Well sorry I have not been on the board lately, but el hamdulillah my hubby arrived (After missing two flights due to the airlines issuing wrong tickets, losing his luggage, etc) last Wednesday EL HAMDULILLAH YARAB and i hope everyone else waiting will be reunited with their loved ones soon inshAllah
but a couple of questions...

1) When do new immigrants usually receive their SSN and green card in the mail after arrival?? If I checked the box stating that we would like the SSN card to be sent upon his arrival, do we need to fill out another application again?

2) Driver's license...thankfully my dad and I will take turns teaching him in parking lots and such before taking him out to the road...but once he is a good enough driver, can he just go obtain his license after passing the drivers test on the computer...or does he have to go to a school?

3) employment...as many of us have experienced before, my hubby wants to work ASAP to prevent just sitting at home doing nothing...so when exactly can he obtain a job...does the SSN have to arrive first? can he use his visa? i know many applications ask whether or not one is a US citizen...but is it ok if he just has visa and uses that number?

Any help would be appreciated and thank you soooooooooooo much!! i look forward to hearing tons of great news about visas in hand and arrivals soon inshAllah!

Glad to hear he arrived safely !

For your questions:

#1 - the green card should arrive automatically. But if you didn't receive anything within 1 month, go down to your local immigration office and inquire. The SS card *should* also arrive automatically, but if you don't receive anything within a few weeks (like happened to us) then go down to your local Social Security office and they will order it for you. (It takes a few weeks to get his info from the POE and entered into the system, so don't go before at least 2 weeks -- they likely won't be able to access his records before that.)

#2 - he doesn't have to go to driving school. But he will have to pass both the written and the road test at your local DMV to get his driver's license.

#3 - the CR-1 stamp they put on his passport at his POE is legal authorization to work immediately. However, a lot of employers are not very familiar with the subtleties of immigration law, and most will want to see his actual green card and his actual Social Security card before hiring him. Shouldn't take more than a month to get these.

Some jobs require U.S. citizenship -- he would not be eligible for those. But most jobs do not -- they just need proof of resident status and eligibility to work. Your husband should of course answer "no" to the question "Are you a U.S. citizen ?" But usually there is a follow-up question on job applications asking "Do you have legal permission to work in the U.S.?" or "Can you show proof of legal permission to work in the U.S.?" -- on this, he should answer "yes."

Hope this helps -- and again, a warm Welcome to the U.S. to your husband !



-MK

Dillydally! I missed you! We all missed you greatly. But we knew what you were up to . So! I agree with wife of mahmoud, she is absolutely right about the answers to your questions.

ALHALDULILLAH! God is great. God is truly great. Brings a tear to my eyes when I hear a happy voice (happy typing) I am so happy you are with your husband!

PS: Can ya contact the airport for the lost luggage??

Tammy

Dillydally! I am so happy and relieved for you! Congratulations and Alhamdulillah he is here safely!




Tammy

ugh lost luggage?! did they find it yet? my husband's luggage was also lost when he arrived and they never found it!!! a bad start to his time in america... i must say!


congrats on your husband's arrival anyhow and i hope to hear everything else goes more smoothly!

What WOM said. I also wanted to second that we checked the box also.. but got squat. So we re-applied about a week and a half after he got here. SS can print out a paper stating you applied for a card and that is techincally supposed to be enough for your employer in conjunction with the visa in his passport... but like WOM said most people will freak and insist they need this other stuff.

Congrats!

congrats dillydally!!!!!!!

Congratulations Dillydally! May I ask what airlines fouled up his ticket?

Welcoem to USA! MK has answered your questions very well.

thanks everyone i truly love my second family here at VJ

well thank GOD we got a call yesterday stating they found his luggage (el hamdulillah)...in ITALY???!?!?!?! somehow during the transit they did not place his baggage on the plane but instead left it in Rome...ugh...but thankfully it will be shipped today to us

Nagi, it was Alitalia... avoid at all costs...my husband said that was the first and last time he would ever go to italy...lol...poor thing

thanks again for all the answers!!! you all are awesome! take care

No doubt I will avoid that airline. Im looking into a non stop flight. Thanks, DillyDally!

alitalia is hit or miss i think. I know Deemabrouk liked it and her husband also had no problems. On my way to Cairo I hated it but on my way back to Boston I liked it. I think it depends on their moods.

Welcome and from my signiture you can see what Hasan and I did to get his GG. SSC and DL.

A great thing that my husband found to pass time and greatly helped him was ESL classes until he got the cards to work.

SubhanAllah i was just wondering where r u! lol we missed u here. I hope all is going great with ur hubby and soon he wd get his SS and GC.

Alitalia is the worst! when my husband came last year to propose and ask for my hand from my family ... he was here for only ten days and had his mom with him and they lost their luggage for like 7 days of the trip!!! u can imagine how they felt !!! its crossed off our list for life!! they always have problems and strikes.

Alitalia is on its last legs and looking for a buyer - I would definitely avoid it - saw a story on BBC News. So many airlines are going belly-up lately. I'm very happy I will be flying with Etihad when I go to KTM - AFAIK the Gulf airlines are doing quite well financially and I have heard nothing but good reviews for Etihad - Gulf Air was very good too when I flew with them in '06.