Refugee ID Card Scanning: Verify Your Registration

Refugee ID card in the Candidate Portal Services tab

Refugees issued an ID card have their registration number encoded in a QR code on the card. On GRN, candidates can now scan that code directly from their phone’s camera to capture and verify their refugee registration number and personal details — no backend account linking required, and nothing ever leaves the device until the candidate chooses to submit it.

📷 Scan From the Services Tab

A new Refugee ID Scan card in the Candidate Portal’s Services tab lets a candidate scan their refugee ID card QR code at any time. Selecting it opens the device’s back camera; the code is decoded on-device, and the scanned payload is shown for review before anything is submitted.

Review scanned payload screen with Rescan and Confirm buttons

If the camera can’t start — permission denied, or no camera on the device — the candidate sees a clear message rather than a stuck screen. Once a scan succeeds, the camera switches off automatically; a Rescan option is always available if needed.

The above screen grab is just a mocked scan, and actual QR scan decodes a candidate’s personal details, as well as their refugee registration number and a low res photo image may also be decoded from their refugee ID card.

📝 Or Scan During Registration

The same scan-and-submit flow is also offered as an optional, skippable step during GRN registration — “Scan your refugee ID card (optional).” A candidate who scans their card has their refugee registration number and personal details pre-filled automatically on the following step; a candidate without a card handy can skip the step and continue registering.

Optional refugee ID card scan step during registration

The refugee registration number is captured, alongside any personal details,and it shows up, already filled in, on the next registration step , for candidate review:

Refugee registration number field pre-filled after a scan

🔍 Built for Real Refugee ID QR Codes

Genuine refugee ID cards use very high-density QR codes — like the sample below — and common decoding libraries struggle to read these QR codes reliably. Therefore GRN mobile scanners are built using decoders capable of handling that density, so a scan succeeds on the first realistic try.

Sample refugee ID card QR code

🌐 Available in Your Language

The entire scan flow — scanner prompts, confirmation screens, success and duplicate messaging — has been translated across all 11 languages the Candidate Portal currently supports, including Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, and Ukrainian.

Refugee ID card scan screen shown in multiple languages

✅ Your Consent, Clearly Asked

This release also adds a consent step to the scan flow, on both the Services tab and registration: before a card is submitted, the candidate must actively confirm they’re happy for it to be captured and stored — skipping the step means nothing is saved.

👀 Coming Into View for Staff

Right after consent, admin-portal staff have visibility into what’s been verified — showing the captured registration number and verification status on a candidate’s profile.

🚀 What’s Next