Organization Validation (OV) SSL Certificates

Our OV certificates are available as single-domain, wildcard and multi-domain products with options from Sectigo, DigiCert, GeoTrust, GoGetSSL and Thawte.

An OV SSL certificate is a TLS certificate that verifies two things before issuance: that the applicant controls the domain, and that the organization behind it is a real, legally registered business.

To confirm the second, the certificate authority checks the company name, registration details, physical address and a publicly listed phone number against independent government and business records. Those verified details are written into the certificate’s subject field, where any visitor can inspect them by clicking the padlock.

This is what separates OV from Domain Validation, which confirms domain control alone, involves no paperwork, and issues in minutes; OV involves manual review and takes business days rather than minutes.

OV suits business websites, customer login pages and internal portals, anywhere visitors benefit from seeing who operates the site.

Before ordering, generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) on your server with your company name, city, state, and country code. The CA then follows these steps:

A Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) code can shorten approval to under 24 hours, since CAs pull your verified details directly from the global LEI database.

Preparation is the difference between OV validation clearing in a day and dragging into a third. The CA is matching what you submit against independent records, so mismatches rather than missing paperwork cause most delays.

• Legal business registration, with the company name exactly as it will appear on the order. The CA compares the name on your order against the government register. “Acme Ltd” on the order and “Acme Limited” in the register reads as a mismatch and stops the file.
• A registered address that matches public business records. If you trade from an address different to your registered one, expect the CA to ask for supporting documentation before it accepts the trading address.
• A phone number listed in an accepted public directory, or a current third-party record such as a DUNS entry. A mobile number, or a number that appears only on your own website, is not independent verification and will not be accepted.
• A named contact who can actually be reached on that listed number. The CA calls the directory number and asks for your contact. Reception staff who have not been told an OV order is in progress are one of the most common reasons a file stalls.
• Your domain control method chosen before you order: DNS CNAME record, HTTP file upload, or one of the pre-approved admin addresses. WHOIS-based email validation is no longer accepted, so if that was your previous route you need a new one.
• A CSR whose organization fields match the registration record. Company name, city, state and country in the CSR are checked against the same register as the order. A CSR generated with abbreviated or outdated details forces a reissue before validation can finish.
• An LEI code, if you have one. It lets the CA pull verified entity data straight from the GLEIF database rather than assembling it from separate sources.

All three validation levels deliver the same 256-bit encryption and HTTPS padlock. The difference is identity verification depth.

• Domain Validation confirms only domain control. Certificates issue in minutes with no paperwork, but anyone can get one, including phishing operators, because no identity check is required.
• Organization Validation adds verified company identity. The CA confirms your business is legally registered and operational before issuing. Phishing operators cannot pass this vetting, which makes OV a practical choice for business websites, online stores, and SaaS platforms. One key distinction: OV is the highest validation level available for wildcard certificates, since the CA/Browser Forum prohibits EV wildcards entirely.
• Extended Validation is the most thorough vetting: the CA verifies legal existence, operational status, and physical address through independent sources. Common among large enterprises and financial institutions, EV takes 1–5 business days at higher pricing.

Not sure which type you need? The SSL Wizard recommends the right certificate based on your site and budget.

Order an OV certificate today and what you receive is valid for 199 days. The ceiling set by CA/Browser Forum Ballot SC-081v3 is 200 days, but DigiCert and Sectigo both issue at 199 to stay safely inside it.

Subscriptions are still sold in years, and no publicly trusted certificate can run that long, so a one-year OV order is delivered as more than one certificate across the term.

The remaining steps under SC-081v3:

• March 15, 2027: maximum validity drops to 100 days
• March 15, 2029: maximum drops to 47 days

Domain control validation reuse shrinks on the same schedule, to 100 days in 2027 and 10 days in 2029. Organization identity data for OV can still be reused for 398 days.