Why must I upload a photo with my face?!

[#1]

Dear Upwork community,

I've started to work as a freelancer recently and was looking forward to build up my reputation here on Upwork. But I was really disappointed by the fact that you require a face recognized photo in order to complete the profile.

As you may know, here in Arab countries many girls cover their face,  so I think the fact that we can't work because of this simple issue is really frustrating. 

I can't see any reason that I can't work with a profile photo like this one for example:

I'm already working on other websites with profile photos wearing the Niqab (face cover) and customers where having no problem with that at all.

I hope you take into consideration girls like me who want to start earning money by themselves.

Regards,

Salma Hassan

[#2]

Yes please, just now I have created my account In which it is mentioning to upload the whole face photo. May I know how should I upload my profile photo with niqb?
Please look into this .
Thanks

[#3]

Hi Syeda,

Please try to upload your photo now and if you experience any problems on your end, let me know here. Thank you.

[#4]

please help me how did you upload your profile image with naqab??? I am unable to do so.

[#5]

Hi Rooma,

We're sorry for the inconvenience this caused to you. One of our team members will reach out to you directly to assist you with your request.

Thank you. 

[#6]

ok i am waiting

[#7]

Hi Upwork Community,

I need help in uploading my profile picture with face cover(naqab) . I cover my face & i want to add my picture with covered face as upwork profile image. but upwork is not allowing me. I was searching for the solution of this problem from many days. but did not get any solution.

Anyone please help me in this regard

[#8]

Hi Rooma,

I apologize for the delay in receiving an update. I'll go ahead and follow up with the team handling your case and you can expect one of our agents to reach out to you directly via support ticket as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

[#9]

Thanks alot Bojan 

[#10]

I have a professional photo with sunglasses i would like to upload as my profile picture. How should i go about it?

[#11]

Hi Geoffrey,

You can update your profile image at any time by going to your profile > hover over your image > click on the pencil case. You can also check out our blog post about: A How-To Guide for Your Perfect Profile Picture. Thank you.

[#12]

I created a new account just now but I want to upload my profile picture with niqab, as I wear a veil. Can you please guide me on the procedure for this so that I get approved?

[#13]

Hi Safa,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Could you please try again to upload your profile photo with niqab. Let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thank you!

[#14]

Thank you.

How about now, Is this picture okay?

Do I need to further verify, so that I may not ruin my chances of getting approved.

[#15]

Hi Safa,

I'm glad to hear that you were able to upload your profile photo. At the moment you are not required to complete any verification process. The team will let you know if there is a need for any verification process in the future.

Thank you!

[#16]

Hi Samar,

Thank you for reaching out to us. We have added a religious exemption to your profile. You can try again and you should now be able to upload a profile photo that covers your face. Let us know if you need further assistance.

[#17]

No submit button, how to proceed?

[#18]

Hi Samar,

Upon uploading your chosen profile picture, you should see a button that says "Attach photo" on the bottom right corner of the pop-up screen. 

Kindly clear your browser cache and cookies then try uploading your photo again. If the issue persists, please let us know.

[#19]

Please help me I am unable to upload a profile photo in veil. It creates problem for me to get start work on upwork

[#20]

Hi Rimsha,

I checked and it looks like we already enabled you to upload your picture with a veil once. Do you need to change your picture? If so, please let us know so we can assist you further.

Thanks!

[#21]

Thanks a lot, it works now. I have successfully updated my veil profile photo.

[#22]

Hi Adrea,

Can you solve this problem for me too.

Thank You.

[#23]

Hi Amna,

Could you please try again uploading your profile photo? If you need further assistance, please let us know. 

[#24]

Hi Ayesha,

One of our team members will reach out to you directly to assist you with your request.

Thank you for reaching out to us.  

[#25]

---

@Melissa T wrote:

Oh, Salma, this is a tricky one, right? I'm all for you earning your own income. I'm all for women all over the world, however they choose to present themselves, earning their own income. But, the rules of this platform are that you have to show your face in your profile photo. The "human element" in online freelancing is an important one for various reasons: the internet is largely impersonal and work is very personal, being able to see the face of the person with whom you are working brings the project from the anonymous internet into the realm of actual work done by actual people, it engenders trust. While your niqab in no way makes you less human, it does cover up a very defining human feature - your face. It's the same reason freelancers are not allowed to use profile photos in which they are wearing sunglasses - they visually obscure the face and serve to conceal identity. 

---

I totally understand your point of view and I'm not against it. I would like my customers to build trust in me too of course. But It doesn't make sense to give up one of my beliefs in exchange to that right?

Like I said, there are lot of "more reliable" methods to verify my identity without having to upload a photo of my face, like verifying my idenity and face with my National ID through customer support or something like that (like I did in other websites) instead of posting a public picture to all people.

Thanks for your reply and respecting my way of representing myself.

[#26]

Hi Salma,

Please see our response about a similar question in this thread, and to confirm what Petra stated, our support team can assist you with being able to upload your photo while wearing the Niqab.