I had completed SRS in Bangkok last month at Yanhee hospital with Dr. Greechart and came home last week, still in recovery. On Monday I brought the doctor's letter along w/ required documents to Social Security Office and was denied gender change on my record due to the fact that the dr.'s letter does not clearly identify me. It only shows my name but no age or date of birth.
I just wonder if I should find a gynecologist or general physician here in St. Louis, MO to give me a verification letter or should I contact Yanhee Hospital in Bangkok to send me a revised letter? I will need this letter for change on my passport and Naturalization cert. also.
Thanks in advanced for your input ladies.
PS. I had no family practice or general doctor prior to the SRS.
I think the best way would be to write the clinic and tell them what you need precisely, asking the doctor to send you a new letter, in a PDF or through mail, depending on whether they accept printed signatures.
The fighter in me would just take a picture and be like is this proof enough ->-bleeped-<-s?
I would email the clinic where you had SRS, the doctor... Find out if they can send you the necessary revised letter (or whatnot) and if they tell you they will send it avoid the extra expense of seeing a gynecologist unless you have lots of money and enjoy spending it.
Thanks a million ladies.
I contacted my surgeon's secretary and they are mailing me a new revised letter from Bangkok. :D Hope this will work with all government agencies.
So I received a revised letter from my surgeon in the mail, went to the social security office and submitted it along with other required documents. The lady took my papers and dissappeared for a long while. After she came back and she asked for other unnecessary documents like my psychiatrists's letters, my citizenship certificate and all that stuff. I gave them to her and she went back inside again to make copies. After she came back she said she'll let me know if my record will be changed or not tomorrow ??? I ask her why she can't update my gender marker now, she said this is more complicate than other issue and it's gonna take some time....
I have a feeling they won't change gender for me when/if they contacted tomorrow.
Does any of you experience this kind of difficulty? I mean, i did everything they require me to do and they still won't change my record. Sad to say, but i'm feeling a bit like a second class citizen right now. :(
go to another SS office she seems to be a jerk
I went to another social security office today and the lady changed my gender right away like changing an address. No difficulty whatsoever. Thank you for all the response from you ladies.
Quote from: mintra on June 26, 2012, 03:36:53 PM
I went to another social security office today and the lady changed my gender right away like changing an address. No difficulty whatsoever. Thank you for all the response from you ladies.
I figured as much.. congratulations ;)
It also depends which office you go to. I went to two, first one i got rejected, the other accepted it with no challenge.Try going to a different SSN office
I'm waiting for my SA ID book change since last October, asking them every 3 weeks since then!!!
So, all in all 8 months and counting ... you seemed to have it organized in a flash by comparison.
Good for you :)
Axélle
If you are willing, I'd make a formal complaint against the first SS office. They aren't following their procedures properly and are going to hurt other people.
Quote from: Slanan on June 29, 2012, 08:57:42 PM
If you are willing, I'd make a formal complaint against the first SS office. They aren't following their procedures properly and are going to hurt other people.
This.
At the very least, the first office needs to be retrained in the basics of changing SSN records, and customer service.
Quote from: Slanan on June 29, 2012, 08:57:42 PM
If you are willing, I'd make a formal complaint against the first SS office. They aren't following their procedures properly and are going to hurt other people.
Thanks, Slanan & Beth. I really appreciate your concern.
Personally, I don't hold a grudge against them any more. I kinda accept the fact that there are people whose beliefs are different than mine.
But if you think a complaint could help the trans community as a whole, by all mean, please do what you think is best. I totally support the idea. The office address is as following;
SOCIAL SECURITY
5669 DELMAR BLVD
ST LOUIS, MO 63112
Thanks for the address, but any letter we would send would be dismissed as second-hand info, and not taken seriously.
Anyone could send a letter to them, and say, "I heard from a friend and they said...." The chance to hurt someone's career would be too easy for any random person to send such a letter (perhaps even a co-worker!), and since direct contact with the person who was actually hurt is impossible, management (of any large operation) won't follow up.
It's your choice, of course. I'm glad it worked out for you to go to another office.
:)
Quote from: Axélle on June 27, 2012, 11:12:16 AM
I'm waiting for my SA ID book change since last October, asking them every 3 weeks since then!!!
So, all in all 8 months and counting ... you seemed to have it organized in a flash by comparison.
Good for you :)
Axélle
Watch this now!
The latest in this SA ID-book saga is, I now must supply
proof for my gender change...
They have my surgeon's letter and the shrink's letter in hand...
So I asked them (kindly), if I aught to send in a picture of my vagina...
Be interesting to hear the response. This after it's been 8 month in their grist-mill...
Axélle
The office I went to was uninformed. They wanted a court order. I told them their website said I had all the paperwork they needed. They agreed to check into their policies and called me back within 20 minutes saying I was correct. Soon as I went back in, they changed it. Sometimes education works on federal employees, too.
Quote from: LordKAT on July 01, 2012, 12:23:28 PM
The office I went to was uninformed. They wanted a court order. I told them their website said I had all the paperwork they needed. They agreed to check into their policies and called me back within 20 minutes saying I was correct. Soon as I went back in, they changed it. Sometimes education works on federal employees, too.
Right, that sounds more like 1st world, SA ... not really. Some supervisor decides, and then she's on a holiday ... all stops. No decision is a good decision in 3rd world ...
I might want to say more, but will abstain - for now :)
Axélle
Quote from: Axélle on July 01, 2012, 12:09:31 PM
Watch this now!
The latest in this SA ID-book saga is, I now must supply proof for my gender change...
They have my surgeon's letter and the shrink's letter in hand...
So I asked them (kindly), if I aught to send in a picture of my vagina...
Be interesting to hear the response. This after it's been 8 month in their grist-mill...
Axélle
I'm sorry to hear you have to wait so long Axélle. Does SA stands for South Africa?
Quote from: mintra on July 01, 2012, 09:40:34 PM
I'm sorry to hear you have to wait so long Axélle. Does SA stands for South Africa?
Yes, SA or RSA stands for South Africa respective Republic of South Africa.
Now I got another email asking for a LOCAL doctor's letter (that I have a VJ, no doubt) ... so much for gender changes WITHOUT any SRS ... not around this here country, just for some perspective how things can go...
Axélle
I found that updating my SSN with new name and gender marker to be entirely hassle free **overseas**. My application was processed at the SS regional center in Athens last January without question or hesitation. My personal observation is that Americans working overseas tend to be more open minded than the U.S. population as a whole.