GitHub Student Pack application rejected despite submitting valid school ID

[nandinimahto65]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Verification Help & Guidance

Hi everyone,

I am trying to apply for the GitHub Student Developer Pack, but my application keeps getting rejected.

What is happening:
I am submitting a valid, official school ID card that clearly shows my name, my school's name, and the current academic year. However, the automated system keeps rejecting my document and will not let me proceed with the verification.

What I have tried:

• I checked that my GitHub profile billing name exactly matches the name on my student ID.
• I tried taking the photo in better, clearer lighting so all text is readable.
• I verified that my school's details are correctly selected in the form.

Could anyone please guide me on how to get my ID properly reviewed or let me know what might be triggering the rejection? Thank you!

[blazee14]

Hi @nandinimahto65,
I understand the frustration, this happens a lot even when everything on the ID looks correct. Since you've already checked the basics (name match, photo clarity, correct school selected), here are a few less obvious things worth checking:

1. Visible expiration/validity date
   Even though your ID shows the current academic year, make sure it also shows an actual expiration date or explicit validity period (not just the year printed as part of the design). The automated system often needs a clear "valid until" date to approve automatically, if that's missing, it can reject even a perfectly legit ID.
2. Try a different document type
   If the ID keeps failing, try submitting an official enrollment letter or proof of enrollment instead, ideally with letterhead, a signature/stamp, and a clear validity date. These tend to have a higher automatic approval rate than physical ID cards, since they contain more of the fields the system checks for.
3. Don't take the photo inside the upload form
   If you're on mobile, take the photo using your phone's native camera app first, save it to your gallery, then upload that saved file instead of using the live camera option in the browser. The in-browser camera capture is known to compress/degrade image quality, which can cause rejections even with good lighting.
4. Upload from a computer if possible
   If you have access to a scanner or a scanning app (like Adobe Scan), try uploading from a desktop browser instead of a phone. This avoids the mobile upload compressor entirely and usually produces a sharper file.
5. School email as an alternative path
   If you have or can get a student email ending in your school's domain (.edu or equivalent), verifying through GitHub account settings → Emails is often faster and doesn't rely on document review at all.
   If it still gets rejected after all this
   This is a case where the community can't fix it directly, since there's no official staff monitoring here. Open a support ticket directly with GitHub:
   👉 https://support.github.com/contact
   In the ticket, mention that:

You've already confirmed name match, clear photo, and correct school selection.
The automated system keeps rejecting a valid, official ID.
Ask specifically for manual review, since automated verification has failed multiple times.

Let us know if any of this helps!