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At Airbnb, we’re always working on making our community as secure as possible for everyone. By providing your identification info, you help build trust in the community. That’s why, before booking a stay or experience, or becoming a Host, we may ask for a government ID or have you confirm your legal name and add your address.

For more info, check out our Privacy Policy.

How it works

Hosts may ask their guests to provide a government ID in order to book their place or experience. And sometimes we’ll ask for an ID to help us check that someone is who they say they are. Whatever the reason, your ID will never be shared with anyone else who uses Airbnb.

Confirm your identity

When you’re asked to confirm your identity, you’ll need to add either your legal name and address, or submit a photo of your government ID. This could be a driver’s license, passport, identity card, or visa. If you need to come back and finish confirming your identity later, that’s fine, you can pick up where you left off.

Sometimes, we’ll ask you to take a new photo of yourself. This is different from your profile photo, which you may also be asked to provide.

Please be aware that completing this process isn’t an endorsement of any Host or guest, a guarantee of someone’s identity, or an assurance that interacting with them will be safe. Always use your own best judgment, and follow our safety tips for guests and Hosts.

Other ways we verify your identity

In some cases, you may not need to add a government ID. We’ll confirm you’re really you when you add your legal name and address (this should match where you get banking documents or utility bills). We’ll match this information with secure third-party databases.

What gets shared with your Host

We never share your ID with anyone else who uses Airbnb. We do not provide Hosts with the photo of your ID, the photo you take of yourself as part of ID verification, or your address.

However, we do share:

• The first name on your ID
• Whether you’re over or under 25 years old
• Whether your ID has been successfully added
• Your profile photo and profile name

Learn more about privacy and how we use photo matching to help keep our community secure.

Storing and removing the photo of your ID

The storage of your government ID photo is governed by our Privacy Policy, which describes our efforts to protect your information.

We recommend not removing the photo of your ID. If you do, any upcoming reservations will be canceled. You can, however, remove the photo of your ID 90 days after you complete your most recent booking. Go to Personal info in your Account Settings. Next to Government ID, select Remove.

One last thing, sometimes, we may use ID info to run background checks.