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v_scott
Community Member

Identity Verification When Transgender

Hi, I'm a transgender freelancer who would like to verify that I live in the US, but I don't want to use my legal name for obvious reasons and would rather use my preferred name. Is there any way I could get verified while still using my preferred name? Thanks.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi Alex,

 

There most certainly is! Upwork will make exceptions for transgender individuals who are in the process of transitioning but have not been able to obtain a name change due to legal or other barriers. Documentation may be required and so, it would be best if you reach out directly to our support team so they can assist you within a private and secure channel of communication. 

 

How do I reach a human in customer support?

 

  1. Please visit Contact Support and click the ‘Chat with Upwork' button.
  2. Type a question or topic and select ‘Send’. The bot will find relevant Help articles for you.
  3. The chatbot will ask you to confirm if you need additional help. If you confirm that you need additional help, you will be asked to confirm the account type you need help with.
  4. From there, the support options available to you will be listed. Select either of the options to be able to contact the Upwork Support Team.

 

~Andrea
Upwork

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190 REPLIES 190
em4555
Community Member

I sent the required ID but I don't have bills at my name which could make verification harder. I'm sure if I could only explain to them or have a conversation where I can send more specific data instead of just sending documents that would be good, otherwise I'm not sure what to do not to have my account disabled after those 24 hours. I have the last conversation through Upwork before getting a job tomorrow and I may not have time to fix this. I haven't worked in a while and can't risk losing this opportunity. If anyone has any idea how I could go about this I would really appreciate it.

Hi Elso,

 

I can see you were able to submit a support ticket with our team explaining this and they've just replied with further instructions. Please review your ticket here, follow the team's instructions and reply directly to them once you're ready so they can continue to assist you.

 

~Andrea
Upwork
90bf1500
Community Member

Hello,

My name is Aiden**Edited for community guidelines**. This is the name I use for all professional contacts, is the name on my website, the name I go by in my every day life, and the name I have associated with all my portfolio works. My LEGAL name is Lauren, and it's jarring to see my "dead name" on this website when I never use it anywhere else. It also makes it so I get misgendered which is embarrasing and disheartening to have to explain away to clients. It also just wastes time to get to the point where my clients understand how to address me professionally.

 

My state makes it very outing (and honestly dangerous for a trans person living in a small town) to have to change your legal name. You have to publish your old name and new name AND YOUR ADDRESS in the newspaper for 3 weeks which is why I haven't changed my legal name yet.

It would be much more transgender inclusive if this site allowed me to change my display name to my preferred more professional name. I have no problem with the need to verify my legal name and drivers liscence which I already have done, I just wish I could have my chosen name be what is displayed to my contacts. 

 

Thanks for reading.

-Aiden**Edited for community guidelines**


Lauren W wrote:

Hello,

My name is Aiden**Edited for community guidelines**. This is the name I use for all professional contacts, is the name on my website, the name I go by in my every day life, and the name I have associated with all my portfolio works. My LEGAL name is Lauren, and it's jarring to see my "dead name" on this website when I never use it anywhere else. It also makes it so I get misgendered which is embarrasing and disheartening to have to explain away to clients. It also just wastes time to get to the point where my clients understand how to address me professionally.

 

My state makes it very outing (and honestly dangerous for a trans person living in a small town) to have to change your legal name. You have to publish your old name and new name AND YOUR ADDRESS in the newspaper for 3 weeks which is why I haven't changed my legal name yet.

It would be much more transgender inclusive if this site allowed me to change my display name to my preferred more professional name. I have no problem with the need to verify my legal name and drivers liscence which I already have done, I just wish I could have my chosen name be what is displayed to my contacts. 

 

Thanks for reading.

-Aiden**Edited for community guidelines**


Hi Aiden, they don't always make it clear, but they do alloww for this. I will flag your post so a moderator can help you change your name. 

Hi Aiden,

 

I have requested the assistance of our team. One of our agents will reach out and assist you directly via a support ticket.

