What the UK and UAE reveal about the next phase of identity verification
Identity verification used to be something businesses did because they had to.
- A compliance step.
- A box tick.
- A necessary hassle that sat somewhere between legal, risk and “please don’t let this ruin our conversion rates”.
But the market has moved on.
Identity verification is now one of those foundational capabilities that either helps you scale, or quietly holds you back. If you are onboarding people digitally, taking payments, hiring remotely, or operating in regulated environments, identity is no longer a side quest. It’s part of how you run the business.
And the expectation from customers is brutally simple:
Make it fast. Make it safe. Don’t make it annoying.
At Goidentity, we see this clearly across the two markets that are central to our business, the UK and the UAE (we have offices in both). Different environments, different maturity, but both heading in the same direction.
- More confidence.
- Less friction.
- Better decisions earlier in the journey.
The UK: the pressure is real, and the old approach is not enough
The UK is a brilliant market for digital identity, but it is also a tough one.
Fraud is getting smarter. Digital onboarding volumes keep rising. And regulators are not exactly relaxing their expectations. If anything, they want stronger evidence and better audit trails, even for smaller organisations.
This is where many SMEs get stuck.
They need to verify customers, users, and employees quickly, but they also need to prove they did it properly. And they don’t have endless time or teams to manually review edge cases all day.
I’ve seen this dynamic up close in regulated settings in the NHS too. People often think the hard part is the technology. It isn’t. The hard part is designing something that real humans can complete first time, without needing help, without dropping out, and without creating risk.
That’s exactly why identity checks can’t just be “more checks”.
They need to be better checks.
Stronger assurance signals, but still simple for the user.
That’s where Goidentity fits.
Goidentity combines secure document validation and biometric verification in a mobile-first flow that people actually finish. And in practical terms, that means:
- fewer dropouts
- fewer manual reviews
- stronger compliance evidence
- lower fraud exposure
Not exciting buzzwords. Just real operational benefit.
Mid February: adding GPS verification as another trust signal
From mid February, Goidentity adds GPS location verification as an extra trust signal.
It confirms where a verification took place at the moment the identity check happens.
Now, location isn’t magic. It doesn’t replace biometrics or document checks. But it gives you something that most identity journeys are missing, context.
Because fraud has patterns.
A lot of organised fraud is not random. It clusters. It repeats. It uses the same behaviours. And location anomalies are often one of the first signs that something isn’t right.
GPS verification can help organisations:
- flag checks happening in unexpected locations
- spot anomalies across multiple verifications
- reduce impersonation and organised fraud risk
- strengthen audit trails for regulated decisions
And here’s the commercial point:
It improves confidence without adding friction.
- No separate tool.
- No manual admin.
- No “now upload another thing”.
It just becomes part of the same Goidentity flow.
The UAE: what identity looks like when it’s truly embedded into everyday services
The UAE is an interesting counterpoint, because it shows what happens when identity is treated as an enabler, not a burden.
Digital identity is already normal in everyday life. People use mobile credentials across banking, telecoms, government services, and travel. And the user experience is often genuinely good.
That maturity has a knock-on effect.
It raises the bar. Users expect identity checks to feel smooth. Organisations expect decisions to be fast and defensible. And trust is built not from one check, but from multiple signals working together in the background.
Biometrics. Documents. Device context. Location.
That model is a big part of the direction Goidentity is moving in. Location verification is not a gimmick. It’s part of building a more complete trust picture, especially for:
- remote onboarding
- cross-border services
- high-growth customer journeys
- regulated transactions where audit evidence matters
It gives risk and compliance teams better information, without punishing the user.
Why location matters now (in plain English)
Identity verification used to be “match face to passport”.
Now it’s closer to:
Can I trust this interaction?
That’s the shift.
GPS helps because it adds context. It supports stronger decisions by showing that:
- the interaction makes sense
- the verification happened where it should
- patterns can be detected earlier
- organisations have better evidence if something goes wrong later
And when it’s offered through a single platform like Goidentity, it’s not just technically nice, it’s operationally useful.
It becomes configurable by workflow, adjustable by risk level, and easy to roll out quickly.
The shared direction: contextual trust, without user pain
The UK and UAE are different markets, but both are heading toward the same outcome.
Identity verification is becoming:
- contextual
- mobile-first
- more intelligent
- more focused on completion rates and real-world usability
The next generation of identity platforms will not win by making identity checks feel heavier.
They’ll win by combining the right trust signals into a flow people actually complete.
That’s exactly what Goidentity is built for.
A platform that helps organisations:
- onboard faster
- reduce manual workload
- strengthen compliance confidence
- detect risk earlier
- scale verification as they grow
Because the future of identity isn’t just knowing who someone is.
It’s knowing with confidence when, how, and where their identity is being used.