Verifying for the Social Security Administration with a Video Chat Agent – ID.me Help Center

ID.me works with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to verify SSA users requesting information online. ID.me provides secure digital identity verification to government agencies and healthcare providers to make sure you are you—and not someone pretending to be you. This article explains how you can verify your identity for Social Security on a video call.

Before you verify

To verify with a Video Chat Agent, you’ll need:

A mobile phone that has a camera or a computer with a webcam
Email address
An identity document (US driver’s license/state photo ID, passport, or passport card)
Social Security number

Tip: Review our best practices for selecting and uploading acceptable identity documents.

1. Sign in to SSA

To begin the verification process, first sign in to your SSA account:

Go to the Social Security login page.
Select Sign in with ID.me.
Select Ok to be redirected to the ID.me Sign in page.
Sign in to your ID.me account. If you haven’t created an ID.me account, select Create account and confirm your email to begin.

Note: It’s not possible to create more than one account. If you already have an ID.me account, sign in instead.

Set up multi-factor authentication

If you’re creating a new ID.me account, you’ll need to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) to continue with verification. For steps to set up MFA, select one of the following MFA methods:

After you’ve successfully set up MFA, continue to verify your identity.

Tip: To ensure continued access to this MFA method across devices, we recommend setting this up with as many devices as you may usually use (i.e. smartphone and computer).

2. Verify your identity

After you’re signed in to your ID.me account, you can verify your identity with a video selfie, or over a video call with a live agent.

Note: If you live outside of the United States and don’t have a US phone number or mailing address, you can still verify your identity. During the verification process, you can select specific links if you don’t have US-based information. In order to access the SSA, you must verify with an SSN.

To verify your identity with a video agent:

Select Video Chat Agent, then select Continue.

Note: If you do not live in the US, select I don’t live in the United States to verify with additional identity documents.
Select Get Started, accept ID.me's consent to collect personally identifiable information, then select Continue.
Follow the prompts to upload your US driver’s license or state photo ID, or select Change Document to upload a passport or passport card. Learn how to take photos of your documents.

Note: If you do not have a US phone number, select I don’t have a US phone number.
Enter your remaining information, including your Social Security Number, then select Continue. Learn why ID.me asks for your Social Security number.
Note: If you don’t have a Social Security number, select I don’t have a Social Security number to continue your verification with your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), additional documents, and a full video call. However, you must provide a Social Security number to access your benefits at the SSA. Contact SSA for alternate options if you do not have a SSN.
Review and confirm that all of your information is accurate, then select Yes.

Note: If you don’t have a US address, select I don’t have a US address.

3. Connect with a Video Chat Agent

During the call with your Video Chat Agent, the agent will compare you to your uploaded identity document. To connect to a live call:

After your information is confirmed, you will be prompted to join a video call. Select Join video call to proceed.
Wait for the next Video Chat Agent to be available.
Consent to having your call recorded, then select Join video call when prompted. You may request that ID.me delete your Biometric Data at any time.
Stay on the call as the Video Chat Agent compares you to your identity document photo. This should only take a moment.
After you’re verified, go back to the SSA application and sign in with your new credentials to consent to sharing your information with the Social Security Administration and access the application. This step securely shares your identity information with the SSA.