ID verification holding up ESD claim for over a month - driver's license stuck in adjudication

My wife's claim was held up for similar reasons back in January. Her driver's license had recently been renewed and the verification system couldn't match it properly with their database. After 5 weeks, we managed to get through to an ESD specialist who manually verified her ID and released the payments within 48 hours. Try calling right when they open at 8am - that's when we finally got through.

OMG THIS HAPPENED TO ME!! The id verification mess is THE WORST! I waited for SEVEN weeks with zero income while they "verified" my perfectly valid WA license. What worked for me was contacting my state representative's office - they have liaisons who can push ESD for answers. Google "[your county] state representative" and call their constituent services line. They sorted mine out in like 4 days after I was getting nowhere for almost 2 months.

I work with unemployment cases regularly, and unfortunately this ID verification issue is becoming increasingly common. The third-party verification service (likely ID.me) can get backlogged, especially with licenses that have any special circumstances (recent renewal, address change, name change, etc.). A few important points: 1. Yes, payments will be retroactive to your eligibility date once verification is complete 2. ESD should send you notices if there are specific problems with your ID 3. You can request an escalation of your case if it's been over 4 weeks The fastest way to resolve this is to speak directly with an adjudicator who can manually verify your ID and override the third-party system when appropriate. Getting through on the phone is essential.

my whole claim got messed up cuz of the same thing but mine was my passport not drivers license. adjuducation took foever and i never could get anyone to help. finally got money but took 2 months. the whole system is broken

I had success using Claimyr to get through to ESD when my license verification was stuck. I'd been trying for weeks with no luck getting through the phone lines. Claimyr.com connects you with an ESD agent without having to wait on hold for hours. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3 - Once I got connected to an actual person, they were able to look at my account and manually verify my license. Worth it when you're desperate to get your claim moving.

In my experience working with claimants, ID verification issues typically fall into one of these categories: 1. Name mismatch (even minor spelling differences) 2. Address discrepancy between license and claim 3. Recently renewed license not yet in all databases 4. Photo quality issues (glare, blurry image) 5. Document expiration issues If you've tried uploading your license multiple times with no success, there's likely a data mismatch between your ESD application and your ID that's causing the third-party verification to fail. These rarely resolve on their own without intervention from an adjudicator. Make sure all your personal information in your ESD account exactly matches your license - even small differences can trigger verification issues. And yes, persistence in calling is unfortunately necessary in these situations.

my cousin had the same problem back in february and she ended up having to go to the WorkSource office in person with her ID and social security card. They couldn't fix it there but they gave her a direct number to call and got it sorted in a few days. might be worth checking if your local office is taking walk-ins.

Just checking back - were you able to make any progress with your claim? One thing I forgot to mention is that when my wife was dealing with this, we discovered that the third-party verification sometimes fails if your license was issued in a different state before you got your WA license. In that case, you might need to provide additional documentation like a birth certificate or passport.