Social Security Updates Recently Announced Identity Proofing Requirements
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: March 26, 2025
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is taking proactive steps to enhance the security of its services by implementing stronger identity verification procedures. The updated measures will further safeguard Social Security records and benefits for millions of Americans against fraudulent activity. In-person identity proofing for people unable to use their personal my Social Security account for certain services will be effective April 14, 2025.
“We have listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others, and we are updating our policy to provide better customer service to the country’s most vulnerable populations,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “In addition to extending the policy’s effective date by two weeks to ensure our employees have the training they need to help customers, Medicare, Disability, and SSI applications will be exempt from in-person identity proofing because multiple opportunities exist during the decision process to verify a person’s identity.”
Under the updated policy beginning April 14, 2025, individuals applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) who cannot use a personal my Social Security account can complete their claim entirely over the telephone without the need to come into an office.
Individuals who cannot use their personal my Social Security account to apply for benefits will only need to prove their identity at a Social Security office if applying for Retirement, Survivors, or Auxiliary (Spouse or Child) benefits. SSA will enforce online digital identity proofing or in-person identity proofing for these cases. The agency will not enforce these requirements in extreme dire-need situations, such as terminal cases or prisoner pre-release scenarios. SSA is currently developing a process that will require documentation and management approval to bypass the policy in such dire need cases.
Individuals who do not or cannot use the agency’s online my Social Security services to change their direct deposit information for any benefit will need to visit a Social Security office to process the change or can call 1-800-772-1213 to schedule an in-person appointment. The agency also recommends that individuals unable to apply online call to schedule an in-person appointment to begin and complete a claim for Retirement, Survivors, or Auxiliary (Spouse or Child) benefits in one interaction.
SSA recently required nearly all agency employees, including frontline employees in all offices throughout the country, to work in the office five days a week. This change ensures maximum staffing is available to support the stronger in-person identity proofing requirement.
The agency will continue to monitor and, if necessary, make adjustments to ensure it pays the right person the right amount at the right time while safeguarding the benefits and programs it administers. SSA plans to implement the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service’s payment integrity service called Account Verification Service (AVS). AVS provides instant bank verification services to proactively and timely prevent fraud associated with direct deposit change requests. SSA will continue to fight fraud while balancing its program integrity responsibilities with delivering on its customer service mission to the American people.
People who do not already have a my Social Security account can create one.
Stay up to date about SSA’s identity proofing requirements and exceptions at What to Know about Proving Your Identity | SSA.
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Robert
Pulling skelton crews away from doing claims to being in the office five days a week checking IDs ensures maximum delays and hardships. You still need staff to work the claims aside from checking IDs.
You’ve successfully added more work to overworked staff, more hardships to the most vulnerable populations, AND do not have the staff or even accessible offices for that matter to support these changes. Bravo!
Nickolas
If I already got ssi and I just got a letter in the mail stating that my ssi will be increasing in April, do I still need to go into the ssi offices to verify my identity?
C.B.
Hi, Nickolas. Thanks for using our blog. There is no need to contact Social Security to prove your identity if you are already getting benefits. People will continue to receive their benefits and on schedule to the bank account information in Social Security’s records without needing to prove identity. We hope this clears up any confusion.
M. Y.
The biggest fraud I see is this administration. They are making it harder and harder for people. I’ve earned several Master Degrees and find it difficult to fully understand this new policy. You are cutting staff, offices, and accepting less input on-line. How realistic is this?
Robert M.
As a current social security recipient and a former Federal government employee I understand the need to ensure the validity of claims filed for benefits. I personally have no problem with the in person requirement since I have internet access.
I do have concerns over the haphazard implementation of the in person requirement change however. I have gone into my local office several times because my income decreased significantly after retiring and I was getting assessed a much higher rate for
Medicare premiums because of my higher prior income. This action requires an in person visit to file the change in income form. I finally was able to get an appointment and the social security staffer took the application and supposedly filed it. That was over a year ago and I still haven’t heard or seen anything back on the change. If you call to ask about you experience a wait time of several hours. This is a problem in my situation and will be a problem for others who are trying to apply for social security. In other words, you should not
be making these changes unless you can ensure good service. And if
you can’t provide good service now, how do you expect to provide adequate service in the future with planned cuts to Personnel and field offices?
service.
Sarah L.
Many older Americans do not have access to the Internet or can’t afford it. Lower income Americans may not have a computer, tablet or smart phone. They may not be able to deal with the technology. Many older Americans are alone with no one to help them navigate these procedures. Many older Americans do not own cars or cannot drive. They may live in a rural community far away from an SSA Office. How do they get to these appointments? In my city the SSA office has major problems with lack of parking spaces. These are real problems. We need to go back to being able to do all of this on the phone. I was able to apply on-line for myself, but my husband needed help on the telephone when he applied for retirement benefits. When he died, I applied for widow’s benefits by phone. It would have been a real hardship for me to apply in person at the SSA Office especially since we were in the middle of the COVID pandemic. This is very unfair and unworkable for older Americans, especially for the ones who are completely alone with no one to help them. You really need to rethink this in-person requirement for applying for retirement and survivors benefits or to change direct deposit information.
Beau
Getting rid of the employee impacts those individuals who need to talk to s person, not some DOGE bullshit AI or automated chat bot!
Arlene F.
So, what are the Identity Proofing Requirements. That info is bot stated in this memo/bulletin.
Although t.
Another job for our unelected billionaire savior:
Keep track of the negative comments about him on this and other similar sites.
Social Security is the best US bureaucracy I’ve encountered in my 80+ years on the planet.
It wasn’t broke.
Don’t fix it
John
Why are retiree’s, widows, and children or spousal applications being targeted? If fraud is as rampant as you indicate why the distinction? Is it because you don’t have the staff? Is is because your technology is extremely outdated? Or is because you are afraid to stand up and do what’s right for all the American people, not just the ones who might cause the biggest stink?
Dale F.
My husband went on the 12th of March they scanned his DL and it was to go directly to a person in SS in Birmingham . They have lost it and don’t know what happened to it. Now gotta go back and do it again. By appointment and he’s just trying to get his retirement.