AdobePinon

Voltore

Yup, when I was naturalized and applied for the US Passport and I paid the extra $30 for the card at the same time. I carry that in a separate wallet to my GA DL as well. I did it to stop zealous cops in boondock counties if needs be. Never needed it yet! I used to carry a photocopy of my GC when I had that.

SultanOfSwing

When you naturalize, you're supposed to contact Social Security to get your SSN updated to show you're a citizen. I'm not brown enough to have my citizenship questioned but I wonder if a quick check of the SSN would be enough to confirm status so you wouldn't have to carry your passport, or the card around all the time.

Hotscot

I keep getting stopped and asked where in Ireland I'm from.

The looks on their faces when I tell them I've never been there...

zzrmark

Pfft, you're all Celts, are you not? At least you don't get mistaken for a South African or Antipodean!

Hotscot

Yes but I'm not Irish.
Sense of humour bypass?

MarylandNed

It's more likely to happen in the states bordering Mexico and Canada. My neighbor, a US citizen, was stopped a few months ago in Vermont. He was asked for proof of US citizenship but didn't have his passport with him as he hadn't been out of the country on the trip. I think he said he had to bring it into a police station later.

MarylandNed

Although often accepted as proof of US citizenship, a US birth cert is not actually definitive proof of US citizenship. Children born in the US of foreign diplomats can get US birth certs but they are not entitled to US citizenship. The best way to prove US citizenship is with a US passport (book or card).

MarylandNed

I didn't feel comfortable carrying mine around all the time. For short trips, I kept mine safely hidden at home and carried a photocopy with me (in the days before smartphones). I took the actual card with me if I went on long trips inside or outside the US.

MarylandNed

Not on its own - you'd still need a photo ID. And who wants to carry their SSN card around anyway? A US passport card is cheap and easy to carry.

You make a good point. It's very important to contact the SSA and have your immigration status updated when you become a US citizen. Their records are used by the Dept of Education to verify citizenship. My daughter's federal student loan application was delayed because they could not verify her claim that she was a US citizen. We had to go into the local SSA office with our US passports to have our records updated.

MarylandNed

Yes - and it's cheap and easy to carry. But it can be used to travel internationally at land and sea ports of entry to/from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and The Caribbean. It can be used as ID on domestic flights - but not on international flights.

Steerpike

Never even thought about that - I became a citizen 10 years ago. Can you do this online?

SultanOfSwing

I know my driver's licence probably doesn't count in their eyes, but that's always with me and I have my SSN memorized, not that it ever comes up. I don't even know where my actual card is now you mention it. We keep our passports in our safe deposit box so they don't get lost. I guess it isn't likely to come up in Chicago since it's a sanctuary city anyway, and if I ever plan a trip to a border state I'll just take the passport to be safe. Though if what my friends back home tell me is true my accent has changed enough that I won't be noticed anyway

I never thought to get a passport card to be honest. Last time we flew domestic, I just used my driver's licence as ID for the flight.

I think I just called shortly after my oath ceremony. It was one of the things they reminded us to do when it was over: contact SSA, get a passport, register to vote.

MarylandNed

No - you need to take your passport into a SSA office and have them update your record. I became a US citizen in 2006. They probably told me about the need to update the SSA but it must have gone in one ear and out the other. It wasn't until 2011 when my daughter was applying for a federal student loan that I discovered that the SSA record needed to be updated because it was used by the Dept of Education to verify immigration status. After updating our records, the SSA system automatically sent out new SSN cards - same numbers but with a new date printed on the front.

durham_lad

What you say makes sense. I could imagine myself with my new US passport standing in the SS office telling all those immigrants applying for a SSN to "Get off my Land".

This is something we never did do, didn't even realize we had to. In 1998 we had our ceremony in the Federal building in New Orleans then went up a few floors to apply for our US passports. When our passports came through we each took them to the HR department at our employer and had them change our status in their records. Maybe the SS Administration were informed through that route. I still have my original SS card. My wife and childrens' SS cards were re-issued in 1992 when we got our Green Cards as they had been stamped "Not Eligible For Work", but we never did receive new cards after becoming citizens.