Document Security Provisions: What's in the Cards?
Social Security cards lack the biometric identifiers, chips, and holograms found in other U.S. identity documents, leaving them the least secure widely used government ID.
This fact sheet compiles, in an easily comprehendible table, the security features of documents currently used by U.S. residents for travel, work authorization, and identity verification. At a glance, users of this table will be able to discern protection level variances among an array of documents, which include passports, Social Security cards, permanent residence cards, employment authorization cards, and state driver’s licenses.
While most of these documents incorporate basic protections such as lamination and inclusion of the holder’s full name, photograph, and date of birth, not all cards include more advanced security features such as biometric identifiers, digital photographs, electronic signatures, computer chips, and holograms. Such side-by-side comparisons make evident the glaring lack of protections afforded to Social Security cards.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
