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In contrast to the regular Business Account, an Official Business Account will receive a green checkmark (green tick) badge in the WhatsApp profile.
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Official Business Account applications rarely get approved. Only businesses with a large following and a very notable presence in social media and news get considered for a "green check-mark". Apply for an OBA only if you're sure that your business is notorious and impactful enough for Facebook's requirements.

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If you want to apply for an Official Business Account you will need:

• 2-factor verification enabled on the WhatsApp Client (For Pragma hosted clients, we take care of this step)
• Valid Facebook Business ID with verified business
• Brand that doesn't violate WhatsApp's policies, especially its Commerce Policy
• Reach Quality Tier 2. You can find more info here Capacity, Quality Rating, and Messaging Limits - WhatsApp Business API (facebook.com)

There might be other internal criteria or standards which is not publicly shared by WhatsApp.

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We also recommend the following to increase the chance of getting promoted:

• It's always good if there is some ad spend on Facebook.
• You should have a large following on Facebook (and Instagram) which indicates brand awareness. Example: 20K+ likes/followers on your Facebook or Instagram pages.

You can find more information on the Official Facebook Documentation.

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Tip: Businesses with the legal entity UG have a high probability to be rejected. For businesses with a detailed Wikipedia article, we have seen a higher success rate for the promotion, since it is one factor that proves that the business is well known. Operating internationally can increase the chances as well.

Acceptance

Pragma does not guarantee that any account will be promoted to an Official Business Account. The review process is conducted by the WhatsApp API Support Team and can take up to 7 days.

Successful applications

If your application is successful, the account will be upgraded automatically so there will be no further action required.

Unsuccessful applications

If your account is rejected, you may apply again in 3 months (this timeout is set by WhatsApp). WhatsApp do not give reasons for rejection so please do not ask Pragma for this information. You can assume your account did not meet the criteria. You can attempt to improve your chances by adhering to the recommendations above and try again in the future.

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