New Jersey tops on marriages and divorces in the US. It increased rapidly from 4331 to 5552 in June 2009.This was reported by the national Vital Services statistics Provisional data of National Centre for Health Statistics. With this increasing numbers, it is inevitable that increase in number of name change cases in New Jersey is also on the high. The social security Administration’s New York branch is serving the citizens of New Jersey also in name changing process. Name change should reflect in social security card also because it is considered as the most valuable document for a US citizen to get anything done using social security number. Delay in making the name change on social security card would affect the people in getting their benefits out of social security membership.
how to change your name on Social Security Card in New Jersey
First, you should have a valid document as proof of name change such as marriage certificate, divorce decree, naturalization certificate, court order for name change etc. It is mandatory that you should get a certified copy of any of these certificates from the issuing authorities. One should keep in mind that the social security authorities of New Jersey will not accept the photocopy or notarized copy as a proof for name change.
To change your name, it is mandatory that the certified copy of the name change should carry your old name and the changed name on it.
You can download the social security application form from its website-form SS-5, take a print out of it, read it in full and fill out the form preferably with black ink. Make sure that the name to be appeared on the social security card has to be written in bold letters in the relevant column.
Attach proof of identity which could be your New Jersey driving license or passport. If you are not a US citizen, you have to submit the copy of your immigration certificate such as green card, photo, passport displaying bio metric information etc.
You can mail or submit in person the application to change your name with all the relevant documents to Social Security office in your city or State of New Jersey. For details, you can search for local office search on SSA official website. You can enter New Jersey zip code to get the details on site.
You will get your new social security card within a couple of week’s time with changed name but the social security number would be same. In the US, one should always carry one social security number and there will not be any change on it in the normal scenario.
To put it in short, Change of name should immediately be made on social security card because it is one of the most important documents one needs to have, to live in USA. It can be termed as second to passport as far as identity proof is concerned. More over, there are so many social benefits attached to social security membership especially in the field of health insurance, pension etc.