So You’ve Lost Your Social Security Card
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: November 3, 2023
Losing important documents is frustrating, especially something as important as your Social Security card.
You’ll want to consider whether you really need to get a replacement card. Knowing your number is what’s important, after all. You’ll rarely need the card itself — perhaps only when you get a new job and have to show it to your employer. If you really must replace your card, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/ssnumber before visiting your local Social Security office.
The first step is to learn what documents you need. You’ll need to show us a U.S. driver’s license, a state issued non-driver identification card, or a U.S. passport to prove your identity. Sometimes you may also need to prove your current U.S. citizenship or lawful noncitizen status with a birth certificate or passport.
Keep in mind that all documents must be either originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. We can’t accept photocopies or notarized copies of documents. We also can’t accept a receipt showing you applied for the document.
Once you’re clear on what documents you’ll need, the second step is to print the Application for a Social Security Card, so you can fill it out. Finally, the third step is to bring or mail your application and original documents to us, and the online process will take you to a screen where you can find the address of your local office.
In some areas, you can request a replacement Social Security card using your online my Social Security account if you meet certain requirements. Simply access your account and follow the instructions to replace your Social Security card. It’s safe, convenient and secure.
You can replace your Social Security card for free if it’s lost or stolen. Avoid service providers wanting to charge you a fee to get your replacement card. Keep in mind that you’re limited to three replacement cards in a year, and 10 during your lifetime. Legal name changes and other exceptions don’t count toward these limits. Changes in immigration status that require card updates may not count toward these limits. Also, you aren’t affected by these limits if you can prove you need the card to prevent a significant hardship.
We’ll mail your card as soon as we have all of your information and have verified your documents. Your replacement card will have the same name and number as your previous card.
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Tags: Social Security benefits, Social Security card, SSN
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Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
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Frances B.
I DID NOT ASK FOR A NEW SOCIAL SECURITY CARD. IF YOU ARE NOTIFYING ME THAT SOME ONE HAS…IT IS FRADULENT
anonymous.contributor
THIS NEEDS TO STOP! SSA telling people that they might not need to have possession of a SSN card and that perhaps they only need to know the number is some of the dumbest (if not the most disingenuous) advice Social Security has ever given. Don’t you realize that in many states (supposedly in the name of voting integrity), voters are required to show their driver’s license or state ID to vote? And how do you get that ID? In many states, ID renewal or replacement requires that you show your SSN card. If people don’t have a SSN card AND they lose their ID, they often can’t get their ID replaced because they don’t have a SSN card, and they can’t get their SSN card replaced because they don’t have the proper ID! Thus telling the public that they might not need a SSN card just makes harder for a person to get the proper documents together timely should the need for a card or replacement ID occur.
Also keep in mind that although SSA will accept SSN applications sent through the mail, most people, due to time and concerns about the safety of their personal documents, choose to come into the office to apply for a replacement SSN card. And nowadays, due to the sparseness of SSA locations, transportation issues are often a hardship on poor, older, disabled folk and for those that must work during SSA’s business hours – especially when the need occurs on short notice. Also, when people come in immediately needing a replacement card, SSA might just surprise them by sending them away without accepting the card application due to a name, alien status, and/or citizenship status discrepancy. Many of the name issues result from cultural differences from the norms practiced in this country so we as Americans have difficulty understanding. SSA’s policies often make it extremely difficult, time consuming and expensive to correct such issues. For example, the correction of a long-standing name discrepancy that cropped long ago before the existence of the now ubiquitous governmental agency cross-matching computer often requires that the affected person pay for an expensive court ordered name change. I therefore get angry every time I hear SSA’s PSA about people maybe not needing their card on the radio, especially since this message seems to play mostly on stations with Progressive political content; stations on which the programming directors should be more cognizant of the danger of selective voter disenfranchisement.
Another concern re this issue is that a working-class person might have a job today, but tomorrow their job disappears and the individual has to step into a temp agency else they won’t have the money to pay the next month’s rent. First thing any temp-agency wants to see is your SSN card and ID. If you don’t have those you are sent away without any work assignment and you are told not to come back until you can produce the proper documents. Thus SSA telling people they might not need their card can increase a person’s chance of becoming homeless.
