dont want to give your aadhaar number out worried that your 12digit number and data might be misused or stolen well for those of you dont want to share your unique biometric number now have an alternative in the form of the aadhaar virtual id vid the vid will allow you to authenticate transactions and eknowyourcustomer kyc services instead of providing your aadhaar number the unique identification authority of india uidai tweeted on april 2 that it has launched the facility and soon service providers will start accepting vid in place of aadhaar number for now you can use this for online address update in your aadhaar uidai launches virtual idgenerate your vid from service providers will start accepting vid in place of aadhaar number for now you can use this for online address update in your aadhaar from pictwittercomckewozkq1e aadhaar uidai april 2 2018 what is vidthe vid is a temporary revocable 16digit random number mapped with the aadhaar number the uidai in a statement issued in january said that ones aadhaar number cannot be derived from the vid that is generated the virtual id can be used for the purpose of authentication in the same way the aadhaar number is used currently vid can be generated on uidais resident portal according to the uidai statement various entities will have to migrate to the new system where they can accept the vid for the authentication since this is a digital id aadhaar holders can regenerate it multiple times which makes it safer than providing your actual aadhaar number at present the vid is valid for a minimum of one day which means an aadhaar holder would be able to regenerate a new vid a day after he has generated the first one further there is no expiry period defined yet for the vid and it will be valid till the time a new one is generated by you this particular facility on the uidai website can only be accessed if you have your mobile number registered in the uidai database this is because all aadhaarrelated online services are onetime password otp enabled and for this registering your mobile number with uidai is a must where you still need aadhaar and where the vid will could be usefulalthough the supreme court has indefinitely extended the deadline to mandatorily link aadhaar with bank accounts various other financial services and mobile phones till judgement on the petitions pending before it is pronounced you still need it for following services opening a new bank accountavailing government subsidiesapplying for tatkal passportsbuying new insurance policiesso if you are opening a new bank account or buying an insurance policy instead of quoting your aadhaar number you can provide your 16digit vid heres a stepwise guide to generate aadhaar virtual id on uidais resident portal 1 go to the vid generator on the uidai homepage under aadhaar services 2 enter your aadhaar number security code ie the captcha and click on send otp you will