How to Verify International Address

 Verifying a person’s address is a critical step in many types of onboarding, and the process becomes more complicated when it comes to global addresses. Countries have their own formatting rules, and cities and states may have different formats too. As such, verify international address is a difficult task that requires the right tools.

Ideally, the best way to validate an international address is to use a third-party vendor that can provide a formatted and enriched list of data after making a simple API call. This method avoids the need to code an entire validation library, but does come with some limitations. For example, the underlying data is not guaranteed to be updated and accurate on a regular basis, and it can lead to inaccuracies with city and state names (Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for instance, was renamed Gqeberha in February 2021).

Another challenge comes from the fact that people can change their addresses, and this can impact verification accuracy. For this reason, it is crucial for any business that uses an international address verification service to have a data retention policy in place to keep up with changes.

There are many benefits of using a real-time address verification solution, including lower acquisition costs and smoother logistics. But if you are working with an international address validation solution that isn’t up to the job, it can mean higher customer friction and missed opportunities for your business. This article takes a closer look at why different methods of international address validation fail to work well, and introduces an alternative that can improve your address verification workflow.