Form SS-5-FS, Application for a Social Security Card (Outside of the U.S.)

What is Form SS-5-FS?

Form SS-5-FS is the Social Security Administration (SSA) application for a Social Security card that SSA lists for applicants outside the United States. Like Form SS-5, it is used to apply for an original Social Security card, to apply for a replacement card, and to change or correct information on your Social Security number record. Applying is free. The form above is the 12-2024 edition, marked "Discontinue Prior Editions". It has five pages: what the application is for, the evidence documents, how to complete and submit it, the privacy statements, and the application itself (items 1 to 18) on page 5.

Applying from outside the United States

SSA's website says there are no Social Security offices outside the U.S.; American embassies and consulates assist, and residents of Canada are served by domestic Social Security border offices. The form refers you to any U.S. Social Security office or your Federal Benefits Unit and to ssa.gov/foreign for the list of Federal Benefits Units and their contact details. Under 20 CFR 422.103(b)(1), a person outside the United States may apply at the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Manila, at any U.S. Foreign Service post, or at a U.S. military post outside the United States.

Who can apply from abroad. SSA's website says that generally the only people outside the U.S. who are eligible to apply for an original or replacement Social Security card are U.S. citizens. Noncitizens admitted for permanent residence, or with other Department of Homeland Security authority to work in the U.S., can apply after they are admitted to the U.S. Otherwise, it says, SSA can assign a number or issue a card only if a Social Security card is required by law as a condition of receiving a federally funded benefit to which you have an established entitlement.

A number or a replacement card is requested on a prescribed application (20 CFR 422.103); where SSA has an agreement with the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, a noncitizen can instead request the number through them as part of the immigration process (20 CFR 422.103(b)(3)). SSA's website lists requesting a replacement Social Security card among the online services that are not available outside the United States; Form SS-5-FS lists a replacement card among its uses.

Documents SSA asks for

Originals or certified copies only. The form says SSA can only accept original documents or documents certified by the custodian of the original record, and that notarized copies or photocopies not certified by the custodian are not acceptable. The regulation (20 CFR 422.107(a)) requires originals or copies certified by the custodians of the original records. The form says SSA will return any documents you submit.

What the form asks for depends on the request:

• Original card. At least two documents to prove age, identity, and U.S. citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized immigration status.
• Replacement card. One document to prove your identity. If you were born outside the U.S., also documents to prove U.S. citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized status. SSA Publication 05-10002 (July 2026) words it as documents proving your citizenship if it is not already in SSA's records.
• Change to your record (a name or citizenship change, or a corrected date of birth). Documents to prove your identity, support the change and establish the reason for it. A name-change document must be recent and identify you by both the old and the new name; if the event was over two years ago, or the document does not have enough information to prove your identity, the form also asks for identity documents in your prior name and/or, in some cases, your new legal name. SSA's documents page puts the two years at four for applicants under 18. Publication 05-10002 says SSA will accept an identity document in your old name that has expired and, if you have none, may accept an unexpired one in your new name. If you were born outside the U.S., the form also asks for a document to prove U.S. citizenship or current lawful, work-authorized status.

The form's evidence lists are examples and are not all inclusive:

• Age. In general, your birth certificate. In some situations SSA may accept another document that shows your age, such as a U.S. hospital record of your birth created at the time of birth, a religious record established before age five, a passport, or a final adoption decree that shows the birth information was taken from the original birth certificate.
• Identity. Current, unexpired evidence in your legal name: a U.S. driver's license, a U.S. State-issued non-driver identity card, or a U.S. passport. If you do not have one of these or cannot get a replacement within 10 work days, SSA may accept other documents that show your legal name and biographical information, such as a U.S. military identity card, a Certificate of Naturalization or an employee identity card. The form adds that, generally, documents without an expiration date should have been issued within the past two years for adults and the past four years for children. If you are not a U.S. citizen, the form says SSA must see your current U.S. immigration documents and your foreign passport, foreign driver's license or foreign ID card with biographical information or a photograph. If you send a photo identity document and do not appear in person, it must show biographical information such as your date of birth, age or parents' names. SSA cannot accept a birth certificate, a hospital souvenir birth certificate, a Social Security card stub or a Social Security record as evidence of identity.
• U.S. citizenship. In general, a U.S. birth certificate or U.S. passport. Other documents you may provide are a Consular Report of Birth, a Certificate of Citizenship or a Certificate of Naturalization.
• Immigration status. A current, unexpired document issued to you by the Department of Homeland Security, such as Form I-551, I-94 or I-766. An international student or exchange visitor may need additional documents, such as Form I-20, DS-2019 or a letter authorizing employment from the school and employer (F-1) or sponsor (J-1). SSA cannot accept a receipt showing you applied for the document.
• No work authorization. SSA can issue a card only if you need the number for a valid non-work reason, and the card will be marked to show you cannot work. If you check "Legal Alien Not Allowed to Work" or "Other" in item 5, the form asks for a document from a U.S. Federal, State or local government agency that explains why you need a number and that you meet all the requirements for the U.S. government benefit; it notes that most agencies do not require one. SSA Publication 05-10096 (February 2026) says the agency's letter must be on letterhead stationery (no form letters or photocopies), identify you as the applicant, state the nonwork reason, cite the law that requires the number, indicate that you meet all agency requirements except having a number, and contain an agency contact name, signature and telephone number. SSA's staff manual (POMS RM 10211.600 and 10210.015, guidance for SSA employees) says a noncitizen who lives outside the U.S. and requests a number at a Foreign Service post for a nonwork reason does not need to provide evidence of immigration status, and that the only valid reason to issue a replacement card for a nonwork purpose is evidence of a new (different), current, valid nonwork need.

