Applying for a Social Security Card

When should I apply for a social security card for my child?

Most likely, the first time that you’ll really want a social security card for your child is when you do your taxes for the year of the adoption. The tax form will ask for your child’s social security number (SSN).

However, you can apply for a social security card at any time after you bring your child home, even before the adoption is final in the U.S.

If you have the time, it can be useful to wait to apply for your child’s SSN until after you have gotten them either a passport or a certificate of citizenship. That way, you can submit the passport or certificate as proof of citizenship at the time that you apply for the card, and your child will be listed as a citizen and eligible to work.

If you don’t have proof of citizenship when you apply for a SSN, they will assign your child a SSN, but they will be entered as having a status of “non-citizen”. In order to have your child eligible for work, you will have to go back to the Social Security Administration at a later date to show them the passport or certificate of citizenship (or else mail them the document) in order to have them change your child’s status.

What do I do to apply for a SSN for my child?

Applying for a SSN is very easy. You need to fill out the application form and submit it with some supporting documentation. You can either mail the application in to a Social Security office, or else you can bring the application to your local Social Security office.

Since the Social Security administration requires that original documents (not copies) be submitted in support of an SSN application, many adoptive parents feel safer bringing the application in to the office in person. If you submit the application in person, the Social Security clerk will look at your documents to verify them, but you will be able to take them back home with you.

What will I need?

· An Application for a Social Security Card (Form SS-5)

o The application is available online at www.socialsecurity.gov/online/ss-5.pdf. If you download a copy of the form, be sure to print it in black or blue ink on white 8.5”x11” paper.

o You can also get a copy by calling 1-800-772-1213 and requesting a form.

· A minimum of 2 documents that prove your child’s age and identity. You can refer to the Application instructions for details about all the possible documents that are acceptable. If you are hand-delivering the application, it can’t hurt to bring a few more documents than you really need, just in case the particular clerk that you’re working with isn’t up-to-date about what’s OK to submit. The Social Security Administration prefers the following documents:

o Your child’s original foreign birth certificate

o Original copy of the final adoption decree. This document not only verifies your child’s identity, but it also establishes the child’s relationship to you, which shows you have authorization to sign the application for your child. If the adoption is not yet final in the U.S., bring other proof that the child is in your custody. This could be referral papers or your child’s alien registration card (“green card”).

o Your own photo id. You need to show your driver’s license or passport in order for them to verify that you are, in fact, the child’s parent and can sign their application for them.

o Also, you might think of bringing the original U.S.-issued birth certificate (if an adoption was done in Wisconsin). This isn’t technically required, but it does provide proof of your child’s age and name.

o Photocopies or notarized copies are not acceptable. Bring or send the original documents.

· Proof of your child’s citizenship (if you have it)

o Your child’s U.S. passport, or

o Your child’s certificate of citizenship

If you do not have proof of your child’s citizenship, then your child will be given a Social Security Number, but they will not be eligible to work in the U.S. Once you do get either a passport or certificate of citizenship for your child, you will need to contact Social Security again to submit that document in order to have your child’s status changed so that he or she is listed as a citizen.

Filling Out the Application for a Social Security Card

1. Name: Print your child’s current full name, then their full birth name (if different from current), then any other names that they have used.

Note that if you are filing for a SSN for your child before the adoption is finalized (i.e., you brought them into the country on an IR-4 visa but have not yet completed the U.S. adoption), then your child’s birth name will be shown on the original Social Security card. Later, after you have completed the adoption in the U.S., you will apply for a corrected social security card which will have their new, changed name.

2. Mailing Address: Print your mailing address.
3. Citizenship:
1. If your child entered the country on an IR-3 Visa (meaning that the U.S. recognizes the adoption as having been finalized in the foreign country), or if you have finalized your child’s adoption in the U.S., then

Check “U.S. Citizen”

(Note that even though your child may be a U.S. citizen, if you do not have proof of citizenship either in your child’s passport or certificate of citizenship, then the Social Security Administration will not enter them as citizens. You still can check the box indicating that they are U.S. citizens, but expect to have to return to the Social Security Administration to have your child’s status changed once you have proof of citizenship.)

2. If your child entered the country on an IR-4 visa, and you have not yet finalized the adoption in the U.S., then

Ask the Social Security clerk which box to check.

4. Sex: Indicate the gender of your child.
5. Ethnic Description: This is a voluntary field.
6. Date of Birth: Give your child’s birth date with the full 4-digit year. E.g., 03/20/2005.
7. Place of Birth: Give your child’s birth place.
8. Mother’s Maiden Name & SSN:

This is the adoptive mother’s maiden name (at birth), and her social security number (if she has one)

9. Father’s Name & SSN:

This is the adoptive father’s name (at birth), and his social security number (if he has one)

10. Usually the answer to this will be “NO”. But if you or someone else has already applied for a SSN for your child, check “YES” and fill out fields 11, 12, and 13.
11. Leave blank, unless your child has already had a SSN assigned.
12. Leave blank, unless your child has already had a SSN assigned.
13. Leave blank, unless your child has already had an application submitted.
14. Put today’s date.
15. Put your phone number.
16. SIGN THE FORM!
17. Check “Natural or Adoptive Parent”

Changing the Name on your Child’s Social Security Card

These instructions are for people who:

· Brought a child home on an IR-4 visa

· Applied for a SSN for the child before the adoption was finalized in the U.S., and

· Changed the child’s name during the U.S. adoption process, so the child’s name now needs to be changed on the Social Security Card.

You’ll need to fill out the same form described above, only you’ll be doing it in order to request a corrected social security card. The list above describes what you’ll need to bring you; basically it’s the same things that you originally brought, plus the original final U.S. adoption decree which will show your child’s new name. You’ll also want to bring your child’s original Social Security Card.

Instructions for filling out the Application:

1. Name: Print your child’s current full name (their new one that they received after the U.S. adoption), then their full birth name (this is the name that the original Social Security Card has on it), then any other names that they have used.
2. Mailing Address: Print your mailing address.
3. Citizenship:

Check “U.S. Citizen”

(Note that even though your child may be a U.S. citizen, if you do not have proof of citizenship either in your child’s passport or certificate of citizenship, then the Social Security Administration will not enter them as citizens. You still can check the box indicating that they are U.S. citizens, but expect to have to return to the Social Security Administration to have your child’s status changed once you have proof of citizenship.)

4. Sex: Indicate the gender of your child.
5. Ethnic Description: This is a voluntary field.
6. Date of Birth: Give your child’s birth date with the full 4-digit year. E.g., 03/20/2005.
7. Place of Birth: Give your child’s birth place.
8. Mother’s Maiden Name & SSN:

This is the adoptive mother’s maiden name (at birth), and her social security number (if she has one)

9. Father’s Name & SSN:

This is the adoptive father’s name (at birth), and his social security number (if he has one)

10. Check “YES”
11. Write your child’s social security number.
12. Write your child’s name as it appeared on their social security card.
13. Leave blank, unless you have also changed your child’s legal birth date.
14. Put today’s date.
15. Put your phone number.
16. SIGN THE FORM!
17. Check “Natural or Adoptive Parent”