# Is your Social Security number on your birth certificate?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 30, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025 "2010-08-30T18:31:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/1 "2010-08-30T18:31:23Z")
The mean lady who made me cry just now at ADP Benefit Services implied that EVERYBODY’S SSN is on their birth certificate, duh. Well, actually, she _said_ that; what she _implied_ was that I was a) dumb for not knowing that, and b) a liar for saying it’s not standard for them to come that way.
She made me cry because I got so frustrated. I had to call about getting my son put on the insurance properly. I already faxed them a copy of his birth certificate, as instructed by one of her peers; now I have to fax them again with a copy of his Social Security card because his substandard birth certificate didn’t have his SSN. It’s a major PITA to fax anything since I don’t have a fax machine and live in a small town. Plus, the mean lady treated me like an idiot when I asked her if she happened to have the number I have to call about getting an insurance card for my son (she didn’t).
☹
Did she have to be so mean? Don’t answer that. Answer the poll question instead.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/2 "2010-08-30T18:36:38Z")
Mine sure isn’t. I was born in '69 and didn’t have a SSN till I was, I don’t know, 15 or 16.
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/3 "2010-08-30T18:36:41Z")
I didn’t have an SSN until more than 50 years after I was born – so no, it’s not.
(And just to clarify – I was born in Australia, so there’d be no reason even for those – with US citizen parents – who did have an SSN.)
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/4 "2010-08-30T18:41:36Z")
No. What a dumb bitch! It’s not standard.
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### Author:  [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/5 "2010-08-30T18:44:55Z")
No. I was born overseas (but to American parents, so I was born American). So of course they wouldn’t put an American SS# on that birth certificate.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/6 "2010-08-30T18:45:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Mine sure isn’t. I was born in '69 and didn’t have a SSN till I was, I don’t know, 15 or 16.
Different dates and ages in my case, but the person that thought SSN’s were assigned at birth grew up in a different era and maybe a different country or else was just testing to see if you had the balls to tell him or her that they ought to investigate the truth of the matter.
I haven’t heard anything that ridiculous in a long time!
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/7 "2010-08-30T18:47:16Z")
You need a Birth Certificate in order to get an SSN, so I really think she’s been processing a lot of forged documents. . .
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/8 "2010-08-30T18:47:17Z")
The mean woman was being a _petty tyrant_ and no, my COLB doesn’t have my SSN on it.
I wasn’t issued one until I applied for a job when I was 14 or so.
Maybe you should contact this person’s supervisor.
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### Author:  [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/9 "2010-08-30T18:48:41Z")
Mine doesn’t and my one year old daughters doesn’t either.
When I filled out her paperwork in the hospital there was an application for a SSN in addition to everything else. The SSN was mailed a few weeks later and was on its own card. To get a copy of her birth certificate I had to request one to be sent. They are totally independent from each other.
But this is in Canada.
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### Author:  [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/10 "2010-08-30T18:56:21Z")
I didn’t get one until I was in my teens, so no.
My four year old daughter didn’t have a SSN yet when we applied for her birth certificate, so I don’t know how they would have put that on there.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/11 "2010-08-30T18:59:27Z")
Birth certificates in the US are typically issued by the County in which you were born. There is no requirement to have a SS# to be born and thus a birth certificate.
However, to obtain a SS#, you must provide evidence of US birth, i.e. a birth certificate.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/12 "2010-08-30T19:04:03Z")
My BC (vintage 1957, US) certainly doesn’t have a space for a SSN.
And based on my years of delivering babies and signing their BCs (1983-1990) they didn’t allow for SSN during that time period either.
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### Author:  [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/13 "2010-08-30T19:11:15Z")
That’s crazy. Mine certainly doesn’t, and yes, I was born in the US. And I see US birth certificates in the line of work every single day, and have NEVER seen one with a SS# on it. I think that lady is an idiot.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/14 "2010-08-30T19:16:08Z")
> [@Ludy](#):
>
> Mine doesn’t and my one year old daughters doesn’t either.
