Smart-ID to let users create accounts via phone's NFC and eID card

Smart-ID users in Latvia will gain a new way to create or renew their accounts, using a smartphone's NFC function together with a Latvian eID card. Previously this required a separate eID card reader, but the new method works entirely through the phone.

To register, users need an NFC-enabled smartphone, the Smart-ID app, and a valid eID card with active PIN codes. The process involves selecting eID card registration in the app, entering the required card details, and holding the card against the phone — taking up to about five minutes in total. Once the data on the card's chip is read, new Smart-ID PIN codes are generated and the account is activated. Alongside this change, creating a new Smart-ID account using an eID card reader will no longer be possible.

First simple remote registration option

Until now, new users mostly registered through remote biometric verification or in person at a bank. The NFC method becomes the first simple way to create an account remotely using only a phone and an eID card. A similar system was introduced in Estonia in March 2026, where NFC registration has since become the most commonly used method for creating new accounts.

Ludmila Bērica, head of SK ID Solutions AS's Latvian branch, notes that Smart-ID is used by 1.2 million people in Latvia, who carry out nearly a million transactions daily, and that the new feature will make account creation simpler while maintaining security standards.

Limitations for certain cards

Since NFC registration relies on physically reading data from the card's chip, the phone and eID card must be together during the process — it cannot be completed without access to the physical card. Additionally, starting December 9, eID cards with a Cosmo 8.1 chip will no longer meet qualified e-signature requirements, meaning neither first-time nor repeat Smart-ID registration will be possible with these cards, whether via NFC or a card reader. Existing accounts will continue functioning after that date. People with such cards will still be able to register for the first time after December 9 by visiting a bank that supports Smart-ID in person, without needing to be a client of that bank. The chip type can be checked using the LVRTC tool at reg.eparaksts.lv/eidinfo. Smart-ID is urging users who need to create or renew an account to do so in advance.