Top-Notch ID Document Processing Worldwide: Cameroon

In May 2024, the Cameroon government made a decisive effort to overhaul their national ID system, as its previous state was deemed far from optimal. Cameroon’s police (DGSN) signed a 15-year build-operate-transfer contract with German-Portuguese firm Augentic to deploy a new biometric ID card. The project set out an ambitious target: producing ID cards within 48 hours of application. 

Online pre-enrollment launched on February 17, 2025, followed by biometric data capture starting February 24, and by March 2025, Cameroonian citizens began receiving the new IDs. It has since been reported that the new system is living up to expectations, as many Cameroonians get “your ID is ready” notifications only two days after applying.

For ID processors and verifiers, however, this overhaul means encountering dramatically different documents than before, virtually overnight. And more.

Cameroon is the first country in Africa (and only the second in the world after Iceland) to use the new, vertical ID card orientation. This orientation has been introduced in ICAO’s 2023 update to Doc 9303, Part 5, which explicitly permits portrait orientation for national identity documents that are used for official travel or domestic identification purposes.

The Cameroon ID card is printed in both English and French, with a mostly standard set of data (name, date of birth, expiration date, sex, signature)—but there are also a few peculiarities. The reverse side contains an “Occupation” data field, as well as the signature of Cameroon’s Director General of National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguélé.

As for security, multiple visible and invisible elements are embedded in the card, as per the official decree. For example, two metallized holograms depict national symbols: one is a holographic outline of the map of Cameroon, and the other is a Cameroon flag emblem at the top left of the map. Microtext printing and multiple laser images are present as well.

Arguably, the biggest differences from the ID’s 2017 iteration come in the form of a QR code and a machine-readable zone (MRZ) on the back side, which were previously missing. Both are major security boosts: 

• The QR code encodes the cardholder’s identity information and a digital signature from the issuing authority, using the ICAO Datastructure for Barcodes format.

• The MRZ contains the document code, issuing country (CMR), the holder’s names, document number, nationality, date of birth, sex, and the card’s expiration date in a compact OCR-B font string.

With these new elements now involved, ID authenticators will need to use a verification solution that is capable of successfully reading them, revealing the embedded data (e.g., name, DOB, ID number, etc.), and checking the digital signature against the government’s public key.

Similarly, the card’s RFID chip stores biometric data such as the holder’s digital photograph and fingerprints—an additional layer of security and a mainstay of modern IDs. The chip also needs to be read properly with a solution like Regula Document Reader SDK for maximum security.

Another thorny issue is duplicate or multiple identities in the national registry, which has been exploited by bad actors. An alarming police estimate suggested around 3 million Cameroonians might have more than one identity record (and, by extension, two ID cards), from people using different names or dates of birth to simple clerical duplicates. 

To tackle this, authorities launched an operation on January 10, 2025, dedicated to resolving double identities—an interministerial committee is reviewing these cases and consolidating individuals’ records into a single identity profile. Those found with multiple entries were invited to re-enroll under the new system to obtain a single, unified National Identity Card (CNI). 

The cleanup is ongoing, but it highlights an additional challenge for Cameroon ID processing: systems must be alert to possible duplicate biometric hits until the unification process is complete. The verifiers will need to account for both old biometrics (which are being phased out) and new biometrics, and be wary of individuals who might present different documents from past duplicate identities. The good news is that each new card now ties conclusively to a single biometric identity, and this issue is temporary.

Replicating the situation with the national ID, the Cameroonian passport also has two iterations circulating at the same time: the 2013 version and the latest 2021 version. And while the issue will resolve itself in 2026 (as the older documents simply expire), verifiers still need to be wary of the differences—and account for them.

The 2013 version was the country’s first ever ICAO-compliant biometric passport and a major breakthrough, but it suffered from multiple shortcomings. At the time of its release, Cameroon was not part of the ICAO Public Key Directory, so foreign immigration systems might not have had immediate access to Cameroon’s CSCA certificate to verify the chip’s digital signature. In practice, this meant some airports could read the chip’s data but not authenticate it fully, possibly leading to RFID verification being skipped—and defeating the whole purpose of the chip.

The new 2021 Cameroon Passport uses an upgraded contactless chip that adheres to ICAO’s latest spec: Extended Access Control (as opposed to the 2013 version’s Basic Access Control). It also reportedly holds more data (facial image and fingerprints as opposed to only facial image in the 2013 version) and uses stronger cryptographic measures.

As far as physical security elements go, both versions are decently protected, boasting watermarks, holograms, and UV fluorescent ink, among others. That said, the 2021 version is naturally slightly superior, as the personal details in the 2013 version were not laser-engraved, but printed with ink.

Just like the brand-new national IDs, the 2021 ePassport is issued within two days from application—a feature that came together with the elevated fee of 110,000 CFA (approximately $205). Interestingly, both versions have a validity period of 5 years, in contrast to the more conventional 10-year lifespan. This also means that the 2013 edition will become redundant in 2026, which will mark the end of the two-passport era.

With fresh additions to the ID landscape and multiple versions of documents in circulation, it’s important to have an automated identity verification solution that will work with every type of document. The solution should also be able to:

• Support the new TD1 layout of next generation ID documents.

• Read machine-readable zones (MRZs) and barcodes.

• Read and authenticate RFID chips.

• Verify digital signatures encrypted into barcodes using the ICAO Datastructure format.

• Verify dynamic security features, including holograms and optically variable ink (OVI).

• Validate printed and digital credentials side by side, as both physical and mobile-based IDs become more common.

Regula Document Reader SDK is a capable solution, equipped to handle all these challenges and help with easy processing of identity documents. It supports 15,000+ identity documents from 251 countries and territories, including Cameroonian IDs in their old and new iterations.

Book a call to learn more about the solution and how it can help your organization!