If I’m not mistaking, there’s no central registry of all American citizens. So how would a grown up go about proving to the government that he or she is born in the USA?
Edit: I’ll rephrase it, as I was misunderstood. I’m wondering how the government knows you are you to begin with, not how you go about using your issued ID after the fact.
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Birth certificate and social security number along with any other identifying materials like a driver’s license, state ID card, passport, or military ID. How you go about proving your identity is going to depend on the reason you are being asked to prove your identity. Buying a beer would not have the same process of proving your identity as getting a passport.
Birth certificate, social security card, government issued ID, passport
Most people would use their drivers license to prove their identity. That does not prove that they were born in the US though – you don’t need to be born in the US to be American and you don’t need to be American to have a drivers license. Non-drivers can get a non-driver ID at the same place you get your drivers license.
To prove you were born in the USA, you’d need a birth certificate from the hospital or municipality you were born in. Not many situations require it, though it serves as the main form of ID when you get your drivers license or passport.
Proving your identity is different than proving you were born in the USA. A photo ID (driver’s license, almost always) is usually considered sufficient to prove a person’s identity.
Depends why I am having to do so. I have a state ID. Passport. Etc.
However, in my state, there is no legal requirements for me to identify myself unless engaged in certain regulated activities (e.g. driving).
Birth certificate and social security card are used to get a driver’s license and/or passport
You’re asking two very different questions.
The first (called *authentication* in the computer security world) is most commonly done with a state drivers license or non-driver ID, but can be done with a passport or military ID. For young people getting their first ID, it varies by state but can include a parent attesting to their identity or medical or school records. All these do is prove that the person is who the identification says they are. They don’t prove citizenship.
The second (relate to but not exactly *authorization* in the security world) is most often done by a certified birth certificate. This never proves that the person in possession of the physical certificate is the person named on the certificate. It’s merely the most common way to prove that the person named on the certificate is a US citizen.
Passports are used for both purposes (though American Samoan passports have a notation that they’re US nationals, not citizens). Naturalized citizens will have other paperwork, as well as people born abroad to US citizens.
Every so often there will be a question in NSQ from young adults who have none of the paperwork (typically because they’re estranged from their parents) and are screwed with regard to getting ID.
Birth certificate issued at birth, Social Security number issued by Federal government is closest thing we have to an ID number/proof of identity. We use those to get state issued drivers license or ID card.
Birth certificate and SSN. There isn’t a central registry, per say, but every citizen has a registered social security number with their name attached.
There’s a list of approved ID the government will accept.
For most people that’s a drivers license.
When babies are born, their births are registered with the state. Some states take a footprint of the baby to link the human to the document.
Usually at the same time, an application for a social security number/card is filed with the federal government.
When a child reaches school age, part of the registration process is to see the birth certificate. Many (most?) also look at the parent’s identification. If the parent doesn’t match what’s on the birth certificate, then they’d need adoption or custody paperwork.
Schools issue photo ID’s for middle school & highschool (some for elementary as well).
When a teen wants to get a learners permit to drive. They must provide their birth certificate, social security card, proof of address (mail, bill, school registration) and if under 18 their parent to show ID and sign affidavit.
Why would the government need to know who I am?
When I applied for a drivers license I had to bring a copy of my birth certificate and my Social Security card. FYI: I was not born in the US but foreign birth certificates are totally valid. Some jurisdictions require that it gets translated by an official translation company.
Nearly all births are registered with a state (or a municipal government of the state), who gives them a birth certificate. This registration then gets sent to Social Security who gives the baby a number (social security is the federal government agency that gives old age pensions, disability benefits and death of a parent payouts). This social security number is needed for the parents to get money off their taxes for having a child dependent. When the baby gets a passport or is of age to get an identity card or drivers license (the drivers license is effectively our identity card. People who aren’t licensed to drive get an ID from the same department of motor vehicles), they use that birth certificate and social security number/card to prove their identity.
It is very rare to not have a birth registered, because it makes life so difficult for the parents and child. Hospitals record all births. In very rare circumstances, a child is born at home and never registered. The parents never get the tax benefits for the child and the child is stuck trying to prove who they are. These make the news because they’re so rare and unusual to us.
Depends, to who?:
-In general, my license is enough for most situations. (When my license expires- I should go soon- I’ll go to the DMV. They’ll take my current license as proof. When I moved here from MA, they took my MA license as proof. They’ll be much more concerned that I filled out the right form and brought payment, tbh.)
If I got pulled over while driving, I would need my license, auto registration, and (sometimes) proof of insurance. I would also be asked some really dumb questions. 🙂
the City of New York, when I deal with them, sometimes want a bill with my name on it, addressed to the address where I claim to live. (The rent-bill is ideal.) But the rest of the time, just the license.
On rare occasion, I’ll need my Social Security Number. (We don’t have a national ID number, and the Social Security number is the national ID number we don’t have, if you follow.)
The last time I needed to use my birth certificate was when I was getting married and needed a wedding license.
