Ewen went to my (our!) bank today to open a checking account—nothing fancy, just a place to park some money and get a check card. He had his passport and his SS card.
I've been kind of worried because we don't live in an area with a huge immigrant population, and so I've been nervous that people at places like SSA or the bank might not know what to do or might hassle him. But we're 2-for-2 now. The woman at the bank asked him if he was a USC, and he said he wasn't and presented his passport and SS card. She looked everything over and continued to process the paperwork with nary a peep, and he walked out not long after with a checkbook.
So don't let all the horror stories scare you TOO much, people...even in smaller, less diverse areas, there are people who know what they're doing and who are perfectly nice to immigrants! (You might remember that our trip to SSA was similarly painless.)
It's always good to hear the good stories. I believe there are probably a lot more of them (and probably even more than there are of the horror type), but people don't always think to tell about the good stuff...only the bad. Yay for Ewen!