Authentication-International Rates

Specific countries have an authentication-international rate in our rate cards. If you open an authentication conversation with a WhatsApp user whose country calling code is for a country that has an authentication-international rate, you will be billed that country's authentication–international rate if:

• your business is eligible for authentication-international rates
• your business is based in another country (see Primary Business Location)
• the conversation was opened on or after your start time for that country

Webhooks that include pricing details will indicate if a conversation was billed at the authentication-international rate, and these conversations will be reflected in conversation analytics.

For example, if your business is based in Indonesia and you open an authentication conversation with a WhatsApp user who has a +62 (Indonesia) country calling code, you will not be billed the authentication-international rate, since you are based in the same country as the user. If your business is based in India, however, you will be billed the authentication-international rate, if you meet all of the criteria above.

See Examples for additional example scenarios.

Eligibility

If your business opens more than 750K conversations in a moving 30-day period across all of your WhatsApp Business Accounts with WhatsApp users whose country calling codes are for a country that has an authentication-international rate, it will be deemed eligible for authentication-international rates.

Once deemed eligible, we will set your start times 30 days out for each country that has an authentication-international rate. In addition, we will attempt to determine your primary business location using publicly-available information.

We will then send you an eligibility email that includes these start times and the country that we set as your primary business location (if we were able to determine the country). This provides you with 30 days notice before authentication-international rates apply. Webhooks will also be triggered that include your start times and your primary business location (if we set it).

Note that eligibility is permanent. Once your business is deemed eligible, all authentication conversations opened on or after your start time will be charged the authentication-international rate in markets where authorization-international rates apply.

Start Times

Start times are business- and country-specific timestamps. They indicate when newly-opened authentication conversations are subject to authentication-international rates. Authentication conversations opened by your business with WhatsApp users in these countries on or after these dates only will be charged authentication-international rates.

Start times are set when your business is first deemed eligible for authentication-international rates, and are 30 days from your eligibility date, so you will always have 30-days notice before the authentication-international rate applies.

Start times are included in your eligibility email and webhooks. You can also get these times by requesting the auth_international_rate_eligibility field on any of your business's WhatsApp Business Accounts:

GET /<WABA_ID>?fields=auth_international_rate_eligibility

{
  "id": "<WABA_ID>",
  "auth_international_rate_eligibility": {
    "start_time": <START_TIME_INDIA>,
    "exception_countries": [
      {
        "country_code": "ID",
        "start_time": <START_TIME_INDONESIA>
      }
    ]
  }
}

• <WABA_ID> — WhatsApp Business Account ID.
• <START_TIME_INDIA> — Unix timestamp indicating India start time.
• <START_TIME_INDONESIA> — Unix timestamp indicating Indonesia start time.

Primary Business Location

Your primary business location is the country where your business is based. It will appear in the Business Manager under the Primary Business Location field starting May 1, 2024, if we are able to determine where your business is based using publicly-available information.

Examples of publicly-available information include:

• Where your business may be publicly-traded and listed
• Your business's corporate structure (where a parent or may be based or publicly-traded)

We will attempt to determine where your business is based when:

• It is deemed eligible for authentication-international rates
• You edit your primary business location using the Business Manager.

This process can take up to 3 business days. The outcome of this determination can be:

• Verified — We determined where your business is based and set your primary business location to this country (which also triggers a webhook).
• Need more information — We require more information in order to make a determination.
• Rejected — We disagreed with the country you designated in the Business Manager (if you used it to edit the Primary Business Location field)

You will be notified of the outcome in your initial eligibility email, or in a separate email if you used the Business Manager to edit your location.

If rejected or if we need more information, or if you disagree with the country we determined to be the primary business location, you can use the Business Manager to edit your location.

Note that if your primary business location status is not verified but you are past your start time for a given country, any authentication conversation that you open with a WhatsApp user in that country will be billed the authentication-international rate.

