The Social Security Administration (SSA) has been brought up to date. They are changing the way you can apply for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), now it is a full online procedure without having to go to an office. Not every American will be able to apply for this online benefit, so you had better pay attention to the requirements. Let’s see why the government decided to change the traditional process.
SSA, SSI… too many initials
Before getting into how and who can apply for the benefit you should first be aware of the different benefits and where do they come from. The SSA is the Social Security Administration, and is in charge of different programs to help American citizens make their lives a bit easier. Some of these programs include benefits for retirement, survivors and disability, but the one we are going to tackle in this article is the SSI. This initial stands for Supplemental Security Income, a program that focuses on people with low income dealing with blindness, a disability or who are 65 years old or older.
Then, what is the difference if SSA programs and SSI aim is to help American citizens with some kind of issue? Well, the SSI benefits people who match the requirements even though they have never worked because the benefits are paid with general taxes. However, the SSA programs only benefit the one who has a work history since these aids are paid with taxes you pay with your income.
Now that you know more about the difference between SSA and SSI, you are ready to get into the explanation of the online administrative process.
Online administrative process
2025 is the first time the government is using a platform to apply for the SSI. Before this update, the process was much slower, and a waste of time for some people since they could not get to the offices or maybe some paper was left at home or even wrong completed. In these cases, they had to use another day to go back to the offices, but now everybody can access from the comfort of their homes and it will be much faster.
This is also an inclusive action from the government since disabled people, who do not have someone to take them to the offices or help them to do the paperwork, experienced many difficulties when the time to apply for benefits came.
This is not for everybody
Pay attention to this point because the SSI online process is only available for people whose range is from 18 to 64 and 10 months years old. Also, you must apply at the same time for the SSI and SSDI (Social Security DisabilityInsurance), aid for people who had to stop working because of a disability, and you must have never used your identification to apply for the SSI before. Being an American citizen, Green Card holder or refugee and single is a must.
If you have all these conditions, you are ready to apply for the benefit online with no waiting queues or moving from your house! If you do not meet the requirements, you can still apply for the benefit but you will have to ask for a telephone appointment or go to a Social Security local office. Do not worry, the online process will be developed so that more American citizens could get access.
This is a good use of technology advances for society to be closer to the SSA benefits. Many people will benefit not just from the economic help, but also from the inclusion of the administrative process. This is an improvement because moving to local offices is not that easy for many Americans due to disabilities or because they live way too far from them. More actions like this should be done, ones that look after society.