How to fill out Form SS-5-FS

The form's own instruction is to complete and sign the application legibly, using only black or blue ink, on the attached or downloaded form, on 8 1/2 by 11 inch (or A4) paper. The PDF that SSA posts has fillable fields, but the form does not say whether entries typed on screen meet the ink instruction. If you fill in the form on screen, print it on paper of that size, check that every entry is legible, and sign the printout by hand in black or blue ink; if in doubt, ask the office that will take your application or complete the printed form by hand.

The application is page 5, items 1 to 18. The instructions on page 3 single out these items:

1. Item 5, citizenship: see the note on non-work reasons above if you check "Legal Alien Not Allowed to Work" or "Other".
2. Items 6 and 7, ethnicity and race: voluntary; the form says the answer does not affect decisions on your application.
3. Items 9.B and 10.B, parents' Social Security numbers: required when you apply for an original card for a child under age 18, unless the parent was never assigned a number. If the number is not known and you cannot obtain it, check the "unknown" box.
4. Item 13: if the date of birth in item 4 differs from the one on your Social Security record, show the date currently on the record here and provide evidence for the date in item 4.
5. Item 16, mailing address: an address where you can receive your card.
6. Item 17, signature, and item 18, your relationship to the person in item 1 (self, natural or adoptive parent, legal guardian, or other).

Signing and submitting the application

Who signs. The form says: if you are age 18 or older and physically and mentally capable of reading and completing the application, you must sign in item 17. If you are under 18, you may sign yourself, or a parent or legal guardian may sign for you. If you are over 18 and cannot sign on your own behalf, generally a legal guardian, parent or close relative may sign for you. Someone completing the application for another person must provide evidence of their authority to sign, and documents proving their own identity and the identity of the person the application is for.

How to sign. Sign in black or blue ink. The signature sits under a declaration, made under penalty of perjury, that the information on the form is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. If you cannot sign your name, the form says to sign with an "X" mark and have two people sign as witnesses beside it. The form asks you not to alter your signature by including additional information on the signature line, and warns that this may invalidate your application. SSA's staff manual (POMS RM 10205.180, guidance for SSA employees) says someone who applies on another person's behalf must sign their own name and indicate their relationship to that person (item 18 of the form asks for the relationship); it calls signing "for" the other person, as in "John Smith for Mary Smith", not correct.

Where it goes. The form says you can mail the signed application, or take it with your documents, to any U.S. Social Security office or your Federal Benefits Unit. A military dependent or a U.S. citizen working on a U.S. military post may also go to the Post Adjutant or Personnel Office. A joint FAQ of the Treasury, the State Department, the IRS and SSA, linked from SSA's Service Around the World page (the PDF dates from November 2019), says applicants at a Federal Benefits Unit will need an appointment, which they can make by email or phone call; contact the unit before you go. As of October 2026, SSA's website carries a notice that some countries have suspended mail service to the United States and that documents sent to SSA from abroad may be delayed or undelivered; it asks you to check with your local postal service.

Your original documents. If you do not want to mail your originals, the form says to take them with the application to one of those offices: the staff there make certified copies and mail them to SSA with the application. The form says not to mail your original documents to the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, Maryland.

In-person requirement. The form notes that if you are age 12 or older and have never received a Social Security number, you must apply in person. The regulation (20 CFR 422.107(a)) requires an in-person interview in that case, except for a noncitizen who requests the number as part of the immigration process, and says SSA may require an in-person interview of other applicants.

Limits and card care. The form says the law limits replacement cards to 3 per calendar year and 10 in a lifetime; cards issued for a legal name change or a change to a work authorization legend do not count, and SSA may grant exceptions on evidence from an official source that a card is required. The regulation (20 CFR 422.103(e)(2)) words the limit as three in a year and ten per lifetime. SSA's staff manual (POMS RM 10205.400, guidance for SSA employees) also leaves out of the count cards issued before December 17, 2005. The form also says not to carry the card with you: keep it in a secure location and take it only when you must show it.

Form SS-5-FS resources

• Form SS-5-FS, SSA PDF
• Service Around the World: Social Security outside the U.S., SSA.gov
• Federal Benefits Units and office contacts by country, SSA.gov
• If You Need a Social Security Card, in Instructions for a Beneficiary Leaving the U.S., SSA.gov
• Documents you need for a Social Security card, SSA.gov
• 20 CFR 422.103, Social security numbers (eCFR)
• 20 CFR 422.107, Evidence requirements (eCFR)
• Form SS-5, for applicants in the U.S.