Or perhaps things aren’t quite so dire, and instead a person has to immediately open a new bank account because the one previously in use was compromised. Or perhaps a person wants to buy health/life insurance, a car/house, etc. What are any of the companies involved going to ask for first? Of course, the SSN card and ID!
So SSA, please reconsider your position on this issue. Until such time that a person’s SSN can be instantly biometrically verified remotely by computer, a person should ALWAYS have possession of their SSN card and as best possible, the card should be stored in a safe place (something that is not so easy if you are poor and relocating a lot, another issue that SSA with its duplicate card limit restrictions apparently does not comprehend). A smart person might even want to keep more than one card at separate locations; much like you would if you were backing up computer data on separately stored removable hard-drives.
tony
The SSA already mention that you might need it to find a job.
When you register to vote, they require a Photo ID and proof of residencey. A social security card is neither. They make it so easy to register to vote that you can renew your voter registration at the DMV when you renew your driver license.
I don’t know why you are have a hard time registering to vote. Dead people are casting their vote every election.
tony
I don’t want to to lose your job and go homeless. I need you to continue to pay for my social security disability.
DrGonzo888
None that is what this article is saying. The crux of it ( crux meaning general point ) is that you should not be carrying it around all the time. People do, lose them, id fraud happens.
Joe F.
To much red tape to send all of those items. The last time that I was in the local Social Security Office, I showed my Drivers License, Military Card, and Social Security Part A Card. Everything was easy from the beginning to the end.
My take on sending original documents to Social Security is one of safety. There is not a guarantee that if the SSA loses your documents that they will be the Snoop dogs looking for your Birth Certificate, Drivers License, Passport and all of the other original items that you have sent to them. Play it safe and go to your local Social Security Office.
Willy
SSA should be like the DMVs and charge a $$ fee for replacement cards. Half of the overcrowding at SSA field offices will disappear!!!
Ray F.
Thank you for your comment Willy. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004 (Public Law 108-458 ) limits the number of replacement SSN cards an individual may receive to 3 per year and 10 in a lifetime, beginning with cards issued on or after December 17, 2005.
Patty
I did not lose my ss card
Hope
Just had a patient come to our physicans office asking for a certified copy that she’s our patient to replace her card. What does that mean? Does she need a copy of the demographics we have on her or a copy of her photo ID and insurance cards we have on file? And do they need notarized ?
Marti
I don’t think what she has asked for will help her at all. Personally, you can purchase a certified or notarized copy of your Birth Certificate from your Vital Statistics Office in your State’s Capitol. And, go to your local County Clerks Office to have either a Driver’s License or State ID card made with your picture on it (you must present a posted envelope that has your name and address on it). Don’t understand why people have such trouble following the rules and keeping up with their identity.
Ray F.
Hi Marti. SSA does not accept a birth record as an identity document because it is not adequate evidence to show that the person is still alive.
A birth record:
•establishes a fact of birth (i.e., that the person was born)
•establishes the legal name at birth
•is not sufficient evidence to establish identity for SSA purposes because it does not establish the person’s continued existence.
Therefore, we need evidence that shows the individual continues to exist beyond the date of birth up to the present time. Please go to http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ to learn what documents you will need to get a replacement Social Security card. Thanks!
Ray F.
A certified copy of medical record (from a clinic, primary care doctor, or hospital) can be used as a secondary proof of identity, if a primary evidence-document is not available. As with any other document we use to verify the identity of an person applying for a replacement Social Security card, the document has to be an original or certified copy, must be current (not expired) and must provide enough identifiable information such as the applicant’s name and the applicant’s date of birth or age. See more at “Learn what documents you need to get a Social Security Card”. Thanks!
Diana
Since I do not have a printer , how can I print the form. Can I not just fill the form went I visit the office . And I will be bringing all of my information or Id forms that is needed. Will this be ok ? My cars is just so old you can even read the numbers
Ray F.