 

~ Joanne
Upwork
90bf1500
Community Member

Hello! I just got my preffered name of "Aiden" added to my upwork account after I verified, then verified again my legal name of "Lauren". I just got an invitation to interview and it's asking me to verify my identity AGAIN, which will change my name back to Lauren. We just solved this problem and now it's wanting me to go back to my dead name, can someone please help?

Thank you very much, I would like to respond to the interview asap.

-Aiden

Wouldn't the logical thing be to follow up with the person who was already helping you with this issue? 

Hi Aiden,

 

I've escalated your concern to the team. One of our agents will reach out and assist you directly via a support ticket.

~ Joanne
Upwork
ee1a8b68
Community Member

Hello I am also transgender and do not want to publicly display my deadname

Hi there,

Someone from our team will reach out to you via support ticket in order to assist you further.

~Andrea
Upwork
8653a317
Community Member

Hi, I'm having an issue with verifying my name as I'm transgender and use a preferred name. Can someone help me out, please?

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ivy,

 

We’ll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with your verification process.

 

Thank you! 

~ Bojan
Upwork
e25c151f
Community Member

Hello,

 

I've put in a support ticket (ID 34650022) for this particular concern, but have yet to receive a response. How long does it typically take to be assigned to someone?

 

Thank you

Hi Ri,

 

I checked and can confirm you were able to submit a support ticket with our team successfully. Our team's response time is 24-48 hours.

 

~Andrea
Upwork
9f74367e
Community Member

Hello, I'm a transgender individual and I set up my account with the name I currently use. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my legal name changed, so the name on my profile doesn't match the name on my bank account. Is there any way I can make this work?

Hi Alex,

 

There most certainly is! Upwork will make exceptions for transgender individuals who are in the process of transitioning but have not been able to obtain a name change due to legal or other barriers. Documentation may be required and so, it would be best if you reach out directly to our support team so they can assist you within a private and secure channel of communication. 

 

How do I reach a human in customer support?

 

  1. Please visit Contact Support and click the ‘Chat with Upwork' button.
  2. Type a question or topic and select ‘Send’. The bot will find relevant Help articles for you.
  3. The chatbot will ask you to confirm if you need additional help. If you confirm that you need additional help, you will be asked to confirm the account type you need help with.
  4. From there, the support options available to you will be listed. Select either of the options to be able to contact the Upwork Support Team.

 

~Andrea
Upwork
860a659d
Community Member

Hello there,

I'm in a similar boat of many others. I just joined Upwork today but my payment info thinks my beneficiary is mismatched because of my transgender name. Would love some help. Thank you.

Hi Warren,

 

I have escalated your concern and one of our team members will reach out to you with assistance on how to clear the name mismatch on your account. You can check here or your email for updates.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
0c158d14
Community Member

Hi Andrea,

 

How can someone get in touch with the support team for this? I'm also trans and haven't been able to changed my legal name yet.

 

Thank you in advance!

Hi Aubrey,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I shared your request with our team and one of our agents will reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you further. You can access your support tickets here.


~ AJ
Upwork
dc4fe4db
Community Member

Hey, this seems to be a bit of an old post but it's the only place I've found that seems it could resolve this issue. I'm also a transgender freelancer who hasn't yet gotten a legal name change. I already have my legal name in my tax information, but I need to upload some government ID for verification, and I'm concerned that it won't be accepted, or that I'll be forced to display my legal name on my Upwork profile. Is there a way I can get my ID verified while keeping my preferred name on my account?

Hi Madison,

 

We truly appreciate you reaching out to us here. No worries, the information in Andrea's response is still up-to-date on this thread. In general, I'd like to confirm that your preferred name can be shown on your profile. Your verified name is only shared on invoices and the Contract Room you have with a client.

 

Let me have a member of our support team reach out to you directly and assist you with the verification process. Please don't hesitate to coordinate with the team on this page or on your email if you need further assistance.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
5a06e452
Community Member

Hi Andrea, I have the same problem, in my paypal my legal name is Brunella, and in upwork my name is Bruno, my last names are the same. So when I enter my payment method it tells me that the names do not match. How can I solve that? Thanks.

