If you've done this, please advise. Is there any way to do so online or by fax?
(Yes, I've looked it up. Supposedly we can deal with SS online but I can't find whether this applies to gender changes.)

I don't know anything about doing it online.
You can do it at any SSA office fairly easy.
You will need a correctly worded letter from a surgeon that you have completed a sex change.
If you have previously changed your name, you might not need to have a new card issued.
Be sure to ask them for a special statement that they have altered your gender marker since it is not usually visible to you.
That's the only way to prove (hopefully only to the SSA) that you have altered your gender marker.

http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.pdf

http://www.ssa.gov/locator/

Hey Little Brother,

I would recommend going in person.  And make sure you have a letter from your surgeon with the magic words, "irreversible genitalia surgery" or words to that effect.  Ask Myles, he did it too.

The only way I know to do it is in person. It was pretty easy. Just make sure you have a letter from your surgeon stating you have had "irreversible surgery". I am not sure you can do it online or through the mail anymore.
Much easier than I thought it would be.
Myles

Quote from: Renate on February 26, 2010, 08:54:43 PM
Be sure to ask them for a special statement that they have altered your gender marker since it is not usually visible to you.

Renate, I wanted documentation of my gender change. The gal at the SSA office wouldn't give me any such proof; she told me to get a NUMIDENT from the main SSA office. She gave me a form and I took it home. Then I went online for more information; I have to pay for this piece of documentation! I didn't see why I should have to pay for the SSA to verify that the change had been made. So I sent an e-mail to them, and guess what? After an interminable length of time, I received a letter stating that I should go to my local SSA office for what I seek. *(&%^%^%$$

Suggestions?

Nero, I don't know of anyone who did it by mail or online, but I'll ask around. Not to be nosy, but is there any particular reason you can't do it in person?

Quote from: Arch on February 26, 2010, 09:13:21 PM

Nero, I don't know of anyone who did it by mail or online, but I'll ask around. Not to be nosy, but is there any particular reason you can't do it in person?

Just that these gender change situations always make me uncomfortable. Plus the long waits.

Thanks everybody.

But it is done in private, it isn't like everyone will know.

I don't know yet about the gender change, but I went the local S.S.A. office a month or so ago to get a replacment card and name change. No, not the name change yet, not there yet; when I first signed up years ago, I hated my legal first name so much that I got my card in my nickname. That's probably wouldn't happen now. I though with a better name change sometime in the (hopefully) near future, I'd better get the names on my social security to match birth certificate and other documents to avoid a hassle do the road. I picked a mid-week, mid-afternoon time to do it. I was there about 40 minutes, most of which was waiting for my number to be called. Take earplugs, their PA system apparently was designed for a stadium, not a waiting room! 

SusanKG

Quote from: myles on February 26, 2010, 09:07:36 PM
The only way I know to do it is in person. It was pretty easy. Just make sure you have a letter from your surgeon stating you have had "irreversible surgery". I am not sure you can do it online or through the mail anymore.
Much easier than I thought it would be.
Myles

yep.  u have 2 go in person. take ur letter.  pc of cake. No biggie. 

Quote from: Nero on February 26, 2010, 10:37:24 PM
Plus the long waits.

Maybe the wait's long but once ur at the window it only takes a minute.

You want a Form SSA-2458, Report of Confidential Social Security Benefit Information.
Box #10, "Other" should be checked and a notation entered that the gender identification in their records was updated.

They were very nice and professional at the office I went to.  Didn't bat an eyelash. And, as luck would have it, I'd even forgotten my driver's license and they put it through anyway.

Fill out the paperwork beforehand, bring all of your documentation (name change, surgeon's letter, etc), bring your DL, and it was a total non-issue.

Jay

Quote from: Renate on February 27, 2010, 05:38:54 AM
You want a Form SSA-2458, Report of Confidential Social Security Benefit Information.

Thanks, Renate...but I looked for this form and didn't find it. I don't think it exists anymore, and I couldn't find the same form with a different code. Sigh.

Or is this the name of the report that the SSA issues? Maybe I need a different form to actually apply for this report.

Nero, have you decided what you're going to do?

The SS-5 is what you fill out for about anything.

The SSA-2458 is not a form that you fill out, they have to fill it out and give it to you.
I just meant that if you have any trouble getting one that citing the form number shows that you mean business.

Quote from: Renate on February 27, 2010, 08:43:10 PM
The SSA-2458 is not a form that you fill out, they have to fill it out and give it to you.
I just meant that if you have any trouble getting one that citing the form number shows that you mean business.

Okay, now I get it. Thanks.

I was really peeved that they wouldn't give me verification of my gender change unless I paid for it. One of those WTF moments. And that the central office sent me back to the local office. Round and round and round he goes...

I haven't gone back to the SSA yet to do my gender change.  When I did go in for my name change, about 3 months ago, I had a letter from my SRS surgeon stating that I was scheduled for SRS surgery in January 2010 (used this for my temp passport gender marker change).   But, being me, I thought I would produce this letter to attempt the gender change whilst doing the name change to save a later trip ..... It didn't work, they did need what Janet describes, "irreversible genitalia surgery".   Even smiling pretty didn't work.

None of that is really helpful or news, but to back Nero's assertion of not liking to do these things in public, I had a bit of an experience at the SSA office in Indianapolis I went to.  The clerk was completely baffled and confused by what I was asking for, and it took her 3 trips back and forth with her supervisor, he coming over finally to fulfill my name change request.   By then, it pretty much had the attention of the entire waiting area, of about 35 people.  So much for privacy.   And to top off the situation, at one point, the clerk, when talking to her supervisor, and within my hearing, actually referred to me as "it".   So much for sensitivity.

I ended up calling her out on that, asking her directly why she had referred to me as "it", and she apologized profusely, and when I told her she needed sensitivity training in a cold flat voice, she vehemently said she didn't, halfway on her way to tears ...  no winners in that situation.

Good luck with the SSA!  I'm headed back to the SSA on my next visit to the US in a couple months with my letter for gender change, hoping that it's a bit smoother this time.

Melan

So does it have to be "irreversible genitalia surgery" or just "irreversible surgery"?  And I've also heard of some people getting their gender marker changed without surgery.  Can "irreversible changes" work do you think?  That's what my letter for my DL and BC will say.  I won't be able to have surgery until I graduate (summer 2011) and would really like to have the majority of the paperwork done as soon as I can.

Went in today. Everything went smoothly. Thanks for the suggestions everybody!

Quote from: Nero on March 03, 2010, 12:21:51 AM
Went in today. Everything went smoothly. Thanks for the suggestions everybody!

Congrats Nero!!!!   


======

Quote from: Adio on March 03, 2010, 12:01:24 AM
So does it have to be "irreversible genitalia surgery" or just "irreversible surgery"?  And I've also heard of some people getting their gender marker changed without surgery.  Can "irreversible changes" work do you think?  That's what my letter for my DL and BC will say.  I won't be able to have surgery until I graduate (summer 2011) and would really like to have the majority of the paperwork done as soon as I can.

I will note an appendum to my above account, that I did present evidence (a Dr's note) of Facial Feminization Surgery, but they would not take that for making the gender marker change for me.  Thus I have to go back with my documentation of SRS to get my gender marker change at the SSA.

Ohhh, and I presented a passport, driver's license with "F" gender markers on them, to no avail.   I found the SSA to be pretty unyielding in their documentation requirements.   

Great news, Nero! I'm glad it went smoothly.

Great news Nero.  You must be on cloud nine.


Hugs,
Janet