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Sanctions Screening API

The Sanctions Screening API screens a name (person, entity, vessel, or aircraft) against major government sanctions lists with fuzzy name matching and returns ranked matches with confidence scores, identifiers, and the underlying designation details.

This data is informational only and is not a substitute for a full compliance in a KYC program.

Available endpoints:

(4.7)

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Applications using this API

API Status

Online - All Systems Operational

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/v1/sanctionsscreening GET

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/sanctionsscreening

Returns ranked sanctions matches for the supplied name with confidence scores from 0 to 100.

List coverage by subscription tier:

  • Free — OFAC SDN only, individuals only, limited response fields.
  • Developer — adds the EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions List and entity screening.
  • Business and above — adds UK, UN, and Australian DFAT lists; vessel and aircraft screening; phonetic and transliteration matching; full per-source list_versions and stale_data_warning on every response.

See pricing for a complete feature comparison.

Parameters

  • name  required

    Name to screen. Full name; ordering doesn't matter.

  • entity_type  optionalpremium only

    Restrict to a specific entity type. One of: individual, entity, vessel, aircraft. Vessel and aircraft require Business tier or above.

  • country  optionalpremium only

    ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g. RU) to filter results by nationality or jurisdiction.

  • dob  optionalpremium only

    Date of birth in YYYY-MM-DD format. Loose match: ±1 year.

  • nationality  optionalpremium only

    ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 nationality filter.

  • sources  optionalpremium only

    Comma-separated subset of OFAC,EU,UK,UN,AU to scope the screen.

  • min_score  optionalpremium only

    Minimum confidence score (0-100) to return. Defaults to 70.

Headers

  • X-Api-Key  required

    API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON object with the following top-level fields, or an error if the request is unsuccessful.

  • matches

    Array of ranked match objects. Each object contains the fields below — fields marked premium only are returned only on paid tiers; Free responses include just the four unbadged fields.

    • confidence_score — integer 0-100.
    • match_strength — strong or weak.
    • source_list — which government list the match came from.
    • primary_name — the canonical designated name.
    • designation_date — date the entity was designated.
    • source_id — upstream record ID. premium only
    • entity_type — individual / entity / vessel / aircraft. premium only
    • matched_alias — the alias the query matched against. premium only
    • alias_quality — primary / aka_strong / aka_weak. premium only
    • date_of_birth — array of DOBs. premium only
    • place_of_birth — array of POBs. premium only
    • nationalities — array of nationalities. premium only
    • addresses — array of known addresses (raw strings on Developer, structured dicts on Business+). premium only
    • identifiers — passport / IMO / tail number / national ID list. premium only
    • sanction_programs — list of OFAC/EU/UK/UN/AU program codes (first only on Developer; full list on Business+). premium only
    • source_url — link to the upstream record. premium only
    • raw_record — original upstream XML/JSON payload. premium only
    • last_modified — Unix timestamp of last upstream change. premium only
    • score_breakdown — per-signal breakdown of the confidence score (debug). premium only
  • list_versionspremium only

    Per-source list-version dates (YYYY-MM-DD) active at screen time.

  • stale_data_warningpremium only

    Present when any source list is more than 7 days behind.

  • screened_at

    Unix timestamp (seconds) at which the screen was performed.

Per our Zero Data Retention policy, screen results are not stored on our servers. Persist the response on your end if you need an audit trail.

Sample Request Live Demo!

name

Try our APIs in the API playground

Sign up for a free API key to get started — no credit card required.

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/sanctionsscreening?name=Vladimir%20Putin

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
{
    query:{
      name:"Vladimir Putin",
      entity_type:null,
      country:null,
      dob:null
    },
    matches:[
      {
        confidence_score:98,
        match_strength:"strong",
        source_list:"OFAC_SDN",
        source_id:"26746",
        entity_type:"individual",
        primary_name:"PUTIN, Vladimir Vladimirovich",
        matched_alias:"Vladimir Putin",
        alias_quality:"primary",
        date_of_birth:[
          "1952-10-07"
        ],
        place_of_birth:[
          "Leningrad, Russia"
        ],
        nationalities:[
          "RU"
        ],
        sanction_programs:[
          "UKRAINE-EO13661",
          "RUSSIA-EO14024"
        ],
        designation_date:"2022-02-25",
        last_modified:1726099200,
        source_url:"https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=26746"
      }
    ],
    list_versions:{
      OFAC_SDN:"2026-05-13",
      EU_CFSP:"2026-05-12",
      UN_SC:"2026-05-08",
      UK_HMT:"2026-05-13",
      AU_DFAT:"2026-04-30"
    },
    screened_at:1779032521
}

Code Examples

1 2 curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/sanctionsscreening?name=Vladimir%20Putin" \ -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

If your programming language is not listed in the Code Example above, you can still make API calls by using a HTTP request library written in your programming language and following the above documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, but you must have a premium subscription. Commercial use of the Sanctions Screening API is not permitted on the free tier. See our pricing page to choose a plan that fits your needs.
  • Sign up for a free account to instantly get your API key, then pass it in the X-Api-Key header on every request. The documentation above includes ready-to-run examples in cURL, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and more.
  • Your API requests will simply be denied once you hit your monthly quota — you will never be charged more than the plan you signed up for. To increase your quota, you can upgrade your plan any time on our pricing page.
  • The API responds with a standard HTTP status code and a JSON error message describing the problem. See our error codes reference for the full list of codes and how to resolve each one, or contact support if you need help.
  • It screens names against major government lists including OFAC SDN, the EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions List, UK HMT, the UN Security Council list, and Australian DFAT, with the list_versions field reporting the per-source publication date active at screen time. Coverage scales with tier: the Free plan includes OFAC SDN individuals only, while UK, UN, and AU lists plus vessel and aircraft screening require Business tier or above (see pricing).
  • Pass the optional entity_type parameter (individual, entity, vessel, or aircraft), the country or nationality parameter as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code such as RU, and dob in YYYY-MM-DD format which matches within plus or minus one year; these refinements are available on paid plans (see pricing). You can also set sources to a comma-separated subset of OFAC,EU,UK,UN,AU and min_score to raise the confidence threshold above the default of 70.
  • The matches array returns ranked objects ordered by a confidence_score from 0 to 100, along with match_strength, source_list, primary_name, and designation_date; paid tiers add fields such as matched_alias, date_of_birth, nationalities, identifiers, sanction_programs, and source_url. The top-level screened_at timestamp records when the screen ran, and on Business+ a stale_data_warning flags any source list more than 7 days behind. For other identity-verification needs, see related tools like Validate Email or IBAN.
  • Under our Zero Data Retention policy screen results are not stored on our servers, so you should persist the response yourself if you need an audit trail. The data is informational only and is not a substitute for a full KYC compliance program; reach out via contact with questions about coverage.