Yes Diana, you can obtain and complete the application in the office or the local card center. Remember that documents must be the originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. We cannot accept uncertified photocopies. Click here to learn what documents you can use to get a replacement Social Security card. Thanks!
Candace S.
Why are the replacement social security cards mailed, regular mail? My son has gone twice and has not received his card. Where is it? Did someone else get it?
brian w.
do like sensible modern countries do issue national ID cards
William L.
Actually a piece of paper with your full name and your Social Security number on it is a very dangerous thing to carry around with you. Your best not to have one. It is almost worthless for anything. You cannot use it for identification, you cannot charge anything with it, it’s about as important as your voter card. The most important thing is your social security number either you are in the system or you’re not. Anyone who looked your number up will know right away that you are in the system you just have to prove you are who you say you are and you don’t need your social security card to prove that. This is precisely why the Social Security Administration is putting this on the website. They have finally realized the same thing.
Lori
If you have ever looked at the list of acceptable documents to complete the I-9 form if a person starts a new job, a social security card is one of the very few acceptable items from column c. on the form. You should never tell someone they are best not to have a social security card!. It can be left at home with other important papers and brought out when needed.
Tom
The number of times you need your card are few and in between, but you do need one. What is puzzling is why so many in the public continue to carry it with them routinely with a “not gonna happen to me” attitude knowing how rampant identity theft is. Forbes and Money magazines both put having your SSN with you at all times as tempting fate and is the #1 no-no on their list in protecting your identity. Your card will last forever if you store it safely and retrieve only when you need it.
Mike L.
Your detailed information as to application for replacement of s.s. card is missing an information regarding how the original documents such as U.S. passport and driver license will be sent back to the applicant and how secure method of mailing such as certified mail will be used.
Mike
Ray F.
You are right Mike, all documents must be the originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. We cannot accept uncertified photocopies. After we process your request for a replacement Social Security card, we return the documents to you via regular mail. Remember that you also have the option of bringing the original documents into your local Social Security office.
Brenda
What if we live in a rural area? We have to mail our original ID with the application if that is the only option?
It takes longer to send and receive and we can’t really go too long without an ID for anything.
Ray F.
Hi Brenda.We prefer a government issued document with your picture, as proof of identity to replace your Social Security card. Other documents that we may be able to use:
•Employee identification card;
•School identification card;
•Health insurance card; or
•U.S. military identification card.
Any documents you submit, must be an original or certified copy, current (not expired) and show your name, and other identifying information (date of birth or age).
Also, realize that you may not need a replacement card. You will rarely need to show it. Knowing your Social Security number is what is important. To see if you’re eligible to apply for a replacement Social Security card online or to learn more on the process and what documents you will need to get a card Please visit our “New or Replacement Social Security Number and Card” web page. To locate your Social Security office or local card center, go to https://secure.ssa.gov/ICON/main.jsp. We hope this helps!
Braden
Please answer this question: Am i able to send a photocopy of my driver’s license? If so, what do you actually mean by certified? I don’t have any of the other documents you list here and need to use my drivers license as proof of identity.
Ray F.
Hi Braden, we prefer a government issued document with your picture, as proof of identity to replace your Social Security card. If you do not have one or you cannot get one within a reasonable amount of time, we may be able to use other documents such as:
•Employee identification card;
•School identification card;
•Health insurance card; or
•U.S. military identification card.
Any documents you submit, must be an original or certified copy, current (not expired) and show your name, and other identifying information (date of birth or age). A certified document is basically a photocopy or extract of a file, sealed with a ribbon and the seal of the agency issuing the copy of the document on file. Also, realize that you may not need a replacement card. You will rarely need to show it. Knowing your Social Security number is what is important. To see if you’re eligible to apply for a replacement Social Security card online or to learn more on the process and what documents you will need to get a card, please visit our “New or Replacement Social Security Number and Card” web page. You may call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 and one of our agents can assist you in helping you find a suitable proof of identity document. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. SSA requires each applicant to present documentary evidence of his or her identity due to the growing problem of identity theft and to establish that the person who is applying for a replacement SSN card is the true number holder (i.e., the person to whom SSA originally assigned the SSN). Thank you for your support and understanding.