Forms

When I filled out my social security application form it had spaces for my parents' social security numbers. They had spent some time in the States and I had a copy of their SSNs so I filled them in. However, after reading the page of instructions I found out that I didn't need to fill that out unless I was a minor.

So here is the big difference between US and Australian forms: NOTHING ON THE FORM ITSELF TOLD ME NOT TO FILL THIS OUT. The boxes were there on the form and looked like all the other boxes I had to complete.

The thing is, you are never supposed to just read a form and fill it out. In the US you must always read the accompanying instructions first.

Forms in Australia lead you through them. You read what you have to do as you fill them out. They tell you which parts to fill out, which parts to leave blank. You know when to skip questions and when to stop.

US forms are not like this. To someone from Australia, they can look deceptively simple. There is the temptation to just fill them in. However, this is foolhardy and will result in you doing the wrong thing.

After the form there are always instructions with way too many words in dense type. These instructions tell you which parts of to fill out and which parts to leave blank. Without reading these, you have no idea that often you are supposed to leave much of the form blank. It can be a challenge matching up the instructions with the questions. Maybe one day they will put the instructions next to the questions, like in Australia, but until then you have to play the game of matching the instructions with the questions.

At the end of all the forms is a section about The Paperwork Reduction Act telling you how long it should have taken you to fill out the form. If you find this number inaccurate there is an address you can write to. There is no form to complete for this.