Knowledge Base

Overview

By the end of this article, you will be able to explain what a pre-validation order is, describe how its 398-day validity period affects new certificate orders, and locate the Pre-Validation Order Number and its validation status in the Sectigo Account Portal. The article first defines a pre-validation order and its role in Organization Validation (OV), then lists its key benefits, then walks through finding the order on the Validation Manager page and closes with what to do when a pre-validation order is rejected or not yet issued — including why a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) is not accepted in that state and the order stays a stub order.

What is a pre-validation order?

A pre-validation order is a validation process that allows an organization's details to be verified in advance, before any certificate order is placed.

When a pre-validation order is submitted, the organization's information is reviewed and validated. Once validation completes successfully, the pre-validation order becomes active.

From the date of activation, the pre-validation order remains valid for 398 days. During those 398 days, you can place new certificate orders using the same validated organization details. Because the organization has already been verified, the Organization Validation (OV) portion of each later certificate request can be skipped, which shortens and simplifies certificate issuance.

If the pre-validation order expires after 398 days, or if the organization's details change, the organization must be validated again through a new pre-validation order.

Key benefits

• Organization details are validated only once.
• Future certificate orders take less time to complete.
• Certificate issuance is faster for orders placed inside the 398-day validity period.
• The same validated organization information can be reused for multiple eligible certificate orders.

How to find a pre-validation order

Follow these steps to locate the Pre-Validation Order Number and check its validation status in the Sectigo Account Portal.

1. Log in to your Sectigo Account Portal.
2. Navigate to the list of your certificate orders, where orders appear with statuses such as Issued, Expired, and Awaiting Validation.
3. Locate the certificate order related to your request, then click Check Status next to the order number.
4. Confirm that the Validation Manager page opens.
5. On the Validation Manager page, review the associated Pre-Validation Order Number, its current validation status, and any outstanding validation requirements.

 
Figure 1: Sectigo Account Portal certificate order list with the Check Status option beside an order number

 

   
Figure 2: Validation Manager page showing the Pre-Validation Order Number, validation status, and outstanding requirements

How to verify success

You have found the pre-validation order when the Validation Manager page displays a Pre-Validation Order Number together with a validation status. Use that order number to track the progress of your organization validation and to review any pending actions.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions