Already popular with students to get loans, the B.C. Services Card mobile app is being promoted as a way for more people to get access to B.C. government services without visiting an office to verify their identity.
The B.C. Services Card mobile app now allows card holders to send a picture and a short video of themselves to the Service B.C. office for verification. The new option is added to the live video call verification that was launched in June 2019, so people can apply at any time of the day or night. For submitted video, an email will be sent back once the verification is complete.
As might be expected, the citizens’ services ministry has created a how-to video showing the options for online verification of the mobile app. (See video below.)
The most popular use for video verification of the mobile app is student aid, with more than 53,000 post-secondary students having used the live video option to apply for loans through StudentAidBC in the past year. The mobile app can also be used to pay students loans and health-related bills, get access to personal health information, and view and manage personal income tax and benefit information.
The mobile app can also be used to submit a personal freedom of information request and receive records electronically.
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The B.C. Services card was issued in 2013 to replace the greatly oversubscribed B.C. CareCard for health care, and for other provincial services. It may now be combined with a B.C. driver’s licence.
@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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