Although not required for entitlement, all Title II beneficiaries entitled June 1989 or later must have a Social Security number (SSN), or must have applied for one, to receive benefits.

A monthly Title II benefit is payable if a beneficiary meets all requirements for entitlement and:

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  has an SSN; or

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  has applied for an SSN, submitting the required evidence and completing the in-person interview, when required (see RM 10205.110).

A monthly Title II benefit is not payable if a beneficiary who meets all requirements for entitlement:

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  refuses enumeration; or

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  fails to provide a properly completed application to obtain an original SSN with the required evidence or fails to complete the in-person interview, when required (see RM 10205.110).

The beneficiary would be entitled, but is placed in suspense.

If the claimant is an undocumented alien, do not process an application for an original SSN until you establish the alien will be entitled to benefits (see RM 10211.500 and RM 10211.610).

If the claimant has an SSN, process the claim following established procedures.

If a claimant without an SSN does not meet the requirements for entitlement to the benefit for which they applied, e.g., age or relationship, use the factor of entitlement not established as the reason for the disallowance or denial. Process the denial, which will be a Modernized Claims System (MCS) exclusion, using the Manual Adjustment Credit and Award Data Entry (MACADE) Function 5 (see SM 00380.500).

REMINDER: If an undocumented alien does not establish entitlement to benefits, do not process an application for an original SSN (see RM 10211.500 and RM 10211.610).

If a claimant without an SSN meets all requirements for entitlement to the benefit for which they applied, e.g., age or relationship, and the claimant properly completes an application for an original SSN, submits the required evidence, and completes the in-person interview when required (see RM 10205.110), adjudicate the claim without an SSN and follow established procedures (see RM 00207.045).

If a claimant without an SSN meets all requirements for entitlement to the benefit for which they applied, e.g., age or relationship, but fails to complete the application process for an original SSN (see RM 10205.000 and RM 10210.000), or refuses enumeration:

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  Advise the claimant that monthly benefits are not payable until after we assign an SSN, or they complete the application process;

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  Prepare a Determination of Award, A101, or EF101, and annotate the beneficiary's failure to provide the required evidence or refusal to enumerate in the "Remarks" portion in accordance with MS 06309.024;

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  Suspend benefits via Suspension Events in MCS, Function 8-MISC SUSPENSION;

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  Add a Special Message (SP MSG) to the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) via Miscellaneous Online Edited Transaction (MONET) of "No beneficiary's own account number (BOAN) - Claimant refused enumeration effective with the date of entitlement (DOE)"; and

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  If the award cannot be processed via MCS, forward the claim to the appropriate Payment Center (PC) via Paperless for processing.

If during subsequent development to resolve an SSN processing alert, the beneficiary fails to provide necessary evidence or information, suspend benefits with the S-9 code effective with the current operating month (COM) (see MS 06302.003 and MS 06302.005). For information on assisting applicants who are homeless, have amnesia, or who are mentally impaired, see RM 10210.120.

The FO should first attempt to reinstate benefits effective with the month of suspension via the Post Entitlement Online System (POS).

If the POS input fails to update the record, the PC will be alerted via a POS exception output in Paperless to take a manual MACADE action.