# Do you really ever need your Social Security Card? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513 "2015-10-23T06:02:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/41 "2015-10-23T23:05:29Z")
Well, last time I needed a Social Security Card – not my own – it was my son’s. And it was for the obvious purpose: To find out what his SSN was. He had just been born recently, so I needed a SSN for him. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/42 "2015-10-23T23:09:38Z")
I’ve been asked for it once. I had periodic security checks on me at my job and the investigator reported two people with my SS. A Hispanic, elderly woman in Chicago had a fake ID made up with my social security card. Nothing I can do and she can’t use my income as the SS is tied to my name only. the employer demanded to see mine that one time. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/43 "2015-10-23T23:52:44Z")
A first-time applicant for a regular Illinois driver’s license who is a foreigner is probably not going to have [any of the other required documents](http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/publications/pdf_publications/dsd_x173.pdf) needed to provide his or her Social Security number. I imagine the same is true in many other states. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/44 "2015-10-23T23:59:13Z")
I know - firsthand - you can’t go down in a MMIII silo without a SS card. ---
**Author:** ![tooldtocare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tooldtocare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tooldtocare)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/45 "2015-10-24T00:10:30Z")
_Do you really ever need your Social Security Card?_ I hade mine laminated (:- ---
**Author:** ![tooldtocare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tooldtocare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tooldtocare)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/46 "2015-10-24T00:14:32Z")
BTW: my voters card is not laminated such is life ---
**Author:** ![tooldtocare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@tooldtocare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tooldtocare)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/47 "2015-10-24T00:27:18Z")
"BTW: \*my voters card is not laminated such is life\*" (correction) I just looked at my card. It is not a “voters” card. It is a medicare card. (PART A) started on 09-01-2014 (PART B) started on 19-01-2014 & Life is “great” I hope it is for you too (:- I will laminate it too ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/48 "2015-10-24T02:17:35Z")
> [@tooldtocare](#): > > _Do you really ever need your Social Security Card?_ > > I hade mine laminated (:- Then it’s now invalid. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/49 "2015-10-24T03:10:36Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > They have tightened things up. The requirements I stated are current, as per [Social Security number & card | SSA](https://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssnumber/). ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/50 "2015-10-24T03:11:46Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > What do you show with the I-9 for eligibility? A birth certificate? Your passport? A greencard or EAD? I’ve honestly never been asked to provide anything for identification, other than a birth certificate. Some jobs didn’t even ask for that. The company I work for still had mine on file after a three year gap in employment with them. I’ve never needed it to renew a driver’s license. I may have needed it to get my original, but I don’t know. I do know that my first license had the social security number on it. And laminating a social security card invalidates it. I do remember it saying that on the back. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/51 "2015-10-24T04:52:31Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > For those of you who say you haven’t needed your card– > Have you gotten a job in the last 20 years? > > I’m 37, and I have needed my card for EVERY job that I have gotten. Once you accept a job offer, typically the very next thing the employer says is that they need a copy of your ID and SS card. I’m 55 and this matches my experience. I also had to show it the first time I enrolled at all three colleges I attended. I still carry my original one approximately 39 years after I got it. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/52 "2015-10-24T05:02:21Z")
The I-9 form, IIRC , does not require a social security card as ID. I lost my wallet when I was 17 or 18 and never had to replace the card. Had many jobs and finished college all without the card. I did replace the card after an HR worker told me that the procedure is painless. It is. 5 minutes in the local SS (make that social security:)) office and viola. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/53 "2015-10-24T05:36:32Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > … how I could get a replacement. They e-mailed back a long list of the tedious requirements for a replacement card: among other things they needed the SSNs of both my parents, both long deceased. It was only after chatting with a fellow retiree that I realized they’d failed to answer the first question in the e-mail – No, I didn’t need the card to get benefits. > [@RadicalPi](#): > > I’m confused about the people who say that getting a replacement Social Security card is difficult. I did so a few years ago, and it took ten minutes… Sorry I misled. On reading the detailed instructions, parents’ SSN are needed only for a minor’s initial application. :smack: Still, I would have needed to mail my actual pasport (not a photocopy) to Manila, Phillipines to get a new SS card! (I live in Thailand.) That by itself would be unacceptable since not having passprt in hand is grounds for arrest here. Sorry that the story got blurred. Communicating with Social Security was a very tedious and exasperating experience. Eventually I had to CC the U.S. Consulate on every e-mail just to ensure I got replies. I’ll need to interact with them again when my child turns 18, as the only type of direct-deposit bank account permitted by the USG for 17 year olds is NOT the same type as the only type permitted for 18 year olds. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/54 "2015-10-24T13:55:43Z")
To get my disability benefits and later my job, I had to show a social security card and a state photo i.d. My employer has copies of both. People have applied for jobs here that don’t have a s.s. card, and try to use their passports, green cards, whatever. Without that card, they are not hired. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/55 "2015-10-24T14:02:49Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People have applied for jobs here that don’t have a s.s. card, and try to use their passports, green cards, whatever. Without that card, they are not hired. [That’s illegal](http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/employee-rights-discrimination/preventing-discrimination). > [@](#): > > Employers must accept any document an employee presents from the Lists of Acceptable Documents, as long as the document reasonably appears to be genuine and to relate to the employee. Employers must not: > > [ul] > [li]Demand that an employee show specific documents[/li][li]Ask to see employment authorization documents before an individual accepts a job offer[/li][li]Refuse to accept a document, or refuse to hire an individual, because a document will expire in the future[/li][li]Refuse to accept a receipt that is acceptable for Form I-9 purposes[/li][li]Demand a specific document when reverifying that an employee is authorized to work[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/56 "2015-10-24T17:27:05Z")
I got my SSN as a teenager in the 1970s. A year or two later my wallet went through the wash, and it disintegrated. Have never needed it; will be retiring in a few years, so will find out if I have to go back five houses and look for it. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/57 "2015-10-24T20:19:37Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > [That’s illegal](http://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/employee-rights-discrimination/preventing-discrimination). The problem, of course, is that it’s not always wise to make a fuss about things right when you’re hired. I’ve been in that boat myself (although this is not why I needed to get my Social Secirty card replaced.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/58 "2015-10-24T20:33:42Z")
The difference between what the law says it can be used for and what people think it has to be used for is vast. E.g., I used mine, for the first time since my first McJob, to renew my driver’s license. They needed it or something with my SSN on it like a pay stub. Retired, not on SS so I used my card as the “least revealing” version. And they copied it (and all my other “steal my identity please” documents I had to provide). And this is a state. It should know better. It has no use for my SSN at all in this context. And you have to go thru this even to get a state ID card which you need to vote. Security theater. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/59 "2015-10-24T21:29:05Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > To get my disability benefits and later my job, I had to show a social security card and a state photo i.d. My employer has copies of both… Interesting. I’m not 100% positive, but I’m pretty sure SSA does not require that someone produce a SS card in order to apply for SS disability - or any other SS - benefits. If some employee requested one, I’d be curious where that was directed in the regulations or policy - but I’ve never specifically looked for it. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513/60 "2015-10-25T04:41:23Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > For those of you who say you haven’t needed your card– > Have you gotten a job in the last 20 years? Every job I’ve had has been in the last 20 years. The office I work in will accept a birth certificate. The bank my brother works at accepts birth certificates and drivers licenses. My birth certificate doesn’t even have my social security number on it. I didn’t get one until I was almost four. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-really-ever-need-your-social-security-card/735513.md?page=4)