Editing Your Primary Business Location

Set your primary business location by following these steps:

1. Navigate to Business Settings by clicking here
2. Select the country of the business’s primary location of operation from the dropdown, or enter it in the text field. Note that this is the location where your business has its headquarters and maintains its bookkeeping records.
3. Click Next
4. Answer the questions on the screen. These answers will help Meta verify your Primary Business Location.
5. Click Next
6. Click Submit for review

Note: You won’t be able to make any changes while your verification is under review.

Primary Business Location Status

The Primary Business Location field in the Business Manager will also display a status:

• Verified — We have verified your business's primary location.
• Pending verification — We are in the process of determining your business's primary location.
• Rejected — We disagreed with the country you designated, based on publicly available information and what you included when you edited your location. You can manually edit your location again and include different information as part of your submission.

Getting Your Location via API

You can use the API to see if your business's primary business location is set by requesting the primary_business_location field on any your business's WhatsApp Business Accounts:

GET /<WABA_ID>?fields=primary_business_location

{
  "id": "<WABA_ID>",
  "primary_business_location": "<COUNTRY_CODE>"
}

• <WABA_ID> — WhatsApp Business Account ID.
• <COUNTRY_CODE> — Two-digit country code indicating the country where we have determined the business to be based.

Eligibility Email

By sending authentication messages over WhatsApp, you acknowledge and agree that when your business is deemed eligible for authentication-international rates, an email will be sent to all of the email addresses associated with the admins of your accounts, and all third parties that your WhatsApp Business Accounts have been shared with (e.g. admins of Solution Partners that have access to your WhatsApp Business Accounts), to alert them that the threshold of eligibility has been reached.

The email will include:

• Your exact start times for each country that has an authentication-international rate.
• The country that we set as your primary business location.

Webhooks

Eligibility Webhook

An account_update webhook will be triggered if your business is deemed eligible for international rates. The webhook will include start times for each country that has an authentication-international rate.

{
  "object": "whatsapp_business_account",
  "entry": [
    {
      "id": "<WABA_ID>",
      "time": <TIMESTAMP>,
      "changes": [
        {
          "field": "account_update",
          "value": {
            "auth_international_rate_eligibility": {
              "exception_countries": [
                {
                  "country_code": "ID",
                  "start_time": <START_TIME_INDONESIA>
                }
              ],
              "start_time": <START_TIME_INDIA>
            },
            "event": "AUTH_INTL_PRICE_ELIGIBILITY_UPDATE"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

• <WABA_ID> — WhatsApp Business Account ID.
• <TIMESTAMP> — Unix timestamp indicating when the webhook was sent.
• <START_TIME_INDONESIA> — Unix timestamp indicating Indonesia start time.
• <START_TIME_INDIA> — Unix timestamp indicating India start time.

Primary Business Location Update Webhook

Subscribe to the account_update webhook to be notified when the business's primary business location is set. If we are able to determine the country where your business is based, we will set your location to that country and trigger an account_update webhook with the country's two-digit code assigned to the BUSINESS_PRIMARY_LOCATION_COUNTRY_UPDATE property.

{
  "object": "whatsapp_business_account",
  "entry": [
    {
      "id": "<WABA_ID>",
      "time": <TIMESTAMP>,
      "changes": [
        {
          "field": "account_update",
          "value": {
            "country": "<COUNTRY_CODE>",
            "event": "BUSINESS_PRIMARY_LOCATION_COUNTRY_UPDATE"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

• <WABA_ID> — WhatsApp Business Account ID.
• <TIMESTAMP> — Unix timestamp indicating when the webhook was sent.
• <COUNTRY_CODE> — Two-digit country code indicating the country where we have determined the business to be based.

Pricing in Messages Webhook

If an authentication conversation is billed the authentication-international rate, the pricing object in messages webhooks will have its category property (entry.statuses.pricing.category) set to authentication_international.

"pricing": {
  "billable": true,
  "pricing_model": "CBP",
  "category": "authentication_international"
}

Examples

A business with an Indonesia primary business location opens an authentication conversation with a WhatsApp user:

A business with an India primary business location opens an authentication conversation with a WhatsApp user:

A business with a primary business location that does not have an authentication-international rate opens an authentication conversation with a WhatsApp user: