What is the Document Verification Service (DVS)?
The Document Verification Service (DVS) is a secure, national online system that validates the details on Australian identity documents by checking them against official government records.
Within CheckWorkRights, DVS is used to verify the name and date of birth on Australian Passports, Birth Certificates, and Citizenship Certificates, helping ensure the authenticity of these documents, and your data.
Note: DVS is an optional feature. If you'd like to enable it for your account, please contact our team.
Why use the DVS?
Improved data accuracy: Verified name and date of birth details can be automatically added to your recruitment and payroll systems, helping ensure employment contracts and pay rates are correct.
Fraud prevention: DVS checks document details in real time against official records, reducing the risk of fake or altered documents being accepted.
Eliminate errors and time consuming auditing: Real-time verification reduces the risk of errors, speeds up processing, and removes the need for manual checks or separate audits, ensuring consistent validation across your workforce.
Using the DVS within CheckWorkRights
Employee Experience - MyCheck
When DVS is enabled, the employee process is almost identical to the existing MyCheck experience, with a few additional fields. For foreign nationals, the process remains unchanged. For Australian citizens, a small change is introduced if DVS is enabled.
From the MyCheck Dashboard, the employee starts the check as normal. The employee selects their citizenship type. When "Australian Citizen" is selected, they’re still shown the three document options: Passport, Birth Certificate, or Citizenship Certificate.
Once submitted, the DVS check runs a real-time check behind the scenes. The employee won’t see any DVS-related feedback or a result.
Using a Birth Certificate
When Birth Certificate is selected, the employee must choose their issuing state. Then, they upload their document and fill in the data fields using the provided instructions.
As a birth certificate does not have a photo of the individual, the employee needs to upload an additional piece of photo ID.
Employer Experience - Verifier view
Once the employee finishes their right to work check, the verifier will see the DVS status at the top of the verification record as successful or unsuccessful.
Unsuccessful Result
If the DVS check fails, the workflow reverts to the standard process.
A message will appear: "The Document Verification Service was unable to confirm that the info on this ID matches the government record. Please verify manually below following the guidelines provided."
It is worth noting that in the vast majority of these cases, an employee has simply not entered their details correctly. In these cases a verifier then proceeds with a manual verification check as normal.
If you have integrated DVS verification into your HR tech stack, the unsuccessful result will be pushed via API into the field you have specified on the application receiving data.
Successful Result
If the DVS check is successful, a message will appear: "This document has been verified by the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS)."
Even with a successful DVS result returned, a manual review is still needed for photo ID to confirm the document matches the employee. The designated verifier reviews the name on the document and the photo to confirm that it appears to be the employee's Australian Passport or Citizenship Certificate. An expired passport still constitutes valid evidence.
If someone submits a Birth Certificate or Citizenship Certificate, only their photo ID needs to be reviewed.
If you have integrated DVS verification into your HR tech stack, the successful result will be pushed via API into the field you have specified on the application receiving data.