Getting a Social Security number

A Social Security number is how you are identified for work, tax, credit and most official things. You cannot be paid properly without one, and you cannot build a credit file without one.

What to take

Your passport with your visa in it, your immigration documents, and proof of your address here. Take originals. Photocopies are usually refused, and a wasted trip to a Social Security office is most of a day.

What to expect

You apply in person at a Social Security office. The card arrives by post, usually in two to four weeks, sometimes longer. You will be given a receipt, and that receipt is often enough for an employer or a bank while you wait.

What people get wrong

Waiting for a job offer before applying. You do not need one. Waiting also means your first employer has to wait on you, which occasionally costs somebody the job.

Once the card arrives, do not carry it. Memorise the number and leave the card somewhere safe. It is the single most useful document for somebody trying to open accounts in your name.

The official page for this Ours explains it. Theirs is the authority, and it is the one that changes.

Nobody has recorded when this was last checked.

Not legal, immigration, tax or medical advice. This is what people who have done it wish somebody had told them.