The National Service Authority (NSA) has withheld PIN codes for 22,269 prospective national service personnel over unresolved identity verification issues.

The affected graduates are among 144,023 personnel submitted by tertiary institutions for the 2026/2027 National Service Year.

According to figures released by the Authority on Wednesday, August 12, 21,311 submissions were rejected pending further identity verification, while another 958 were approved but not promoted as they await additional verification.

The development comes as online registration for prospective service personnel officially opens.

The NSA said 122,712 of the 144,023 submissions were approved.

However, only 121,754 unique persons have so far had their records created and PIN codes released.

The Authority explained that these are prospective service personnel whose submissions successfully passed the required validation and verification processes.

The remaining submissions have been withheld pending the outcome of further checks.

The NSA said it undertook rigorous validation and verification in collaboration with relevant regulatory institutions to ensure that only eligible graduates from accredited tertiary institutions are mobilised.

According to the Authority, the measures are intended to protect the integrity of the national service enrolment process and eliminate duplicate, inflated and irregular submissions.

It has also reminded tertiary institutions whose accreditation status remains unresolved to engage the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to regularise their status.

The NSA said eligible graduates from such institutions could subsequently be processed once GTEC confirms their accreditation.

For the 121,754 prospective service personnel whose PIN codes have been released, online registration began on Wednesday, August 12, and will close on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.

The Authority has urged eligible personnel to complete the process within the stipulated period to avoid delays in deployment.

The NSA is also using enhanced verification measures, including facial biometric checks against Ghana Card records, GhanaPost GPS address validation and real-time verification mechanisms integrated into the registration platform.

The 22,269 prospective personnel whose PIN codes have been withheld will have to await the outcome of the verification process before they can access the registration platform.

The NSA has not indicated when the outstanding verification process will be completed.