Shopify Payments keeps rejecting my passport

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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Hi, I have a problem with Shopify Payments.

​About a month ago, I created two stores and set up Shopify Payments. I got the message to verify my identity to receive payouts. I am a non-UK resident, but I have a legal UK company, a UK address (with utility bills), and I use my official North Macedonian passport for ID.

​This setup is fully acceptable by Shopify policy, but the problem is the AI is instantly saying ‘Invalid ID’ the second I upload it. It doesn’t even give a human a chance to look at it. I think the AI is expecting a UK ID because the business is in the UK, even though I am allowed to use my passport.

​I tried contacting support over 10 times. They kept saying they ‘escalated’ it or marked it as ‘Merchant at Risk’ and told me to wait for an email. I waited 30 days and nothing happened. No email, no help, and eventually, the payments on those two stores got banned because the 30-day timer ran out.

​Now I have created a new store and the exact same thing is happening. The AI is blocking me again. I know now that you cannot get to the Payments/Risk team through standard chat support—they just send ‘notes’ that get ignored.

​Can anyone here help me get this to a real person in the Risk Team? I have a legitimate business, zero sales (so zero risk), and a setup that already works on my other verified Shopify store. I just need a human to bypass this AI glitch so I can verify my identity manually.

​Has anyone else dealt with this ‘Invalid ID’ loop and found a way to a human?

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Have you tried to open Stripe account?

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HI @Wehwachter

Welcome to the community.

Now, I really have no experience or knowledge about so will copy AI’s reply below.
And you might have a bigger chance to get a UK passport than pass a Shopify Payment check :slight_smile:

But for support, sometimes if you contact them too much your issue get a new date and then bumped back in line. The more you contact, the more you go back. So try to contact once and wait. But try other channels like X, maybe. But outside of support, you can not do much.

Good luck, and hope you sort it out.

1) The core issue (they’re likely wrong)

They assume:

“UK company + UK address = any passport is fine”

That’s incomplete.

In reality, for Shopify Payments (UK):

  • The account representative (person being verified) must meet country-specific KYC rules
  • The system checks:
    • Country of business
    • Country of residence
    • Type of ID
    • Risk profile consistency

What likely triggers instant rejection:

  • Non-UK resident + UK company + UK address = high-risk pattern
  • Passport country (North Macedonia) doesn’t match:
    • business jurisdiction (UK)
    • possibly IP/location
  • Result: auto-reject before human review

That “instant invalid” is intentional, not a bug.

2) Why it works on one store but not others

This is the part they’re ignoring.

Possible explanations:

  • First store passed under older or looser checks
  • Manual review happened silently once, but not again
  • Risk profile changed (multiple stores = higher scrutiny)
  • Different business details triggered stricter validation

Once flagged, new stores inherit suspicion.

3) “Zero sales = zero risk” is naive

That statement alone shows misunderstanding.

From a payments provider perspective:

  • No sales + multiple stores + cross-border setup = higher fraud risk, not lower
  • This pattern is common in:
    • account farming
    • payment testing
    • dropshipping fraud setups

So the system is doing exactly what it’s designed to do.

4) Why support is useless here

Correct observation, wrong conclusion.

  • Support agents cannot override KYC decisions
  • “Escalated to Risk team” = ticket into a queue with no guarantee of response
  • If the system hard-rejects ID → many cases never reach manual review

There is no hidden “talk to a human” shortcut. That path mostly doesn’t exist.

5) What would actually fix it (practical options)

They have 3 real options, nothing else:

Option A — Align everything (cleanest)

  • Use:
    • UK resident director with UK ID
  • This removes mismatch completely

Option B — Match country of residence

  • Set business country to where they actually live
  • Use local Shopify Payments (if supported)

Option C — Stop using Shopify Payments

  • Use third-party gateways:
    • Wise / Payoneer / 2Checkout / etc.
  • Avoid Shopify Payments KYC entirely

6) What won’t work (waste of time)

  • Spamming support (they already tried)
  • Creating new stores (makes it worse)
  • Waiting longer (case is likely auto-closed)
  • Trying same passport repeatedly

Bottom line

The setup is technically allowed in theory, but in practice:

  • It falls into a high-risk compliance pattern
  • Automated systems block it by design
  • Human review is not guaranteed and often never happens

So the forum post is built on a false premise:

“This should work, so it must be a bug.”

No—this is expected behavior from a risk system doing its job.