000",
  "verifiedAt": "2026-06-14T10:00:00.000Z",
  "origin": "api",
  "error": {
    "code": "VERIFICATION_FAILED",
    "message": "Identity verification failed"
  }
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Unique verification ID.
`status`	string	`success`, `inconclusive`, `failed`, or `error`.
`verificationType`	string	One of `KE_NATIONAL_ID`, `KE_DRIVERS_LICENSE`, `KE_PASSPORT`.
`idType`	string	The `idType` you submitted.
`country`	string	Always `KE`.
`identifier`	string	The document number you submitted.
`verifiedAt`	string	ISO 8601 timestamp.
`origin`	string	`api` (API-key requests) or `dashboard` (logged-in dashboard requests).
`verified`	boolean	`true` only when `status` is `success`.
`fullName`	string	Combined name. The primary name field for Passport and Driver's Licence. May be `null`.
`firstName`	string	First name, when the record provides split name fields (National ID). May be `null`.
`lastName`	string	Last name, when available. May be `null`.
`middleName`	string	Middle name. May be `null`.
`dateOfBirth`	string	Date of birth, `YYYY-MM-DD`. May be `null`.
`gender`	string	`M` or `F`. May be `null`.
`nationality`	string	Nationality as recorded. May be `null`.
`validation`	object	Present only when `validation` was included in the request. Contains per-field match results.
`error`	object	Present when `status` is `failed` or `error`.

Error handling

`error.code`	Cause	Action
`VERIFICATION_FAILED`	No matching identity record, or the document could not be verified	Ask the user to check the document number (and name, for a driver's licence)
`INVALID_REQUEST`	The document number was rejected (e.g. malformed)	Validate the format client-side before submitting
`PROVIDER_ERROR`	The upstream registry returned an unexpected error or is temporarily unavailable	Retry with exponential backoff; surface `action.hint` if retries are exhausted

A request that fails schema validation — for example a National ID with more than 9 digits, or a driver's licence missing validation.firstName — returns 422 before any verification is attempted.

For the full error code reference, see Errors.

Next steps

Identity Verification Overview

Supported identity document types and countries

Phone Number in Kenya

Verify Kenyan phone numbers

M-Pesa Verification

Verify Kenyan paybills, tills, and agents

Errors

Complete error code reference

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