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Coat of arms of Barbados
Official government website

ID

Ask for one identifier at a time and let users switch to another they hold.

Preview

ID number

Ask for one identity document at a time. Lead with the identifier most users will have — usually the National Identification (ID) number — and let people switch to another document they hold instead.

When to use this pattern

Use it when a service has to identify someone against an official record. Ask for the fewest identifiers that will do the job: one is usually enough. These numbers are sensitive, so do not collect several "to be safe".

Switching document

Offer a link such as "Use passport number instead" that swaps the field for the alternative, rather than showing every identifier at once. Services in Barbados commonly accept the National ID number, passport number, driver's licence number, National Insurance number (NIS) or TAMIS number — show only the ones your service actually accepts.

Format and hint text

The National ID number is written as six date-of-birth digits, a hyphen, then four more — for example 900314-0052. Show that example in hint text and point the user at the card. Accept the number with or without the hyphen and normalise it on the server.

Attributes

Set inputmode="numeric" for a digit keyboard, autocomplete="off" so the number is not stored in browser autofill, and spellcheck="false". Do not pre-fill these numbers or echo them back in URLs.

Errors

Validate on the server: check the length and, for the National ID number, that the date portion is a real date. Show one error message following the form error guidance, and never include the number itself in the error text.