How to apply for an SSS number online

You apply for an SS number on the SSS website, through Apply for an SS Number online. Since 15 July 2020, SSS has required new employees, self-employed members, non-working spouses and OFWs to register online (SSS membership page). There is no fee. The number appears on screen and in your email straight away. If you upload a birth certificate or another accepted document, SSS can tag the number Permanent. Without one it stays Temporary, which lets you pay contributions but not claim benefits or loans (2026 SSS Citizen’s Charter). The SS number is yours for life, so if you already have one, do not apply again.

Who needs an SS number

Anyone joining SSS for the first time. The 2026 Citizen’s Charter lists prior registrants, self-employed members, OFWs, non-working spouses, claimants and survivor pensioners or guardians as able to use the online application. SSS’s membership page also lists new employees among those who must register online. Your employer then reports you for coverage.

Getting the number does not by itself make you a covered member. SSS’s membership page says you are covered once at least one contribution is paid: by your employer if you are employed, or by you if you are self-employed, an OFW or a non-working spouse. For OFWs, coverage starts from the month of the first payment, but never earlier than the month the SS number was issued (SSS OFW page).

What you need

You need an email address you can open, because SSS sends the continuation link and your SS number there. To get a Permanent number, upload a readable colour image (JPEG or PDF, up to 3MB) of one of these, from the 2026 Citizen’s Charter and SSS’s list of valid IDs:

• your birth certificate, the first document SSS asks for
• if you have no birth certificate: a baptismal certificate, or one government ID: driver’s licence, passport, PhilSys ID or ePhilID, PRC card, SSS digitized ID, Seaman’s Book or UMID card
• if you have none of those: two other documents from SSS’s list, both with your correct name and at least one with your date of birth (for example an NBI clearance, a TIN card, an OWWA card or a marriage certificate)

ID cards or documents issued by a foreign government in another language need an official English translation from the Philippine Embassy or Consulate (SSS membership page).

Step by step

From SSS’s membership page and the 2026 Citizen’s Charter:

1. On the SSS website, open Apply for an SS Number online, read the procedures and click Start.
2. Fill in the Registrant Record Verification. Tick “I’m not a robot” and “I certify that above information are true and correct”, then click Submit.
3. SSS emails you a link. It is valid for five calendar days; after that you have to apply again. Check your spam folder if it does not arrive. If SSS already has a record for you, the email tells you to visit a branch instead.
4. Fill in your basic and contact information, home address and purpose of registration. Then your civil status and place of birth, then your beneficiaries (parents, spouse, children). Click Save, OK, Next after each part.
5. Enter your preferred My.SSS user ID, your height and weight. The form also asks whether to enrol in the Pension Booster (“Yes” or “Maybe later”).
6. Review everything, then click Generate SS Number. Check your details carefully first: once the number is generated, wrong information can only be corrected at an SSS branch.
7. Upload your supporting document and click Submit. You can skip this step, but the number then stays Temporary.
8. SSS emails a confirmation with your SS Number Slip, Transaction Number Slip and E-1/E-6 form (the Personal Record). You can also print or download them from the screen.

You can also apply at the electronic centre (E-Center) of an SSS branch (SSS membership page).

After you apply: Temporary or Permanent

If you uploaded a document, SSS staff compare it with your Personal Record. If they approve it, the number is tagged Permanent; if not, it stays Temporary. The 2026 Citizen’s Charter gives two working days for this check.

A Temporary number “can be used for contribution purposes only”, in the words of SSS’s membership page. You cannot claim benefits or apply for loans with it, and SSS’s online services for those stay switched off. A permanent number is also needed for the MySSS Card, SSS’s ID card (Circular 2025-008). See UMID and the MySSS Card.

To change Temporary to Permanent, submit SS Form E-4 (Member Data Change Request) with your birth certificate or another accepted document at an SSS branch, foreign office or service office (2026 Citizen’s Charter). There is no fee.

Your SS number and your My.SSS account

These are two separate steps. The SS number is your membership number. My.SSS is the online account where you generate payment reference numbers, check contributions and file claims. When you get a new number online, SSS emails a My.SSS activation link that is valid for 30 calendar days. If it expires, register for My.SSS using the transaction number on your E-1 (SSS membership page). The steps are in SSS online registration.

Never send your SS number, password or one-time PIN to anyone who offers to apply or file for you.

Already have a number but lost it

Do not apply for a new one. SSS says the SS number is “the lifetime number and must always be used in all transactions”, and having more than one “will cause delay in the processing of claim for benefits or loans in the future” (SSS membership page).

• Look in your records first. If you applied online, your SS Number Slip and E-1 came by email.
• At an SSS office. File a Membership/Coverage Verification Request at an SSS branch or foreign office with the Request/Verification Form, a data privacy consent and a valid ID. It has no fee (2026 Citizen’s Charter).
• From abroad. SSS’s OFW page asks members who cannot remember their number to contact its OFW Contact Services Section: ofw.relations@sss.gov.ph, landlines (+632) 8364-7796 and (+632) 8364-7798, or (+632) 8709-7198 locals 1655 and 1656. SSS’s general hotline is 1455 and its email usssaptayo@sss.gov.ph.

If you already have two numbers, ask SSS to cancel the extra ones so your records sit under one number. SSS keeps, in order: the number with an SS ID or UMID card (or a pending UMID application), then the one with the most posted contributions, then the most recent contributions, then the earliest issued (SSS membership page).

Back to the SSS guide for OFWs.