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Problems with Obtaining SSN

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MiaRC

New member
I am having problems with obtaining a SSN. I moved back to the US from Europe in April and have been trying to get a SSN for the past months but it seems impossible! Let me tell you my story.
I was born in 1990 in India, my father is a US citizen and my mother is Swiss. My father was there professionally. We then moved to the US, where I lived until I was 6 years old in 1996. My mother didn’t work and she was not aware of the importance of a SSN. My father who should have known, given the fact he had been living in the US his entire life, didn’t bother to get me a SSN and I guess I never needed it. My parents then got separated and I moved to Switzerland with my mother, where I had been living for the past 22 years. I have always wanted to move back and have now made the move. I went to the social security office to get a new social security number but I have been rejected because I don’t have any records from 1990 to 1996. I don’t have any medical records nor school records since I only went to kindergarten and in addition it wasn’t a public kindergarten, it was a private montessouri preschool. My mother told me that I did go to doctors but she doesn’t remember the doctor’s names, which I understand, it was over 20 years ago! My father doesn’t have any records either. It’s very frustrating because I can’t work, can’t open a bank account, can’t get a driver’s license and I really don’t know what to do. I brought my passport, my report of birth abroad form, all of my school and work records from Switzerland (which start from the year 1997) that my mother and I kept but I have nothing from 1990 to 1996. What can I do? Can someone please help me?
 


MiaRC

New member
Thank you for your response. I am a US citizen, I don’t need a work visa. I have not paid taxes so far because I just moved back this year at the age of 28, I left the US when I was 7.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Thank you for your response. I am a US citizen, I don’t need a work visa. I have not paid taxes so far because I just moved back this year at the age of 28, I left the US when I was 7.
Your father should have been filing US income tax returns. In order to claim you as a dependent you would have had to have a Social Security Number. When you were registered as having been born abroad your father should have automatically been given paperwork for you to file for your SSN. I do not see how you could have lived in the US for 6 years without your father needing to get an SSN for you. Please talk to your father.
 

Janke

Member
Where is the proof that your father is a US citizen? Where is the proof that this man who was born in the US is actually your father? Do you have a US passport?
 

MiaRC

New member
Your father should have been filing US income tax returns. In order to claim you as a dependent you would have had to have a Social Security Number. When you were registered as having been born abroad your father should have automatically been given paperwork for you to file for your SSN. I do not see how you could have lived in the US for 6 years without your father needing to get an SSN for you. Please talk to your father.
I did, my father didn’t claim me
 

MiaRC

New member
Where is the proof that your father is a US citizen? Where is the proof that this man who was born in the US is actually your father? Do you have a US passport?
My father has been living in the US his entire life, he has a social, I don’t need to prove his identity but mine. Yes of course I have a US passport
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Here is the problem the OP is running in to. From your link, you have to click the button for "Citizenship of the person the card is for - Foreign Born U.S. Citizen:


Anyone age 12 or older requesting an original Social Security number must appear in person for an interview. We will ask for evidence to show you do not have a Social Security number. Here are examples of documents you can use to prove a Social Security number was never assigned:


  • If you lived outside the United States for an extended period, a current or previous passport, school and/or employment records, and any other record that would show long-term residence outside the United States could be used to show you do not have a Social Security number.
  • If you have lived in the United States and you are applying for an original Social Security number, we may ask you for information about the schools you attended or we may ask you to provide copies of tax records that would show you were never assigned a Social Security number.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Here is the problem the OP is running in to. From your link, you have to click the button for "Citizenship of the person the card is for - Foreign Born U.S. Citizen:


Anyone age 12 or older requesting an original Social Security number must appear in person for an interview. We will ask for evidence to show you do not have a Social Security number. Here are examples of documents you can use to prove a Social Security number was never assigned:


  • If you lived outside the United States for an extended period, a current or previous passport, school and/or employment records, and any other record that would show long-term residence outside the United States could be used to show you do not have a Social Security number.
  • If you have lived in the United States and you are applying for an original Social Security number, we may ask you for information about the schools you attended or we may ask you to provide copies of tax records that would show you were never assigned a Social Security number.
Clearly they do not want to give him a second number, accidentally. However, if he already has an SSN they should have some record of it and be able to give him THAT number. If they cannot do that, then they are going to have to give him a number. I agree with whomever else said that he needed to move up the chain of command at the SSA.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Clearly they do not want to give him a second number, accidentally. However, if he already has an SSN they should have some record of it and be able to give him THAT number. If they cannot do that, then they are going to have to give him a number. I agree with whomever else said that he needed to move up the chain of command at the SSA.
The OP doesn't have a social security number - that's what he's already told us.

I agree that going higher up the food chain is a wise course of action.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
The OP doesn't have a social security number - that's what he's already told us.

I agree that going higher up the food chain is a wise course of action.
I believe that the OP doesn't have an SSN. However, apparently the agents he has spoken to so far do not believe that. I cannot entirely fault them because its a bit unbelievable that someone living in the US for 6 years in the 1990s could manage without an SSN, even if they were a child.

In any case, moving up the chain of command is the OP's only choice at this point. Although, getting his local congressman or senator involved might help as well.
 

not2cleverRed

Obvious Observer
I believe that the OP doesn't have an SSN. However, apparently the agents he has spoken to so far do not believe that. I cannot entirely fault them because its a bit unbelievable that someone living in the US for 6 years in the 1990s could manage without an SSN, even if they were a child.

In any case, moving up the chain of command is the OP's only choice at this point. Although, getting his local congressman or senator involved might help as well.
I find it odd that OP is so sure that Dad didn't include OP on his taxes to get at least the standard deduction. The only way that would make sense would be if Dad wasn't filing taxes at all. :unsure:

P.S. Maybe OP could use my sister-in-law's extra SSN... She went to change her name after getting married, and the translation of her birth certificate had her mother's name spelled slightly differently, or something, and so some idiot assumed she was a new person and gave her a new SSN.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I find it odd that OP is so sure that Dad didn't include OP on his taxes to get at least the standard deduction. The only way that would make sense would be if Dad wasn't filing taxes at all. :unsure:

P.S. Maybe OP could use my sister-in-law's extra SSN... She went to change her name after getting married, and the translation of her birth certificate had her mother's name spelled slightly differently, or something, and so some idiot assumed she was a new person and gave her a new SSN.
I think that you mean the personal exemption for the child. The standard deduction has to do with filing status.
 

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