# Government Agencies

Government agencies must get approval from Meta **before** creating any WhatsApp Business accounts.

## Pricing

As a reflection of the level of service and required throughput necessary to properly support public bodies and government agencies, **any local or national government agency or NGO will be charged at the Premium Rate of $99.**

## Allowed Government Agencies

All government agencies need to go through the government agency application process.

**Political Parties, Politicians, Military, National Security, and Law Enforcement** are **not accepted** in this program, meaning that they **cannot create WhatsApp Business Platform accounts**.  

* [x] Private service providers are not allowed, i.e.: campaign strategy, voting, government aggregators.
* [x] WhatsApp does not allow for any promotion, political campaigning, voter data gathering or any sort of election influencing.

## Prerequisites

Please keep in mind that even after receiving the initial approval from Meta, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to use the account. The account must meet these requirements:

* [x] The account must fully comply with the [Business Policy](https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-policy) and [Commerce Policy](https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/commerce-policy) and agree with the [WhatsApp Business Terms](https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/business-terms)
* [x] The website is open worldwide, or at least you can schedule this opening for a few days if needed
* [x] The website is secure (with SSL encryption)
* [x] All approved accounts must go through the[ Meta Business Verification](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/resources/meta-business-verification/standard-business-verification)

{% hint style="warning" %}
Accounts must go through the [standard-business-verification](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/resources/meta-business-verification/standard-business-verification "mention"). Partner-led Business Verification (PLBV) is not available for government agencies.
{% endhint %}

## How to Request a Government Agency Account

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Create a WhatsApp Business Account

Create a [**new WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)**](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/hub/embedded-signup) to obtain a unique WABA ID. This WABA should be used exclusively as a government account.\
\
**Do not send any messages to users on WhatsApp yet.** You may start sending messages after completing **Step 4**.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Contact Our Support Team

[Click here to see how you can get in touch with our support team](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/support/get-support). Our support team will submit a government account review request to Meta.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Submit Documents for Business Verification

After confirmation from our support team that Meta has approved the government account review request, [submit a Business Verification request to Meta](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/resources/meta-business-verification/standard-business-verification). Standard Business Verification is the only available Business Verification method available for government accounts. It may take up to 14 days for Meta to review the request.\
\
If you encounter any issues, please get in touch with our support team.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Submit Display Name

Submit a display name for your phone number(s). It may take up to 48 hours for the display name review to be completed by Meta.\
\
**You may start messaging users on WhatsApp after completing these steps.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Submit OBA Request (Optional)

You may be presented with an option to submit an Official Business Account (OBA) request after completing the steps above. A successful OBA request will add a blue checkmark next to the submitted display name.

For more information, see [official-business-account](https://docs.360dialog.com/docs/resources/phone-numbers/official-business-account "mention").
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}


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