GitHub Education Rejected due to manipulated photo?

[trevorcampbell]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Evidence and Image Capture

Hi everyone,

Hi there,

I recently re-applied for github education. I am a current faculty member at a public university that GitHub recognizes. I uploaded a photo of both the front and back of my school ID (I used GIMP to edit them together so you could see both front and back; the back has the expiry date on it.)

The application was rejected immediately because the image was "manipulated." I have two problems now:

1. The button to re-apply seems to be deactivated. Screenshot attached.

How can I re-apply?

I have already updated my billing information and logged out / back in again.

2. How am I supposed to verify my current employment with a single image? I have to show both the front and back of my card, but I can't do that in one "unmanipulated" image...

Thanks.

Edit: it finally allowed me to try again after just waiting for a few hours. This time I uploaded an employment letter (created today) stating my name, that I'm an Associate Professor on university letterhead with today's date. I also included in the image my faculty card with my name and photo.

I was rejected again with another confusing, vague, and unhelpful message. My document does include my first and last name, and specifically says I'm an associate professor.

Help would be much appreciated.

[maheerCodes]

hey Trevor 👋.
i can see exactly what happened here,,, combining the front and back of your ID into one image using GIMP is a totally reasonable thing to do,but the automated system doesnt know that. it likely flags any image that shows signs of being composited(two separate photos merged into one frame)as "manipulated",regardless of the intent .this isnt a judgment call, its just pattern detection, and it probably catches that kind of edit fairly reliably even when its done honestly .

the actual fix .
dont combine the two images ,,,submit them separately as two different photos. the system says "you may include multiple documents",,, but the way to do this is to take two separate camera captures (front, then back)in sequence within the same upload session , not merge them in an image editor first. each photo should just be one side of the card, as captured directly by your camera, with no editing.

about your second rejection.
the second submission (employment letter + faculty card) got a different rejection set ,,, and now its flagging name matching issues. a few things to check :

• your github billing name (settings -> billing) must match your document name exactly,, including middle names, initials, or any difference in how "Associate Professor" vs your legal name appears. check both first AND last name fields separately.
• your github profile name (settings -> profile, the "Name" field, not your username) also needs to match ,,,,this is separate from billing,
• one rejection bullet says "your document does not apppear to indicate you as a faculty member",,,double check that the employment letter explicitly uses the words "Associate Professor" or "faculty" in the body text (not just in a title/header), since OCR sometimes misses text thats in headers or formatted differently.

recommended approach for next attempt:

• use only the employment letter as your primary documment(it should cover name, role, institution, and date all in one),,,,dont combine it with the faculty card photo in the same image.
• if you want to include the faculty card, capture it as a separate clean photo with no editing .
• confirm both github billing and profile names match the letter exactly before submitting.
• wait the full 7 days before next attempt since you've submitted multiple times recently.

the "manipulated" flag isnt accusing you of fraud,,,,,,its just a blunt automated detector that cant distinguish legitimate combining from actual forgery. submitting clean unedited photos separately should clear that flag entirely.
hope this gets through next time ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[trevorcampbell]

Hi @maheerCodes -- thanks for your comment.

dont combine the two images ,,,submit them separately as two different photos.

This is not possible. The system only accepts a single image as evidence.

your github billing name (settings -> billing) must match your document name exactly,,

It did already.

double check that the employment letter explicitly uses the words "Associate Professor" or "faculty"

As I stated earlier, the document specifically mentions that I'm an associate faculty.

I asked our department admin to write me a new custom letter to precisely satisfy all of these requirements. Here is what github's response is now:

There aren't even any issues listed, it was just rejected for seemingly no reason.

[NafisUlAmanSaadman]

I had that Issue So before re appling I went to a local printing shop and printed a plastic card edited with both my information to-gather as it is my university id card! and during camera verification session i showed that physical plastic card! And it just worked for me!

[maheerCodes]

hey @trevorcampbell,,, thanks for the update ,and sorry the separate photo suggestion didnt apply,,, i wasnt aware the system only accepts a single image upload,that's a significant limitation.

a blank rejection with no issues listed at all is genuinely unusual,,,,that usually means the automated check itself failed or timed out rather than finding a specific problem with your document .at this point this really does look like a system-side bug, not anything wrongg on your end.

one thing from @NafisUlAmanSaadman 's comment worth considering,, printing the document physically and showing it during the camera session appparently worked for them. sounds unconventional but physical documents sometimes scan better than digital / screen captures.

beyond that, this is honestly outside what community members can fix,,,,,,a blank rejection on a custom HR letter that meets every requirement is a bug that needs github's education team to look at directly.

hope it gets resolved soon❤️❤️❤️❤️