Note: This is legacy/special-case documentation for USERTrust EV certificates only. Most SSL.com customers should refer to our documentation covering the requirements for SSL.com EV certificates.

Extended Validation (or EV) certificates are recognized as the highest standard in Internet trust. Ordering an SSL.com EV certificate is a great way to offer visitors to your site an extra level of confidence. However, in order to fully validate and issue an EV certificate several steps must be taken by the purchaser, as outlined below.

In order to verify your EV certificate please submit the three document items listed below through your SSL.com account portal.

  1. A signed copy of the EV Subscriber agreement
  2. A signed copy of the EV Authorization Form
  3. Please choose one of the following items to submit:
    1. Your company’s Dun & Bradstreet number
    2. A letter from a Certified Public Accountant to verify your business
    3. A letter registering a legal opinion, or a letter from a Latin Notary, to confirm your EV request.
    4. (For government entities only) A legal opinion letter verifying a government organization
SSL.com customers purchasing an EV certificate will immediately receive a DV certificate after going through the standard domain validation process. This certificate will serve as a placeholder so you can secure your site right away. Your EV certificate will be issued as soon as the additional verification steps below are completed and confirmed.

After submitting the above information to SSL.com, our vetting partner will:

    • Verify Legal Existence and Identity by verifying the organization registration directly with the incorporating or registration agency.
    • Verify Trade/Assumed Name (if necessary)- this is only applicable if the company does business under a name which is different from the official name of their corporation. The company’s trade name must be registered and verifiable.
    • Verify Operational Existence – typically this means confirming that the company has a current active demand deposit account with a regulated financial institution to verify that the company is able to conduct business operations.
    • Verify Physical Existence through the company’s address and organization phone number.
    • Verify Domain Ownership via a WHOIS search.
    • Verify the name, title, authority and signature of the person(s) involved in requesting the certificate and agreeing to the terms and conditions.
We will be able to provide your EV certificate only upon successful completion of all of the above steps – this is why it’s called an Extended Validation certificate.
Note also that in order to ensure maximum trust, EV certificates can be ordered for a maximum of two years, and the validation steps above will be repeated when your EV certificate is reordered.
As always, contact us at SSL.com if you have any questions whatsoever. Email Support@SSL.com, call 1-877-SSL-SECURE, or just click the chat link at the bottom right of this page.

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