## TL;DR
A counterparty stuck in an Ironclad 'identity verification failed' loop is usually failing the automated ID check on a data mismatch, not on fraud: the legal name or email on the invite does not match the ID, the invite link expired, or the camera/document capture keeps failing. Send a fresh invite with the exact legal name as printed on their ID, have them retry on a supported device with a steady camera, and if it still fails, an Ironclad admin can resend, adjust the verification step, or verify them manually. Never ask the counterparty to bypass verification on their own - keep the exception inside the platform's audit trail.

## The query
```text
Ironclad counterparty can't e-sign  -  stuck in an 'identity verification failed' loop
```

## Use this when
- A counterparty reports they cannot pass Ironclad identity verification after multiple tries
- The verification step loops: fail, retry, fail again with no clear reason
- The invite is old or was forwarded to a different person

## Not for
- Your own team's signers failing verification - check your internal IDV configuration instead
- E-signature ceremony errors after verification passed - those are signing, not identity, problems
- Counterparties who never received the invite at all - that is a delivery problem

## Steps
### 1. Send a fresh invite to the right person
Cancel the stale invite and send a new one directly to the counterparty's own email - not a forwarded or shared address. Confirm the email matches the address on file for them; verification ties the session to the invite recipient.
Expected output: the counterparty receives a new, unexpired verification link tied to their email.

### 2. Match the legal name exactly to the ID
Open the recipient record and compare the name to the legal name printed on the government ID they will use - not a nickname, not a married/divorced name variant, and with the correct accent characters. Even a small mismatch fails automated document matching.
Expected output: the recipient name in Ironclad matches the ID character for character.

### 3. Have them retry with a clean capture setup
Ask the counterparty to use a phone or a laptop with a working camera, good lighting, and a supported browser, and to photograph the ID on a dark, flat background. Most 'failed' loops are glare, blur, or a cropped document edge, not identity problems.
Expected output: the document capture succeeds and the check moves to the liveness or review step.

### 4. Escalate inside the platform, not around it
If clean captures still fail, an Ironclad admin can resend the invite, lower the verification strictness for this workflow step, or complete a manual verification. Every exception stays in the audit trail, which is what makes the signature defensible later.
Expected output: the counterparty completes verification through an admin-assisted path, fully logged.

## Tool compatibility
Ironclad e-signature with identity verification enabled on the workflow. Counterparty needs a camera-enabled device and a supported government ID.

## Variant phrasings
- Ironclad counterparty stuck identity verification failed loop
- Ironclad e-sign identity verification keeps failing counterparty
- Ironclad IDV failed how to resend invite
- counterparty cannot pass Ironclad identity check

## Why it happens
Automated identity verification compares three things: the invite identity (name and email), the document (is it a real, supported ID), and the capture (is the photo legible). A mismatch at any layer fails the whole check, and the loop repeats because retrying does not fix the underlying mismatch - only correcting the data or the capture does. The system is tuned to fail closed because a passed-but-wrong identity voids the signature's evidentiary value.

## Edge cases / pitfalls
- Some ID types and some countries are not supported by the verification vendor - check the supported list before the counterparty retries for the tenth time.
- Forwarded invites break the email-to-identity binding; always send to the signer's own address.
- Name changes (marriage, legal) between invite and signing are a classic mismatch - update the recipient record first.
- Repeated failures can trigger a cooldown; wait it out rather than hammering retries.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_aWqNO7VH_MVWZnGlBtKYIw