Asking my friends is easier than googling

[shadowscast]

In the contemporary United States, do you have a physical artifact associated with your Social Security Number? (In Canada for our equivalent thing, we have a little white plastic card, the size of a credit card, issued by the government.)

Asking for a fic.

Comments

[maia]

When I got my social security number when I was 8 years old, I got a blue paper card (I had to sign it, so my social security card still has my 8-year-old signature!) I think they probably do something else now (kids now have to get social security numbers by their first birthdays so obviously can't sign), but if so, I don't know what it is. I can ask friends with kids, if you like!

[shadowscast]

Perfect, thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know! And you even incidentally answered the question which I should have asked but didn't think to, which is "what would you call this object if you were casually referring to it in a sentence?" (In Canada we'd say a "SIN card"—pronouncing the acronym, and we don't even giggle, that's just what we call it.)

[tarotgal]

Same. I have a paper card with my number on it the size of a credit card. Wish it were plastic; it has seen better days having been in my wallet. It looks like this: http://socialsecuritymyaccount.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/social-security-card.jpg

I was a citizen board abroad, so I got a SSN assigned at 6 months but they didn't send me the card at that point. In fact, I don't think I got the physical card until I started to apply to college during high school and needed a copy of it. I remember we had to jump through a number of hoops with my birth certificate, etc. to get them to send it.

[shadowscast]

Perfect, thanks, that's helpful to know!

[the_shoshanna]

Like maia, I have a Social Security card, which I think I got in my early teens. (I had the number before then, just not the card.) But I have no idea how it works now, I'm afraid!

[shadowscast]

The character in question is 30 in 2019, and the Umbrella Academy's version of 2019 has a 1980s-ish feel to it anyway, so I'm going to declare that no matter what's happening exactly now in the actual United States, the info I'm getting from you guys is accurate for my fic. :)

Thanks for the help!

[tarotgal]

Might not be relevant, but the first three numbers of our SSNs have to do with our state of residence when the card is issued. Usually that's the state where we're born, but for people like me, who were not born in the US, it is the state where I was living when I was a tiny human and the number was assigned to me.

[shadowscast]

That's probably more detail than I need for the fic, but it's good to know in case it comes up! Thanks for your dedication to my casual research needs. :D

[tabaqui]

You still get that blue card as tarotgal linked. It is illegal to laminate it, so unless you lose yours at some point and have to replace it (a giant pain), they can get pretty worn if you carry them around (they say not to, in case it gets stolen, but i always do).

[shadowscast]

Now that you mention it, I think I do remember hearing American friends complaining in the past about the difficulty of stopping the things from wearing out.

And it's also helpful to know that the things have looked the same for a long time.

Thanks!!!

[yourlibrarian]

Interesting that they're still released in paper! I assumed this had changed since I got mine. It sits in my safety deposit box but being paper it still looks its age. Mike just had to get his out of the box for his new driver's license.