>
> When I filled out her paperwork in the hospital there was an application for a SSN in addition to everything else. The SSN was mailed a few weeks later and was on its own card. To get a copy of her birth certificate I had to request one to be sent. They are totally independent from each other.
>
> But this is in Canada.
Well, counties in the U.S. are starting to do it this way. The result is that in the future, when you’re issued an official copy of the certificate, they will put the number on it, thereby providing additional proof of identity. At least, I think that’s the idea.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/15 "2010-08-30T19:42:15Z")
You aren’t required to apply for an SSN at birth, though you now need one when you claim a baby as a dependent. In addition, the SSN is issued by the Federal Government, but a birth certificate is issued by a local government. You need a birth certificate to get an SSN, so it would be impossible to put it on an original birth certificate.
In general, Social Security recommends the local authority contact them about issuing the SSN, but the number is sent to the parents, not the local authority. So there’s no way for the local government to ensure they have an SSN on the birth certificate even if they wanted to.
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### Author:  [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/16 "2010-08-30T19:46:30Z")
Nope.
You need the birth certificate to get a SSN, for sure, but my birth certificate certainly does _not_ have my SSN on it.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/17 "2010-08-30T19:49:25Z")
> [@guizot](#):
>
> Well, counties in the U.S. are starting to do it this way. The result is that in the future, when you’re issued an official copy of the certificate, they will put the number on it, thereby providing additional proof of identity. At least, I think that’s the idea.
I don’t think that this is the case. Can you provide a cite for this?
The reason I don’t think it is the case is because nothing I can find backs it up, and it doesn’t make any sense anyway since birth certificates come from state governments and the SS# comes from the federal government.
Also, none of the literature on the Social Security Administrations website makes any mention of birth certificates having a SS# on them, as the SS# won’t be known for days or weeks later, and even then will only be known by the federal government, until they or you notify the state where you and/or you child reside.
[
> [@SSA](#):
>
> Must my child have a Social Security number?
>
> No. Getting a Social Security number for your newborn is voluntary. But, it is a good idea to get a number when your child is born. You can apply for a Social Security number for your baby when you apply for your baby’s birth certificate. The state agency that issues birth certificates will share your child’s information with us and we will mail the Social Security card to you.
>
> If you wait to apply at a Social Security office, you must show us proof of your child’s U.S. citizenship, age and identity, as well as proof of your own identity. We must verify your child’s birth record, which can add up to 12 weeks to the time it takes to issue a card. To verify a birth certificate, Social Security will contact the office that issued it. We do this verification to prevent people from using fraudulent birth records to obtain Social Security numbers to establish false identities.
]([http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10023.html](http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10023.html))
As you can see, you cannot get a SS# without having a birth certificate in the first place.
ETA: If you have that lady’s name who you dealt with, you should call her office, talk to her supervisor, and relate the story to him or her. This woman sounds like she is in need of some training.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/18 "2010-08-30T19:54:05Z")
No.
I was born in Spain. I didn’t acquire my Spanish National ID (our Tax ID) until I was 14, although I imagine that since it’s calculated by an algorythm rather than handed out sequentially, and given the data that goes into the calculation, it can be calculated from the data in a Birth Certificate. In Spain you don’t need your children’s Tax IDs to claim them as dependents.
Didn’t acquire my Spanish SSN until I got my first “adult” job, of course (that is, the first one with an actual contract, taxes involved and so forth). That one involves, among other things, the province where I got that first job and the year when I did, so data which is not available in the Birth Certificate.
I got my US Provisional SSN when I went there for Graduate School and my US Permanent SSN one week later. Evidently neither one will be in a document issued by the Spanish Government.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/19 "2010-08-30T19:57:15Z")
My son, born in California just this past December, does not have his SSN on his birth certificate.
How could he? As everyone has said, he needed his birth certificate to get his SSN, which came in the mail a few weeks later.
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### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-social-security-number-on-your-birth-certificate/552025/20 "2010-08-30T20:03:19Z")
I’ve never heard of it being on a birth certificate. But why wouldn’t parents apply for one for the child at birth? You can’t claim someone as a dependent on your taxes without their SSN, and I imagine it’s requested for school registration and such, so why put it off?
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