For seven years, the process of obtaining Twitter’s blue “Verified” checkmark for your account has been shrouded in mystery. No formal criteria was ever given, no application process available, and no explanations from the company why some accounts got verified while similar accounts were not. Now the company has finally announced an actual application for users seeking verified accounts — but getting that little checkmark isn’t a given.

Twitter announced Tuesday that it will now allow anyone to request a verified account by filing out a form on its website.

Users must provide a verified phone number and email address, a profile photo, and additional information — such as birth date and associated websites — regarding why the verification is required or helpful to the user.

Users will also have to provide the company with information on why their account should be verified in order to “understand their impact in their field,” or if the account belongs to a business, “to let us know their mission.”

In some cases, Twitter says it may request users scan and upload a legible copy of their government-issued ID to confirm their identity.

“We want to make it even easier for people to find creators and influencers on Twitter so it makes sense for us to let people apply for verification,” Tina Bhatnagar, Twitter’s vice president of User Services, said in a statement. “We hope opening up this application process results in more people finding great, high-quality accounts to follow, and for these creators and influencers to connect with a broader audience.”

Twitter first began account verification in 2009 and currently has about 187,000 verified accounts.

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