Social Security and ID.me

martyp

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
1,366
Location
Thailand countryside, Sisaket province
There is already a discussion post about Social Security requiring registration to Login.gov. For those of us retired and living overseas we have to use ID.me which is also linked to the Social Security website. I just completed a two day ordeal trying to get my ID.me ID.

You start with the obvious registration with your name and address. I used my Thai address because that is my actual address and it is the address I gave to Social Security. It was easy enough to upload photos of my passport and Social Security card but they also wanted an ID with my name and current address. I moved to Thailand from California 7+ years ago. The only ID with my name, photo, and address is my government issued Thai ID. Of course, my ID is all in the Thai language. I have a Thai drivers license which is in Thai and English but the address is not current.

The first message that came back was that they could not read my ID. That was not really a surprise. I then ran the photo of the ID through Google translate and it was a pretty good translation. I resubmitted with the English translation of my Thai ID. The message that came back was that the address didn't match the address I registered with. At one point I was able to get back to my original registration and change it to exactly what the Google translate version was. I continued to upload the Thai ID and Google translation individually and together about a dozen times in a dozen different ways. I had gone online to learn how to merge two photos together and present the Thai an English versions side by side. I was convinced that the ID's were being read by software and just couldn't interpret what I was giving them. I complained on their website that I couldn't upload acceptable documents and could they please tell me what to do and then I continued uploading the same documents. All this activity was just to get to a video interview to confirm the document photos.

Finally, yesterday I got an invitation for a video interview. I talked with a very nice lady who happened to mention that no, she had been looking at my submissions and the photos were not being interpreted first by software. I stayed nice and we went over the documents and then she approved my ID.me password. I can only image that I wore her down or someone forwarded her my complaint. A few hours later I was able to confirm that my new password worked on the MySocialSecurity website.

For anyone retired overseas and trying to get an ID.me I can only suggest persevering and using their support messaging service (be nice). Your submissions are being looked at by a human being and eventually you will get through.
 
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Way to persevere! I can only imagine the language difference and the effort it took - although they could have translated it also.

I am really not seeing why I need to sign into my SS account. I've been drawing for 6 years (4 spousal from age 66 and then 2 on mine at 70). I don't recall the last time I signed in.
 
Way to persevere! I can only imagine the language difference and the effort it took - although they could have translated it also.

I am really not seeing why I need to sign into my SS account. I've been drawing for 6 years (4 spousal from age 66 and then 2 on mine at 70). I don't recall the last time I signed in.
When you are living overseas you don’t really want any limitations to managing your money or dealing with future problems. It is due diligence for me.
 
Way to persevere! I can only imagine the language difference and the effort it took - although they could have translated it also.

I am really not seeing why I need to sign into my SS account. I've been drawing for 6 years (4 spousal from age 66 and then 2 on mine at 70). I don't recall the last time I signed in.
I agree with you. If things are working then why bother? It will get changed again by the time I ever need access and will be a complicated hassle a second time. I go through this same goat rope with the Military Pay and Benefits administrator website and they require new passwords every 90 days and they are complex, so I only go through the hassle when and if I need to. The military tied everything to CAC cards that retirees have no access to. Living overseas only makes this worse. I recall the hassle of getting Social Security in the first place. There is a single SS employee for all of Europe posted at the US Consulate in Krakow. She is terribly over worked and backlogged by years now. Eventually, I was back in the US and went to a SS office in Virginia which was semi-closed due to the government shutdown. Not closed but not processing customers out of spite and staffed with a single employee. A very kind woman who happened to also be retired military quickly and surreptitiously processed my forms for me, all the time looking over her shoulder and cameras to not be seen helping a citizen. I had no clue the government was shut down over the usual debt ceiling crisis. I did actually speak to the woman in Krakow who is the one who suggested doing it in the US as she had 56,000 applications ahead of me. There was a time I recall when every embassy had a dedicated Social Security employee. Now there is only one per region.

If things are working then why bother? It will happen again and again as each administration tries to fix something not broken in the name of national security.
 
Thanks for taking the time to share this story, and congratulations on making it through the process. My wife recently went through this, but in English, and I was very impressed at how smoothly it went compared to how much longer it took me a couple of years ago to get ID.me to have an online IRS account.

She is already receiving SS but I decided that it would be best if she is registered with id.me as well. Her benefits should be changing next year when I apply and start my SS and I figure contact online is usually easier than international phone calls.
 
Way to persevere! I can only imagine the language difference and the effort it took - although they could have translated it also.

I am really not seeing why I need to sign into my SS account. I've been drawing for 6 years (4 spousal from age 66 and then 2 on mine at 70). I don't recall the last time I signed in.
Me too but it kind of bothers me that I can’t. One day I’ll have to get on the phone with them. I think figure it out at our leisure rather than if something comes up and we really want to login.
 
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