The Social Security Administration frozes a program that automatically processes social security cards and sends them by mail to certain people, such as newly naturalized US citizens and non -citizens providing a job permit, Bulletin reports on Thursday. The change that can affect millions of workers will force these people to visit field offices that are already overcrowded and insufficient.
This program – which operates under an agreement between the Social Security Administration and the US Civil Services and Immigration Services and is known as a listing after entry – is “temporarily” frozen for “non -employed jobs” and “newly naturalized US citizens”, according to the popular newsletter, and it will be unknown how long it will be on the spot. The persons provided for a permanent residence of residence status are also covered by the EBE program but have been released from the freezing, the newsletter reports.
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In 2024, USCIS approved the initial employment permit documents for more than 3.24 million people. Without the EBE program, these people will have to visit a social security office in order to receive a number and social security card.
“If the freezing remains in place for more than a few days, 60,000 to 75,000 additional people will have to visit a field station a week to get a social security number,” the newsletter reports.
In an email statement in response to questions about whether the program was suspended and why the SSA said: “We are watching it closely. And we will provide an update as appropriate.”
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Changes to the program are coming as the SSA reduces 7,000 jobs, or 12% of its workforce, which was already a 50-year-old low in staff. It also eliminates six regional offices and flight closing offices, while at the same time describing as an effort to combat identity fraud, requiring people or checking their identity online or going to a field office in person instead of using the agency’s telephone service to complete the process, as they were before.
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The SSA, whose most sensitive data is now viewed by the Elon Musk organization known as the Ministry of Government Efficiency, or DOG, has already been average to wait for a month for a personal meeting, and at the moment some people have to go 100 miles to reach their nearest field office, the Bulletin said.
The EBE program “improves accuracy and efficiency,” said Kathleen Romig, Director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the Non -Party Center for Budget and Political Priorities, commenting on email. “Because it is automatically, more than three million people participating each year should not visit the Social Security Office to get their cards. This releases SSA’s FRONTLINE employees to respond to calls, take meetings and process claims from everyone else,” she said.
“The introduction of over three million more people into the SSA field offices will lead to longer times of waiting by phone and in offices for anyone looking for SSA services,” Romig said. “The worsening of the SSA service will harm retirees, grieving families and people with disabilities who need benefits; job seekers, new married women and others who need replacement cards; identity theft victims that need help; and beneficiaries who need to do.”
Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group for social security, said EBE’s new policy “will load millions, while not helping anyone.”
“It will do nothing to reduce fraud and will really create duplication and waste,” she said. “The main effect will be to overcome the offices of the social security field and to create longer waiting times for all. This makes no sense – unless the real purpose is to violate our social security system.”