Privacy/Security Concern

[zeke]

Three of my employment letters are from businesses which no longer exist.

However, I was able to find individuals who supervised me in each of those jobs; these individuals wrote letters for me on their current letterhead (one of the individuals is now retired and wrote his letter on his personal letterhead(. Of course, it is explained why the letter is not written on the letterhead of the business which actually employed me).

I plan to include US tax and social security documents which show that these businesses did exist, and that I did have an employment relationship with them. I am not submitting the documents for purposes of establishing past earnings or evidence of senior level role.

My question: Would it make my application look questionable to the HSMP reviewer if I black out my social security number? This number appears on all of these documents and it is becoming well known that this is exactly the number that an unscrupulous person needs in order to "steal" an identity and create havoc with the number's true owner's credit history and reputation.

If I black out the social security number and explain why I have done it, will my actions be seen as altering a legal document/therefore invalid?

It seems to me that the social security numbers is not something that is needed by the HSMP team in order to evaluate my case.

Any thoughts/opinions/ advice?

[lynn132]

Well,
In the US they need your SSN to steal your identity, but I don't think it would be particularly useful to anyone in the UK. They don't even ask for it when you apply for EC as an American. While your concern is understandable, there are much easier and more likely ways for people to steal this kind of information.

Also, I had a company that I used to work for that had gone bankrupt. I oncluded my original offer letter, my final pay stub, and exit paperwork, along with an explanation that the firm had gone bankrupt and the former officers of the firm could not be located. Fortunately, my experience there had been independently verified when I applied for my professional certification, and I included the name and contact info of the former supervisor who had provided that verfication.

Lynn

[marr1a]

Hi zeke-

Last year when I applied for HSMP I also had to provide proof of jobs in companies and organisations that no longer exist or have been renamed. I sent offer letters, job specs and performance evaluations that I still had in my files. For each company I provided a cover sheet with the specifics of job title, dates of employment, salary, job spec showing that each job required a degree and a summary note e.g.: 'Note: Only copies of Employee Performance Reviews were provided to employee. Originals were kept on file at the company. Currently, XYZ no longer exists as an entity.' I also included old pay stubs from each to back up that the org/company did in fact exist.

My SSN is splattered all over some of these documents. Especially the ones where I used to work for government organisations that no longer exist. As a SSN means absolutely nothing here in the UK, I wasn't worried about identity theft - however, I did have to put my faith in the Royal Mail (I was an in-country applicant) in getting my application to the HSMP team. I was really more worried about my original documents and diplomas getting lost.

Hope this helps...

marr1a

[Saint]

Zeke my friend, you have to trust an organization of the country that you want to migrate into. I wouldn't blackout anything in any document, as it may arise interesting questions in people's mind.

[deborahCO]

I agree - I wouldn't black out any information on your application. It looks too suspicious. Also, I can tell you (from my work experience) that I can get just about anyone's SS number with very little effort for about $6 per search on the web. I don't think including your number on your HSMP is any greater risk than we face everyday.