Frequently Asked Questions

Meritus is a global portable professional credential registry. You upload your credentials (certifications, licenses, safety tickets, professional qualifications), swear a legally binding oath that they are authentic, and receive a permanent, verifiable profile with a QR code. Employers can verify your credentials in seconds, anywhere in the world.

Your first certification is completely free. $29/year covers unlimited additional certifications, the emergency QR profile, forensic-anchored Verified Professional Statements, and full transparency surfaces. You never pay to maintain your profile. Once a credential is attested, it stays forever at no recurring charge.

When you upload a credential, you make a solemn declaration that the document is authentic and the information is true. This oath is legally binding. Meritus cryptographically timestamps it and locks it into a permanent ledger. If the oath is later shown to be false, the entry is permanently flagged. It is never deleted.

No. Your Meritus profile belongs to you. No employer, no training provider, and no third party can alter or remove your records. An employer can file a formal dispute against a credential, but the record itself, including your original oath, remains permanently visible.

If someone formally challenges the validity of one of your certifications, Meritus applies a transparent Disputed flag. The original oath, the dispute details, and any resolution are all visible to anyone who verifies the credential. This protects both workers and employers by ensuring full transparency.

Yes. All uploaded documents are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM. Your profile is accessible only via your unique serial number or QR code. Every cert mutation, every forensic report, every emergency-scan event is hash-chain ledgered and Bitcoin-anchored via OpenTimestamps — so even Meritus can't retroactively edit history. We do not sell your data. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

A cryptographically anchored PDF you can hand to a landlord, lender, or insurer as proof of professional standing. It shows your active certifications, peer endorsements, and (optionally) your declared rate range. The recipient can scan a QR on the document to verify it against the public Meritus ledger + Bitcoin anchor — no Meritus account required to verify. Tradespeople without traditional T4/W2 stubs finally have a portable, verifiable proof-of-standing document.

Yes. From `/dashboard/file-incident` you can document workplace incidents (fall, electrocution, crush, chemical, etc.), near-misses, or witness accounts. The narrative is SHA-256 hashed, appended to the meritus ledger, and Bitcoin-anchored — once filed it cannot be edited, only its status updated. Workers see incidents they're listed in under the Incidents tab on their dashboard.

A separate, opt-in red QR code you can print on a hard hat sticker, wallet card, or vehicle dash. Scanning it shows first responders your blood type, allergies (with severity), medical conditions, current medications, and emergency contact — and ONLY those. Your credential QR shows zero medical data; the two QRs are visually distinct (Meritus shield vs medical cross). Disabled by default; you publish it explicitly.

Only people who scan your dedicated red emergency QR — and only while you have it published. Each scan is hash-chain ledgered and shows up in your dashboard scan log, so you can audit who's accessed it. Worker controls it: enable, disable, or rotate the QR token any time (printed stickers become unscannable on rotation).

The catalog supports rare blood types like Bombay (hh) or Rh-null via an "Other / Rare" free-text option. For allergies, conditions, and medications, you can add custom entries — they go into your profile immediately and are also submitted to the catalog for admin review (auto-approved once 3 distinct workers add the same item). Common allergens, conditions, and emergency meds are pre-loaded.

No — employers only see a small "Emergency QR active" badge on your public profile (boolean, not the data itself). The medical content is gated behind your dedicated emergency QR. Employers cannot generate or access emergency-scan logs.

A court-admissible PDF generated by an admin or employer showing the cryptographic credential status of involved workers AT a specific incident timestamp. The report's SHA-256 hash is appended to the Meritus hash-chain ledger and submitted to OpenTimestamps for Bitcoin anchoring — once confirmed, the report's existence at-or-before that block time is mathematically uncontestable. Insurers, lawyers, and Ministry of Labour inspectors can independently verify the anchor via the public verify endpoint (no account required).

HardCred can claim a credential existed; Meritus can prove it with cryptographic chain (hash-chain ledger + GPG signing + Bitcoin anchor). For incident investigation or litigation, that's a categorical upgrade — the kind of evidence that survives cross-examination. HardCred can't copy this without rebuilding their data model.

Yes. From the worker dashboard (`/dashboard/file-incident`) you can document any incident or near-miss with severity (fatal/serious/moderate/minor/near_miss), type (fall/crush/electrocution/etc.), narrative, actions taken, and involved workers (typeahead search). The narrative is SHA-256'd into the ledger + OTS-anchored — your account is permanently recorded and cannot be retroactively edited. Supervisors who file via the dashboard for a site they supervise have the incident auto-attributed to the employer.

An employer portal is a branded subdomain where an employer's account collects workers they verify and watch. Workers in a portal can have their credentials bulk-verified and (with the right permissions) appear in forensic compliance reports. Workers always see which portals they're in on their profile page — full transparency, no hidden membership.