Hi Bruno,

 

Please allow 48 hours for the team to review the name mismatch on your account.

 

~Andrea
Upwork
clay-slang
Community Member

Hello, I have the same question! Can I please receive some support? Thank you!

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Clay,

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with your request. 

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

~ Bojan
Upwork

Hello! I have the same issue as the other respondents in this thread. I'm a transgender freelancer who would prefer not to publicly display my legal name. Could you please send me a support ticket? Thanks!

Hi Jade,

 

Thanks for reaching out to us. One of our team members will reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

So I'm the same as everyone else here. I go by Michael, but when I tried to set up my payment information there was, of course, a mismatch. Who should I contact?

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Michael,

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with your request.

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

~ Bojan
Upwork
rskidmore
Community Member

Ah thank you 🙂

maeanwar
Community Member

hi, i am transgender and i don't feel comfortable using my deadname. upwork demand official id verification and it is hard for transgender people in egypt as is to change our names on official documents. i can send the official document and verify that it's me via video call. but, is it possible for upwork as an inclusive community to help me not use my dead name on the platform here? thank you.

Hi Mae,

 

Thanks for reaching out to us. I checked and it seems that you already created a support ticket for your name and ID verification concern. I will follow up with the team and you can expect an update very soon.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

I'm a transgender freelancer and I'd also like to use my preferred name as much as possible with clients. Thank you for any help you can provide!

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Lazarus,

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with your request. 

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

~ Bojan
Upwork
philipballew
Community Member

I have recently changed my name and gender, (male to a female). My current user id is my old name. Now that I am no longer that name, but I am a new name, is it possible to change the user id to "my new name" instead of the current "dead name"? I do not believe it would be appropriate for transgender women to have their old name as their user id.

I'm transgender male to female, I've been on hormone therapy for 7 months. I look mostly female and your site is going to force me to use my old "deadname" to get work here. I can't use a preferred name... I have to use my given name. Not even for my first name. 

 

I plan on getting my name changed in the future, however I can't afford to do so yet because like many trans people I'm far from wealthy. So even though I scored in the top 10 percentile on your SEO assessment and have been doing SEO, SEM, web development and whatever else is needed for the last 20 years I can't get work here because your site isn't transgender friendly... 

Sorry I don't fit into your square mold... and hope you soon make your site more inclusive of all people. 

Hi Dana,

I`m sorry about the inconvenience this had caused you.

I can see that a ticket was created for your profile name and it was escalated to the appropriate team to assist you further. If you have any additional questions feel free to post them directly on your ticket or send me a PM with more details. You can access your tickets on this Link, thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
mtngigi
Community Member


Dana L wrote:

I'm transgender male to female, I've been on hormone therapy for 7 months. I look mostly female and your site is going to force me to use my old "deadname" to get work here. I can't use a preferred name... I have to use my given name. Not even for my first name. 

 

I plan on getting my name changed in the future, however I can't afford to do so yet because like many trans people I'm far from wealthy. So even though I scored in the top 10 percentile on your SEO assessment and have been doing SEO, SEM, web development and whatever else is needed for the last 20 years I can't get work here because your site isn't transgender friendly... 

Sorry I don't fit into your square mold... and hope you soon make your site more inclusive of all people. 


This has more to do with making sure legal names match up to banking info for getting paid and Uncle Sam, rather than round fitting into square or visa versa ... nothing to do with inclusiveness at all. There are many instances where Upwork is more than willing to make things work when someone has a circumstance that requires personalized help.

 

ETA: And as always, Douglas Michael states it better than I could.

I am sorry to hear that you are running into obstacles. Upwork has a history of accommodating people who use different names from their birth names, whether those of us who use publication names or transgender freelancers (you can search the forum for corroboration). This is typically one of the easier and quicker adjustments Upwork offers. I hope you see a speedy resolution.

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