Facebook Profile Verification - Auto-Rejection?

Just tried to help a friend to verify (blue tick) his Facebook profile. He got around 3k followers, and 1k friends, it's a real account (his real name) and was registered in 2008. He has some good press coverage (around 10 articles), and also Google Knowledge Panel.

However, after I filled out the form they immediately (!) sent a notification saying:

Thanks for submitting your request for verification on Facebook. Our team carefully reviewed your account and determined that unfortunately it's not eligible for verification at this time.

We understand that this can be frustrating, but we nonetheless encourage you to continue growing your public presence. You can submit another verification request after 30 days.

Click to expand...

What exactly are the standards and requirements? How did they decide to auto-reject the application? How to make sure an actual human is checking it?

Anyone who had this issue before?

Right now I would suggest not to try anything , In case you want can try after DECEMBER

Here are some verification requests and green ticks from Facebook for profiles or pages
Personal account/Fanpage is full of clear information.
Have an actual following (about 10,000 responses or more).
Post, interact throughout.
Not within the scope of community policy.

Also, how applying for a blue tick affects your results, try messaging the Facebook support team.