Where you do not meet a client face to face and sight their identity documents, you can obtain certified identity documents.
Most commonly we see the following types of trusted referees used:
Lawyers;
Chartered Accountants; and
Justice of the Peace.
For a full listing of all trusted referees, refer to your AML/CFT Compliance Programme or the Amended Identity Verification Code of Practice 2013.
In order to be valid, certifiers can't be:
related to the client (e.g. cannot be a parent, child, brother, sister, aunt, uncle or cousin);
the spouse or partner of the client;
a person who lives at the same address as the client; or
a person involved in the transaction or business requiring the certification e.g. the lawyer who is doing the conveyancing.
When certification occurs overseas: copies of international identification provided by a client residing overseas must be certified by a person authorised by law in that country to take statutory declarations (or equivalent in the client’s country). You will need to research the relevant country to determine this.