Both admin and worker incident pages support photo + document attachments (PDFs, images). Each upload is AES-256-GCM encrypted at rest, and the SHA-256 of the original is hash-chain ledgered + Bitcoin-anchored. Attachments inherit the same tamper-evident chain as the incident narrative.

You can scan their QR code (on their hard hat, safety vest, or phone) or enter their serial number on getmeritus.org. The verification is instant: you see every attested credential, its status, and the date it was sworn. Create a free employer account for bulk verification, compliance dashboards, and talent search.

All employer tools are free. Verification, bulk verification, talent search, compliance dashboards, and API access are included at no cost. No hidden fees. No paid tiers.

Yes. The bulk verification tool lets you submit a list of serial numbers (one per line or via CSV upload) and receive a compliance report showing the status of every credential. This is included free with your employer account.

You can initiate a formal dispute through the Meritus platform. The credential will be flagged as Disputed while the matter is reviewed. Meritus does not adjudicate disputes. We provide the transparent infrastructure for documentation and resolution. The original record is never deleted.

Meritus is a verification registry, not a regulatory body. We do not replace jurisdictional licensing requirements. What we provide is a portable, cryptographically verified record that a credential was sworn to and attested at a specific date and time. Employers in any jurisdiction can use this as evidence of declared qualifications.

No. Meritus supports over 1,200 certifications across many industries, including trades (Red Seal, WHMIS, crane operator, welding), IT (AWS, Azure, CISSP, Kubernetes), healthcare (RN, EMT, ACLS, BLS), finance (CPA, CFA, Series 7, FRM), legal (bar admissions, paralegal), transportation (CDL, pilot licenses, maritime), safety, environmental, education, hospitality, and more. If you hold a professional qualification of any kind, it likely has a home on Meritus.

Yes. Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, EMTs, paramedics, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, and allied health professionals can upload their active licenses and continuing-education certifications (ACLS, PALS, BLS, NRP, TNCC). Expiry tracking, renewal reminders, and verifiable QR codes work the same way they do for every other profession.

Yes. CPA, CFA, FRM, Series 7/63/66, FINRA licenses, paralegal certifications, bar admissions, PMP, PRINCE2, Scrum Master, ITIL, Six Sigma, and similar professional designations are all supported. Recruiters and hiring managers can verify them in seconds — no calls to licensing boards, no waiting on background-check firms.

CDL (all classes), pilot licenses, maritime tickets (STCW, Transport Canada), H2S Alive, fall protection, forklift, first aid, confined space, and hazmat endorsements are all first-class citizens on Meritus. The QR code on a hard hat, safety vest, or cab windshield is scannable by any employer or inspector in seconds.

You can suggest it. Meritus adds new credential types every week based on user requests. You can also upload any professional qualification under a custom label — the oath, the attestation, the QR code, and the tamper-proof ledger work the same regardless of whether a credential is in our catalog. Ask us to add it, and it'll be categorized properly for future users.

You apply for an API key and use our REST API to submit certification entries in bulk (up to 100 per batch). Each entry creates a Meritus profile for the student with their credential pre-attested under your provider account. Students can then claim and manage their own profiles.

The Starter tier is free for up to 10 submissions per month: great for small training centres. The Professional plan ($149/month) supports 250 certifications per month with priority processing. The Institution plan ($499/month) supports 2,500 certifications per month with dedicated support. Enterprise is free for institutional partners and government agencies.

When you submit a certification via the provider API, the oath is attributed to your organisation. Your API agreement includes a binding declaration that all submissions are accurate. Students who later claim their profile and add additional credentials will swear individual oaths for those entries.

Professional and Institution plans include branded certificate links. Your organisation name and logo appear on the Meritus profile alongside the credential. This helps students associate their verified record with your training programme.

Batch submissions are limited to 100 entries per request. Monthly submission limits depend on your plan tier. The API returns detailed error responses for any entries that fail validation, so you can correct and resubmit.

Meritus is a service of OptiMystic Holdings Inc. (incorporated in Wyoming, USA). We serve workers across Canada, the US, and beyond.

Meritus maintains a permanent, append-only ledger. Individual credential entries cannot be deleted because the integrity of the verification system depends on permanence. You can deactivate your profile so it no longer appears in public searches, but the underlying attestation records are retained. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for details.

Over 1,200 professional certifications, licences, safety tickets, and qualifications across Canada and the United States. See the “By Industry” section above for specifics on trades, IT, healthcare, finance, transportation, safety, and more. If yours isn't listed, you can suggest it.

Your records are stored in encrypted, redundant storage with automated backups. In the unlikely event of extended downtime, credentials remain valid. They are not dependent on our servers being live to be "real." The attestation is a permanent fact.

Yes. Meritus is designed to comply with PIPEDA (Canada), applicable US state privacy laws, and GDPR principles. We collect only the minimum data necessary to operate the registry. See our Privacy Policy for a detailed breakdown of what we collect, why, and your rights.

Email us at [email protected] or use the contact form on our website. We typically respond within 24 hours.