I was born here, so I don’t know much (and nothing firsthand) about immigration documents.
> I’ll rephrase it, as I was misunderstood. I’m wondering how the government knows you are you to begin with, not how you go about using your issued ID after the fact.
In that case, your social security number and birth certificate are usually undeniable proofs. Passport is another one, but could be considered an “after the fact” ID.
If you have American parents you are an American citizen. If you do not, and want to claim you were born in the US w/out normal documentation (i.e. weren’t born in a hospital) then you would have to show secondary evidence to gain documents for identity. This could be established residency by your parents, or affidavits from people.
You need a birth certificate plus Social Security number to get a passport or driver’s license. But if you don’t have your birth certificate for whatever reason, you need a passport or driver’s license to get an official copy of your birth certificate which will then allow you to get a passport and driver’s license. It’s all very simple.
The only id some born in the United States is likely to ever have that proves both id and citizenship is a passport.
Working in HR, we accept social security cards and passports. Birth certificates are also good. A driver’s license doesn’t prove you were born here. I was not.
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I use a passport card as an everyday ID, to get that, you need to show a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship.
A birth certificate or Social Security system card will prove you are an American citizen. You use that to get a state-issued photo ID or a passport.
It’s a legit question that is sometimes a problem. There are often questions on subs like /r/legaladvice that are of the genre “my parents were nuts who didn’t get me a birth certificate of social security number, how do I prove my ID?” And it’s a problem.
A social security number or a birth certificate are how you do this. Every citizen has both and those are recorded in database.
As people mentioned, we have birth certificates as the state or local level that we then use to get Government IDs and passports, but as you have pointed out, there is no way to prove that the person presenting the birth certificate is the person whose name is on the certificate.
However, if you tried to get a passport with another persons birth certificate, and that person has applied or later applies for a passport, the fraud would be identified and investigated.
Deaths are reported to the social security administration, who makes that list available to all. I’m not sure if the department of state cancels passports for those on the death list, but it likely prevents people from using the birth certificate for someone who has deceased.
I’m not sure how much diligence goes in to verifying that birth certificates are not forgeries. They might have databases that would flag people whose names/birthdates don’t show up in databases elsewhere.
States now share driver’s license or state ID information among other states because it is not legal for a single individual to be licensed in two states at once, but I’m not sure if that results in the detection of fraud.
Much of the fraud is so people can work here, and it’s common to use other people’s social security numbers, etc. since we rely on workers who are not legally here to get work done, I don’t think it’s a priority to detect such fraud.
In the case where it’s essential the person’s identity and citizenship is critical (for example, a Top Secret security clearance), they will send investigators to go far back to talk with neighbors, former employers, schools, etc. to build a chain of verification to ensure you haven’t assumed the identify of another.
Tl;dr it’s not something the government really worries about except for passports and security clearances, and they probably have enough safeguards in place that people would be reluctant to attempt such a fraud for fear of getting caught.
>I’m wondering how the government knows you are you to begin with
There’s an interesting case relating to this. A man with amnesia was found outside of a Burger King and was nicknamed Benjamin Kyle. During the time before his identification, he ran into a lot of issues stemming from the fact that he couldn’t recall his entire social security number. He was later identified as William Burgess Powell.
My mom was born at home in 1930, and never had a birth certificate until many many years later. When she applied for a passport in her late 70’s, she had to submit a bunch of notarized affidavits that she was who she said she was. People who had known her all her life had to legally swear to who she was. It took forever to go through, and she didn’t get to go on her trip to Canada!
Your basic document issued when you are born is called a birth certificate. It’s issued by the county you are born in which is in the state you were born in.
It includes the date and time you were born, your sex, your parents’ names, the location you were born (usually a hospital) with a street address, the people who delivered you and other appropriate information. Since everyone born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen, this document essentially proves you are a citizen.
But there is no master archive of birth certificates run by the federal government. Each county keeps its own records. Sometimes that’s coordinated with the state and some things can be done through the state. There is a hard line between the federal government and state governments on many issues. Births, weddings, deaths, professional licensing, drivers licensing, car registrations, schools, land sales and deeds and many other similar things are all managed by state or local governments, not the federal government.
>there’s no central registry of all American citizens
Tell that to the social security administration.
Birth certificate is probably the most common
It all starts with a birth certificate. The Doctor needs to sign it.
Therein lies the problem: if the birth was performed at home with no one “officially” in charge, you don’t get one and you don’t exist.
Next step would be the Doctor’s visits for immunizations and such. Lots of folks don’t take their kids to do that, goofy as it may seem.
If you homeschool your children, then there is another level of identity obscurity.
The next step would be a Social Security card, but if you are in an aforementioned nutball family, you wouldn’t have one of those without a birth certificate which you don’t have.
Sadly, this is not theoretical. This issue comes up occasionally when some kid breaks out of a strictly religious, frootbat family.
Birth certificates prove you were born, and when, where, and to whom. From that, you obtain other documentation.