Free ID card OCR for CNIC, Aadhaar and national IDs

Identity card names by country

An identity card is the same kind of document everywhere, but almost every country has its own name for it. If yours isn't listed, upload it anyway: the tool works out the fields from the card itself, in the card's own layout.

What the free ID card extractor reads

• Identity: full name, surname, given names, and the name in local script where printed.
• Family: father's, husband's or mother's name, which cards such as the CNIC carry.
• Numbers: national ID number, card number and machine-readable zone lines.
• Dates: date of birth, date of issue and date of expiry.
• Details: sex, nationality, place of birth, address and issuing authority.

CNIC OCR: reading a Pakistani identity card

A CNIC prints the holder's name and father's or husband's name, the 13-digit number, and the dates of birth, issue and expiry. Depending on the card version, the front carries English, Urdu or both, and the addresses sit on the back. Upload it as a clear photo with the whole card in frame. For a Smart NIC, the same applies. For a step-by-step guide to the CNIC fields, see CNIC to text.

Aadhaar OCR: reading an Indian identity card

An Aadhaar card prints the name, date of birth, sex and 12-digit number on the front, with the address on the back. A printed e-Aadhaar puts both on a single page. If you don't need the full number, use a masked Aadhaar, which shows only the last four digits. A PAN card or Voter ID reads the same way.

Front and back of the card

Many cards split the details across two sides, so the number can sit on the front and the address on the back. The free try reads one side: the first page of a PDF, or a single image. Upload the side you need, or use a free account to read both together in one run.

curl -X POST "$DOCREFINERY_API/v1/workflows/wf_demo_identity_card/run" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DOCREFINERY_API_KEY" \
  -F "[email protected]"

# Take trace_id from the answer, then poll until status is "fulfilled"
curl "$DOCREFINERY_API/v1/runway/9f1c0a7e" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DOCREFINERY_API_KEY"

{
  "trace_id": "9f1c0a7e",
  "status": "fulfilled",
  "document_type": "identity_card",
  "result": {
    "fields": [
      {
        "key": "full_name",
        "alias": "Full Name",
        "text": "Alex Sample",
        "field_confidence": 0.99,
        "location": { "page": 1, "bbox": [0.08, 0.12, 0.46, 0.14] }
      },
      {
        "key": "father_name",
        "alias": "Father Name",
        "text": "Sam Sample",
        "field_confidence": 0.98,
        "location": { "page": 1, "bbox": [0.08, 0.17, 0.46, 0.19] }
      },
      {
        "key": "national_identification_number",
        "alias": "Identity Number",
        "text": "00000-0000000-0",
        "field_confidence": 0.97,
        "location": { "page": 1, "bbox": [0.08, 0.22, 0.46, 0.24] }
      }
    ],
    "extraction_approval": "auto",
    "low_confidence_fields": []
  }
}