I've seen an increasing number of posts talking about carrying documentation with you at all times, which I think is an understandable instinct, in light of everything. That said, there's something that's often being left out of these conversations, and it's vitally important that people know about it, so this is a PSA:
DO NOT carry your Social Security card literally anywhere, except to specific appointments where you actually need it.
I mean it. Carry a driver's license or state ID. Carry an expired passport (which is sufficient to prove citizenship in most cases). Carry an active passport. You can even carry a birth certificate on your person if you have a certified copy and feel like you absolutely need it – but your Social Security card belongs in a safety deposit box. I am being so serious right now. I am grabbing you by the shoulders and looking intently into your soul and begging you to store your Social Security card somewhere safe.
This is not even about the risk of identity theft, to be clear. This is because the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004 limits the number of replacement Social Security cards to three per year and ten in a lifetime, beginning with cards issued on or after December 17, 2005.
Yes, ten (10!!!) cards is an extremely small number of replacement cards for a person's entire life – especially considering that there is no minimum age for a child to get a Social Security card, and so if you have forgetful or irresponsible parents, it's possible that you've already gone through some of those ten because they lost it and requested a replacement cards before you were a legal adult. Yes, that is a hard limit – it isn't one of those "the first x are cheaper and then they get way more expensive and annoying to replace" situations. Your application for a replacement Social Security card will actually be outright rejected if you have replaced it ten times before. And yes, it's stupid as hell. This is one of the many, many horrible laws that were passed after 9/11 when no one was paying attention, because for a hot minute there people would vote for the Kick Puppies For No Reason Act, just so long as it had "Terrorism Prevention" in its name.
Your life will be very, very fucked if you ever need an 11th Social Security card. Technically, there is a hardship exception, but it requires a letter from a third party, such as a state public assistance agency or an employer, and it takes time to process, and it's not at all guaranteed. In many situations where you might need or want a social security card, you will simply be shit out of luck. Just last year, one of my relatives witnessed a woman reduced to tears in the local Social Security office, because she had exceeded the limit and could not get another one and was going to lose a job opportunity because of it – and the administrator she was talking to had to sadly tell her that there was simply nothing that he could legally do to help. You do not want to be in that situation, believe me.
Do not carry your Social Security card around with you.
Do not carry your Social Security card around with you.
I am literally begging you, please keep this particular document safe somewhere that it is impossible for you to lose it.
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