As far as I can determine the SSA has replacement Social Security cards in a “lockbox” since 9/11. I lost my 17 year old son’s SS card. He needs a replacement because he wants to get a driver’s license. Here in Texas, in order to get a driver’s license, he must show them a SS card. Unfortunately, in order to get a replacement SS card, he has to have a driver’s license or some other form of identification. From the SSA website, here is alist of some of the documents that they might acccept as identification:
* Driver’s license
* Marriage or divorce record
* Military records
* Adoption record
* Life insurance policy
* Passport
* Health Insurance card (not a Medicare card)
* School ID card
Computer Guru Son isn’t married (or divorced), isn’t in the military, isn’t adopted, has no life insurance nor passport, and has no school ID card since he’s homeschooled. He does have a health insurance card, but it doesn’t have his full name on it because his name is too long for the health insurance company’s computer paradigm. And Blue Cross won’t make him a special card with his full name on it (we asked). Social Security says his birth certificate isn’t useful for the purposes of identification. Neither is anything else we have. We’ve been to the SS office three times, and I spent an hour on the phone yesterday arguing with two different SSA people. They both finally told me that Computer Guru Son doesn’t exist for the purposes of the SSA and therefore he won’t be able to get a SS card. Bureaucracy wins again.
Just call your Congressman. They’ll help you sort it out. If you’re in Tom DeLay’s district, the caseworker’s name is Norma Delgado.
Heh, it figures that Chris would beat me to that excellent advice. Despite my many complaints about the size of government, the customer service you’ll get from Congressional constituent services folks is some of the best in the world. Good luck getting it straightened out!
They won’t accept a birth certificate?
I’d never have expected this, but it seems that on this issue Texas has more bureaucracy than New York or Rhode Island. That’s pretty lame. NY is bad with driver’s licenses but not with parents asking for their own children’s social security cards. All it takes is to prove the parent’s identity!
I know VA accepts Birth Certificates, and find it suprising that other states wouldn’t. More argument for getting a passport, even if you have no plans on traveling …
/TJ