If a candidate doesn't have a US Social Security Number (SSN), your background check provider can still run a background check using other available identifiers — name, date of birth, and any known addresses.

There are some important limitations when running a background check without an SSN. Without it, your background check Provider cannot verify full address history, which means some jurisdictions may not be included in the search. The result will return "no records found in the jurisdictions searched" — not a full clearance. This is an important distinction to understand before sharing or acting on the result.

We recommend running the check even when an SSN is unavailable. To initiate it, have the candidate enter 123456789 in the SSN field. This allows the check to proceed using the other identifiers on file.

Just keep in mind that the scope of the check will be narrower than a standard background check.

It's also worth factoring in the nature of the individual's role. If their interaction with participants is minimal and they don't have direct, ongoing, or unsupervised access to minors, your organization may choose to weigh that context when evaluating the result — though we'd still encourage running the check wherever possible.

Reach out to our support team at [email protected] — we're happy to help.