> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.flowella.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Business information and verification on Meta

> Complete your business information in your Meta portfolio and pass Business Verification, with a dummy-asset workaround for the Start Verification button.

Business Verification is Meta's process for confirming that your company is real, owned by you, and operating legitimately. It is the single most common stuck-on-setup step in Flowella onboarding because the **Start Verification** button on a fresh business portfolio is often greyed out, with no obvious reason why.

This page covers the information Meta needs, how the verification itself runs, and the workaround for the greyed-out button.

## Why verification matters

<Warning>
  **Sending WhatsApp Flows to customers requires a verified business.** This is a Meta prerequisite, so until your business is verified you cannot send Flows, which is the core of what Flowella does. See Meta's [Flows prerequisites](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/flows/gettingstarted).
</Warning>

Beyond Flows, verification also affects how widely you can message. Without passing Business Verification, your WhatsApp Business Account is capped at the Tier 1 messaging limit (250 unique recipients per 24 hours). Plain template messages can still be approved and sent within that cap, but you cannot graduate to higher tiers, and some features are disabled. Most teams hit the cap on day one of a real campaign.

For the messaging tiers themselves, see [Messaging limits for new accounts](/meta/messaging-limits).

## What Meta needs

Before starting verification, gather the following so it's all to hand once you click the button. Mismatches are the most common reason verification fails on the first attempt.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Legal business name">
    The **exact registered name** of your company as it appears on your incorporation documents and at your country's business registry (Companies House for the UK, equivalent registries elsewhere).

    "Acme Marketing Ltd" and "Acme Marketing Limited" are different to Meta's matcher even if you treat them the same in daily use. Use the form that appears on your registry filings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Business address">
    The **registered legal address** of the company, again as it appears on public filings. A c/o address (e.g. care of your accountants) is fine if that's what the registry shows.

    Trading addresses, virtual offices, and PO boxes are accepted but slow down the manual review if Meta cannot match them to public records.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Business phone number">
    A phone number that is clearly associated with the business. Meta will call this number during verification, so it has to ring through to a person who can confirm details — not an IVR menu that drops calls to voicemail. A mobile that goes to your operations manager is often a better choice than a switchboard.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Business website">
    A live website on a domain you own, where the legal business name appears on the homepage, the About page, or the footer. Squarespace and Wix sites count.

    If your trading brand is different to the legal entity (for example, "Flowella" trading from "Discover Digital Solutions Limited"), both names need to be visible somewhere on the website. The Privacy Policy and Terms pages are common places to expose this.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Business email address">
    An email address on the same domain as your website (`name@yourcompany.com`). Gmail and Outlook addresses are accepted but flagged for additional review.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Supporting documents">
    Be ready to upload at least one of: certificate of incorporation, business licence, tax registration document, utility bill in the business name, or recent bank statement in the business name. PDF or clear photo is fine.

    All four corners of the document must be visible and all text legible. Cropped images and screenshots usually fail.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Add or update your business information

Before starting verification you need the basics filled in on the portfolio.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open business information">
    Go to your Meta business portfolio in **Meta Business Suite** → **Settings** → **Business info**, or directly at `business.facebook.com/settings/info`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete every field">
    Fill in the legal name, address, phone, website, email, and primary contact. Save each section as you go.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Cross-check against your website">
    Open your website in a separate tab and verify the legal name matches what appears publicly. If they differ, update the website first.
  </Step>
</Steps>

With that done, the **Start Verification** button should appear in the Security Centre. If it doesn't, you've hit the dummy-asset trap below.

## The Start Verification button is greyed out

This catches teams with brand new business portfolios. Meta will not start the verification process for a portfolio that has no business assets attached to it — the assumption being that there is nothing to verify against. A WABA on its own does not count as a sufficient asset to trigger verification.

The fix is to attach any single Meta asset to the portfolio. The lightest-weight option is to create an **App** in [Meta for Developers](https://developers.facebook.com), which takes about 90 seconds and never has to actually be used.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to Meta for Developers">
    Sign in at [developers.facebook.com](https://developers.facebook.com) with the same Facebook account that admins your business portfolio.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a new App">
    Click **My Apps** → **Create App**. Pick **Other** as the use case, **Business** as the app type, and give it any name ("Verification Helper" is fine).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach the App to your portfolio">
    When prompted for a business portfolio, choose the portfolio that holds your WABA. Save.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Return to the Security Centre">
    Back in Meta Business Suite, go to **Settings** → **Security Centre** and refresh the page. The **Start Verification** button should now be active.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Start Verification">
    Walk through Meta's verification flow with the information you gathered above.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Once verification succeeds you can leave the dummy App attached or delete it from `developers.facebook.com` → the App → **Settings** → **Delete App**. Either is fine.
</Note>

## During verification

Meta typically responds within 1–2 business days. The flow is:

1. **Automatic checks first.** Meta compares your legal name, address, and website against public records and the documents you uploaded. If everything matches, you're verified in minutes.
2. **Manual review if mismatched.** Anything Meta can't auto-match goes to a human reviewer, which adds 1–2 business days. You may be asked to upload additional documents or take a verification call.
3. **Phone or email confirmation.** Meta sends a verification code to either your business phone or business email — you choose which. Enter the code to finish.

You can check status anytime under **Security Centre** → **Business Verification**.

## Common rejection reasons

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Legal name doesn't match public records">
    Even small differences fail: punctuation, missing "Limited" vs "Ltd", capitalisation variations. Pull the exact string from Companies House (UK) or your country's equivalent and use it verbatim.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Website doesn't show the business name">
    Meta requires the legal name to be visible on your live website. If your brand differs from the legal entity, add the legal name to your footer, Privacy Policy, or Terms page.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Document quality">
    Cropped, blurry, or screenshot-quality uploads fail. Use a flatbed scanner or take a phone photo in good light with all four corners visible.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Phone number not associated with the business">
    Meta may search your business phone number against public records. If it doesn't match (for example, a personal mobile), the review takes longer. List the number on your website's contact page to make the link clear.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Recently created business portfolio">
    Brand new portfolios sometimes face additional manual review even after the Start Verification button works. Adding the dummy App helps Meta accept that the portfolio is real.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## After verification

Verification unlocks:

* **Sending WhatsApp Flows to customers.** Flows cannot be sent until your business is verified, which is the main reason most Flowella customers complete this step. See Meta's [Flows prerequisites](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/flows/gettingstarted).
* **Higher messaging limits** — graduating from Tier 1 (250 recipients/24h) up to Tier 4 (100,000+/24h) becomes possible. See [Messaging limits](/meta/messaging-limits) for the criteria.
* **Display name approval** — the green badge in WhatsApp comes from a verified business with an approved display name.
* **Click-to-WhatsApp ads** — unverified accounts can't run CTWA at scale. See [CTWA Ads](/campaigns/click-to-whatsapp-ads).

If verification has succeeded but Flowella still shows a warning, open Flowella → **Settings** → **Meta** and click **Refresh status**. The Meta status syncs to Flowella on a schedule but a manual refresh forces an immediate read.

## Related guides

* [Setup sequence](/meta/setup-sequence) for where verification sits in the bigger picture
* [Phone numbers explained](/meta/phone-numbers) for the parallel step of getting a working number registered
* [Meta payment method](/meta/payment-method) once verification is complete