Unable to upload enrollment letter – verification page only shows "Start Camera"

[12345luz]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Verification Help & Guidance

Hi everyone,

Hello everyone,

I am applying for GitHub Education benefits and I am experiencing a problem during the verification process.

I selected "Dated enrollment letter on school letterhead" because I have an official enrollment certificate from SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, Colombia).

However, the verification page only shows the "Start Camera" option and does not provide any option to upload my enrollment certificate as a PDF or image.

I have already tried:

• Using Chrome, Edge, and Brave.
• Using both my computer and my mobile phone.
• Clearing the browser cache and reloading the page.

On my mobile phone, the camera opens correctly, but I am still required to take a photo instead of uploading my enrollment certificate.

I have an official enrollment certificate that includes my name, the institution name, and the issue date, and I would like to submit it as my proof of enrollment.

Is this expected behavior? Is there any way to upload my enrollment certificate instead of using the camera?

Thank you very much for your help.

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[nirav-gajera]

@12345luz
This is expected (if frustrating) behavior — the GitHub Education verification widget is camera-first for most proof-of-enrollment types, and the "Upload a document" option doesn't show consistently for everyone. A number of people have hit exactly this with enrollment letters, transcripts, and student IDs, on both desktop and mobile, across all major browsers, so this isn't specific to your setup or your document type.

A couple of things that have worked for others in the same spot:

1. Use the camera to photograph the printed letter (or the letter displayed on a second screen). It's not elegant, but since the form is capturing a live photo rather than a file, printing your SENA enrollment certificate (or opening the PDF full-screen on a second device/monitor) and photographing it with good lighting is what most people end up doing when no upload button appears. Make sure your name, institution name, and issue date are clearly legible in the shot — those are the three things the reviewer is checking for.

2. If the photo route genuinely won't work for your document (e.g., a multi-page PDF or a certificate that doesn't photograph legibly), contact GitHub Education support directly rather than continuing to retry the widget: https://support.github.com/contact/education. Explain that the verification step only offers "Start Camera" with no upload option for your proof type, and attach the enrollment certificate PDF directly in the ticket. Support has manually reviewed documents for other students in this exact situation when the in-app flow didn't give them an upload path.

One more thing worth checking before you resubmit: expand any "Denied" result if you get one after a camera attempt — it usually tells you specifically why a photo failed (blur, missing date, name mismatch, etc.), which can save you a few retries.

[12345luz]

I will take your recommendations into account, thank you. @nirav-gajera

[jay1466]

If you're only seeing "Start Camera", then unfortunately that's the current verification flow for many users. The upload option isn't available in every case, even when you select an enrollment letter.

A few additional suggestions:

• Make sure the entire document is visible, well-lit, and all text (your name, institution, and issue date) is clearly readable when taking the photo.
• If your enrollment letter is digital, displaying it full-screen on another device and photographing it often works better than taking a picture of a printed copy.
• If the camera verification continues to fail or the document can't be captured clearly, open a GitHub Education support request and explain that the verification page doesn't provide an upload option. Include your enrollment certificate as an attachment so the support team can review it manually.

Hopefully GitHub adds a direct upload option in the future, as it would make this process much easier for students with official digital documents.

[12345luz]

I will take your recommendations into account, thank you.
@jay1466