---
title: "Card KYC and activation"
description: "Verify a cardholder with a liveness check and activate cards for them. The /v1/risk routes serve cards only."
---
Before you can issue cards to a customer, the customer must pass KYC with a liveness check, and you must activate the card feature (`virtual_cards`) for them. The card KYC endpoints under `/v1/risk/` do both. Activating `virtual_cards` creates the customer's card application.

## Which KYC flow to use

Both flows record the same KYC result on the customer, so completing basic KYC in either one counts for cards.

| You want to | Use |
| :--- | :--- |
| Verify a customer for accounts, transfers and other products | [KYC](/getting-started/kyc) (`/v1/customers/kyc/*`) |
| Verify a customer who will get a card, with liveness captured in the same step | [Verify a cardholder](/platform/cards/card-kyc/verify-a-cardholder) (`/v1/risk/start-kyc`) |
| Activate cards for a customer who is already verified | [Activate feature](/platform/cards/card-kyc/activate-feature). If the customer has no liveness check yet, activation returns a liveness link |

Do not mix the two document-upload flows for one customer, because each flow stores documents under its own type names.

<Warning>
Never call `POST /v1/risk/start-kyc` for a customer whose KYC is already `completed`. It resets their KYC to `pending` until the review finishes again, which can block their accounts and cards in the meantime. Check the customer's `kyc` `basic` status with [Get a customer](/api-reference/customers/get-v1-customers-customer-id) first.
</Warning>

## Card activation workflow

To issue cards to a customer:

1. Complete the customer's basic KYC with a liveness check, through either flow above.
2. Find your business's card account, which is an active account of type `card` (`GET /v1/accounts?account_type=card&status=active`). Its `id` is the `account_id` you send at every activation. Your business has one card account. If you can't find it, [set it up](/platform/cards/set-up-your-card-account).
3. [Check feature eligibility](/platform/cards/card-kyc/check-feature-eligibility) to see what the customer still needs.
4. [Activate the feature](/platform/cards/card-kyc/activate-feature) with `feature_id` `virtual_cards` and the required `provider_data`.
5. Find the customer's card application and card through the [cards endpoints](/platform/cards/retrieve-cards).

## Features in the catalogue

[List features](/platform/cards/card-kyc/list-features) returns a catalogue of six features: `virtual_cards`, `crypto_wallet`, `eur_account`, `international_transfers`, `usd_account` and `gbp_account`. The `/v1/risk/` routes serve cards only. Activate `virtual_cards` here, and open accounts, wallets and payouts with their own APIs.

## Feature activation status

A feature is either activated for a customer or not. For `virtual_cards`, activated means the card application was submitted. It does not mean a card was issued. See [Activate feature](/platform/cards/card-kyc/activate-feature).