Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificate

An Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate represents the most rigorous identity verification process in the CA/Browser Forum's guidelines. The CA must verify your organization's legal, physical, and operational existence before issuance — a process that can take a week or more.

The EV Vetting Process

To issue an EV certificate, the CA must verify:

• Legal existence and identity — confirmed via incorporation documents or government database lookup
• Physical address — confirmed via third-party sources
• Operational existence — the organization has been active for at least 3 years, or a professional opinion letter is provided
• Domain authorization — verified separately for each domain
• Employment of the certificate requester — the CA must confirm the person requesting the cert is authorized by the organization

What EV Certificates Contain

EV certificates include a full Subject with CN, O, L, ST, C, and often a businessCategory and serialNumber (jurisdiction-specific registration number). The Certificate Policies extension contains the OID 2.23.140.1.1.

The Green Bar is Gone

Until around 2019, major browsers displayed a green address bar with the organization name for EV certificates. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari removed this UI treatment — the organization name is now only visible by clicking the padlock. This has reduced the practical user-facing benefit of EV for most sites.

Who Still Uses EV Certificates

EV certificates remain common among:

• Banks and financial institutions where regulatory compliance requires them
• Healthcare organizations subject to compliance audits
• Large enterprises that security-conscious users or partners will inspect
• Code signing certificates (EV code signing still unlocks SmartScreen reputation instantly on Windows)