Identité Numérique La Poste (La Poste's digital identity) is a free online identity, verified by La Poste (the French postal service), that lets you sign a document at the qualified level. It does not require a chip identity card: it is the route to a qualified signature for those who do not have the new card — including foreign residents holding a long-term residence permit.
What you need
- An active Identité Numérique La Poste. Getting one is free, but requires an identity document — a French identity card, a French passport, or a residence permit valid for at least five years — and a check of your identity by La Poste. This check can be done at a post office, without an appointment, or online.
- A smartphone with the L'Identité Numérique La Poste app installed, and your PIN code.
This step is done in advance: it cannot be improvised on the day of signing.
How the signing works
- On 1-signature, you upload your document, place your signature and choose level 6.
- When it is time to sign, you are asked to prove your identity with Identité Numérique La Poste.
- On your phone, the app asks you to confirm, with your PIN code.
- The signature is applied, and you download the signed document and its evidence file.
You can start the signing from a computer or from your phone. Either way, proof of identity happens on the phone: keep it within reach.
France Identité or La Poste?
Both produce the same qualified signature, at the same price. So the question is not which is better, but which one you already have:
- you have a French credit-card-format identity card and the France Identité app: level 5;
- you have an Identité Numérique La Poste: level 6.
If the identity does not match
Your name is supplied by La Poste or by France Identité, depending on the authentication method used, and not by what you typed. If it does not match the name you declared on 1-signature, the signing stops without using your stars. Check what you typed, and start again.
