What is a "No Match" Letter?

"No Match" Letters are letters sent out by the Social Security Administration to workers for whom there is a discrepancy between their name and Social Security number in the database. These "No Match" letters are becoming a weapon for governments and employers to use against immigrants.



It has been reliably estimated that the Social Security Administration has issued approximately 10 million "No Match" letters in the past year which were delivered to around 4% of this country's 250 million residents. If we calculate that there are perhaps 11 million undocumented persons in the US, 10 million represents a large proportion of them, even after taking into account that not every person receiving a letter is undocumented.



Cassondre Buteyn, of Wilson Law Group, explains that it is the Social Security Administration that sends these letters to companies to inform them that the Social Security number on file for an individual employee does not match the number reported by the employer. It may be that the Social Security number in question does not exist but is being used by someone, or that there are two or more persons listed as using the same Social Security number.



According to Brian Payne of Workers' Interfaith Network (Centro Interfé para Justicia Laboral), the purpose of these letters is to ensure that the taxes a person pays are being credited to the correct Social Security record, and the letters should not be used to fire the person or take away his rights in any way. The most important thing to remember is that these letters do not indicate that a worker is undocumented; therefore, legal status should not be discussed with employers or with anyone else.



What happens when "No Match" Letters are sent?



The usual practice with "No Match" letters is tied to the complexity of the Social Security Administration's database. Between 60-70% of the discrepancies found have to do with workers who hold valid documents for working in the United States. For this reason, "No Match" letters are sent to workers so that they can correct the discrepancy, and employees are not to use the letters to punish workers in any way, and should not ask workers to resubmit their work authorization just because their ...