How Onboarding Works

Submit a KYC or KYB application, track it through the application states, and confirm approval before issuing a card.

Before you can issue a card, you must onboard the cardholder by submitting a compliance application and getting it approved. This page gives you the overall flow and links to the detailed compliance guides for each step.

This page is a summary. For the full set of compliance guides, including verification requirements, alternative submission methods, and rejection handling, see the Compliance overview.

The onboarding flow

How you onboard a cardholder depends on your program type:

• Consumer programs verify an individual through KYC. You submit a consumer application for a user.
• Corporate programs verify the company through KYB. You submit a corporate application for a company, which also creates the company’s first user. KYB does not replace per-person verification: the company’s first user, every UBO, and every additional user you add each go through their own KYC application, on top of the company’s KYB. See Who verifies what and Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO).

For the data each application requires and the screening Rain runs, see Verification requirements.

Both program types require supporting compliance documents, which you upload once per document. For the full submission workflow and the list of accepted documents, see Submit an application and KYC/KYB documents.

If you already verify customers yourself, you may be able to skip parts of the standard flow. You can submit pre-collected documents, reuse an existing verification through Sumsub or Persona token sharing, or send encrypted KYC data.

The application state machine

After you submit an application, it moves through a series of states until it reaches a terminal decision. You can group the states by what they ask of you:

• In progress: notStarted, pending, and manualReview. No action is needed. Wait for the next status.
• Action required: needsVerification, needsInformation, and tosNotAccepted. The cardholder must complete verification, resubmit information, or accept the program terms.
• Terminal: approved, denied, locked, and canceled. No further transitions occur.

For what each state means, what triggers it, and what to do next, see Application states.

Confirm approval

Wait for the application status to reach approved before you issue a card. You can confirm approval in one of two ways:

• Poll the application status endpoint for users or companies.
• Listen for a webhook on the user or company status change.

When an application is approved, Rain creates the cardholder automatically, so you can move straight to issuing a card.

Handle rejections and information requests

When an application needs attention, Rain returns a link you can use to redirect the cardholder to Rain’s hosted verification flow:

• needsVerification: the applicant has not yet submitted identity documents. Redirect them to the verification flow.
• needsInformation: documents were rejected with a retryable reason, such as a blurry photo or an expired document. The cardholder can resubmit through the hosted flow or you can resubmit through the update endpoints.
• tosNotAccepted (Consumer programs with terms acceptance enabled): the user passed verification but hasn’t accepted the program terms. Redirect them to accept. See Terms acceptance.
• denied: the application was rejected with a final decision and can’t be resubmitted.
• locked: set by Rain’s compliance team. Contact your Implementation Manager if you need details.

For the exact redirect fields and resubmission endpoints, see Application states. To understand why an application was rejected, see Rejection reasons and the Rejection catalog. If an application is stuck, or you want to bypass verification in sandbox, see Verification troubleshooting.

What’s next

Issue a card

Create a virtual or physical card for the approved cardholder.

Compliance overview

Explore every compliance guide, from verification to rejection handling.

KYC/KYB documents

Review the supporting documents each program type requires.