Social Security Numbers and US Passports

You must provide your US Social Security number, if you have one, in order to apply for or renew a US passport. However, US citizens who never had a Social Security number, when applying for a US passport, must provide a sworn statement stating that they were never issued a US Social Security number. 

At ACA’s recommendation, the US State Department has updated the FAQs found on its page, “Applying for a US passport from outside of the United States website page,” to include the aforementioned information, see: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/applying-for-a-u-s--passport-from-outside-the-united-states.html.  

A US Social Security number is necessary for other US government agency services (e.g. the IRS) and for US employment and banking purposes.  ACA recommends that all US citizens considering more interaction with the US government agencies, filing US taxes, US employment market, etc. consider applying for a US Social Security number as well as for their children born abroad.

For more information about US passports, see our ACA webpage here.

This ACA webpage was updated on 20 April 2018