Withdrawl on hold for additional review?

[#1]

Hey,

I just wanted to express my feelings about 'Withdrawal is on hold' as I dont see anything else I can do.

So I had bills to cover today, so I told my clients to pay me on 15th, as its fixed-price contract the money would be proccessed on 20th. Well what a shockar to find out that half of the money will be available tomorrow (no big deal but it said 20th in the report section for 4 days), so I contact UW support to atleast get an information on why is it taking a day longer for the other half (it was payed as a bonus and it was billed on 16th apperantly no worries). When I tried to withdrawal frist half that is aavailable, my my what a shocker:

*Your payment is on hold for further review*

And in the email among others it says : If you don't hear back from us within 2 business days.

REALLY? 2 DAYS?

Thanks for rewarding all my hard work I did trough Upwork with electricity being cut.

Cheers!

[#2]

I have another question. I was told that the hold has been lifted and that my payment would be processed, but I still haven't received the "your payment is being processed" email I usually get after the payment confirmation email.

Freelancers who have already had their funds released - did you still receive the "payment is being processed" email, or did your funds just appear in your bank account after they lifted the hold?

Thanks!

[#3]

Hi Jeanne,

Yes that is correct, you will receive the same email when the payment is processed. Please allow up to 24 hours so that our partner bank will process your withdrawal.

[#4]

I'm having that issue. I sent a payment request on 20th, got the on hold email. Then payment confirmation email, but then didn't get payment processed email till 22nd. Looks like the same is going to happen with the withdrawal I've made today.

I'm curious why this process isn't carried out during 'the security holding' phase before funds are made available for withdrawal.

[#5]

I have made a payment to a local bank and Upwork says that my payment is on hold for additional review. I made a transfer successfully last week and I am using the same method for the last one year. I don't know why this is happening. Now, I need to wait for my hard earned money. Please help!

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#6]

Hi Rashidul,

This process is due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, once this is finished your payment will be processed within 1 business day.

[#7]

Hi Goran,
Thank you for your reply. Can you please tell me how long it takes for this review?

[#8]

Hi Rashidul, 

The process is finished within one business day, if additional information are needed our team will contact you directly via ticket.

[#9]

Okay.

Thank you, Goran.

[#10]

Goran, I have a suggestion to make. To those of us subject to this regulation, like me, please consider shortening the security period from 5 days to 4. It's unfair to have every payment delayed because we happen to share a last name with a totally different person.

[#11]

Hi John,

Thank you for your feedback, I will share this with our team.

[#12]

Hi  Upwork Team,

I have just found myself in the same boat as many other Upworkers are in! Made a withdrawal request and soon after got a notification about my payment on hold for additional review. 

[#13]

Hi Tallal,

Please refer to my comments below:

This process is due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, once this is finished your payment will be processed within 1 business day.

[#14]

I am not really in a haste to have my payment, it's ok even if it take days. Just want to know why this is happening because I made no payment settings in recent past and my identity was confirmed via video verification a few months back.

[#15]

I have received my payment. Thanks for the quick resolution! Not to forget the 'payment on hold' notification had nearly sent me into an almost cardiac arrest. 

[#16]

Hi Goran,

Just wanted to let you know that my payment request is now accepted. Thanks to #upworksupportteam

[#17]

Hi,

My payment is hold for further review.

"Unfortunately, your payment of $170.73 via Direct to Local Bank Transfer account Ref# 163561130 is currently on hold for additional review. We may need to verify some of your identify information and if so, a member of our identity verification team will reach out to you within a business day via email to assist you. "

Would anyone please help me to solve the issue? Will be thankful for that.

Thanks

Abdullah

[#18]

As it says, a member of Identity Verification Team will contact you, so check your email, also go to the "Help & Support" section and check  "My Requests" in the top right, you might find a message from them there.

[#19]

Thanks for your reply actually it is more than 24 hours i havent got any email.

[#20]

Same thing here, I received nothing after 24h so I had to contact Upwork support, and it should be resolved in 24h, so basically 2 days. What I don't understand is why is this gonna happen every time we try to withdraw our money? If you confirm my identity once, why would you need to do it again the next time. It just seems like a colossal waste of time. Also, if it gets resolved in hours in future I guess it is not such a problem, but if it always takes a couple of days then it is. The wait for pending payments is already long as it is, this is something that should really be improved and it is the biggest problem that I have with Upwork, especially when you take into account big fees as well. Just my two cents on the matter, best regards to all.

[#21]

Abdullah & Vladimir,

Due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, the hold will happen for each withdrawal for some freelancers. The review should be completed and the payment will be processed within one business day as usual. We are working on streamlining the process to reduce the future wait time for the holds.

[#22]

This may well be related to OFAC Compliance

The OFAC site has a searchable database - if your surname is on it it could mean that youmight end up subject to further review.

[#23]

It could be, there's a man with the same name as me on the list. Still, it is just silly that every withdrowal should go through this review. If they confirm my identity once, shouldn't that be enough? And I'm not talking about Upwork, I understand if that is the law. It's just not a very well-thought procedure I guess.

I just hope that Upwork will find a more efficient way to do these reviews, cause I've been waiting for this one to go through for more than a day, which is not as efficient as they said in the first emial I received. 

[#24]

I pity those with very common surnames that are on that list.

[#25]

I submitted a ticket after this also happened to me. I asked to be notified if I needed to submit additional documents immediately, as I don't want this happening again. Then I was told I was also potentially on this list? But I didn't understand, so I submitted a new ticket with additional questions. I was sent the same exact automated response for my second ticket, and none of my questions were answered. I felt very invisible in this moment.

Why is this happening now? I have been with Upwork for nearly a year and have never run into this problem. I requested a payment on the 15th with no problem, then the ones on the 19th and 21st ran into the same notification. Only today are both payments showing as processing in my bank account... but I wouldn't know that at all if I didn't check it directly...

I just don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden?

[#26]

---

@Wanda S wrote:

1)  I asked to be notified if I needed to submit additional documents immediately, as I don't want this happening again.

2) Then I was told I was also potentially on this list

3) Why is this happening now? I have been with Upwork for nearly a year and have never run into this problem.

4) I just don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden?

---

 1) It may happen every time you withdraw... OFAC Compliance

2) Check if someone with the same surname is on the searchable database

3) New legislation

4) New legislation