My wife is Canadian. She came to California and stayed with me as visitor (used Canadian passport to entry US). We did fill I-130 and got approval, and now it is in NVC waiting for interview in Canada, but we want to process the AOS instead in US. Can she apply for SSN right away? She needs SSN to apply DMV, insurance, medical, and etc. Please advise. Thank

to my understanding ( i could be wrong )
but your wife needs to show prove of legal residance here in the states to be able to aply for SSN ,
wich meens she would have to show the K1 or K3 or what ever visa she might have ,
but how i understand she doesnt have a visa and you guys are aplying for AOS ,
so in that case she will probly only able to aply for SSN once the AOS is aproved and she got her GC ,
( please someone correct me if I'm wrong on that )

First some legal advice:

It appears that you are implying that you have filed for some type of VISA (CR1, K3) if your wife is waiting for an interview in Canada. Therefore, if you try to apply for AOS, most likely they are going to find you are breaking the law since your wife has had intent to immigrate since the beginning. If you had not already applied for a VISA I would say that you could go ahead and apply for AOS, but since it seems a visa has been applied for already, she has intent to immigrate. This is a breach of US immigration laws and this could hinder your AOS case.

SSN:

Your wife will not be able to apply for an SSN until she gets her VISA or if she was approved in the AOS process. She cannot attain it beforehand as she doesn't have any legal standing in the US. That is why here in New Jersey we work on a 6 point ID verification for that very reason. We don't want people having illegal pieces of ID and furthermore, we do not want uninsured drivers on the road. She will have to wait.

I took it to mean that on a previous visit they married, and she's down there visiting now while they're awaiting an interview. I think he's thinking they can get a jump on the AOS,SSN, DL now, that's all and is just not aware of the order of steps.


You really need to fill in your timeline please. It appears that you and your now wife got married and is now there as a visitor. You're applying for your visa and awaiting an interview in Canada. That's great! Just make sure she returns to Canada within that six month time frame that she's allowed to be down here. She will be able to apply for SSN, and AOS after she's been granted a visa and moved to the US permanently. You may already be able to add her to your medical insurance right now, with a copy of your marriage certificate. If your insurance company needs her SSN to put her on the policy, it's going to have to wait, since she can't have a SSN until she's gotten her visa and has moved to the US. She won't need your insurance anyways until she moves to the USA as Canada residents have medical insurance. She won't be able to apply for a DL either until she's moved there. Even then, it differs from State to State, and she may have to have her GC before getting a DL. Check out your State DMV site to see what will be needed once she's moved down here.

Correct me if I'm wrong about where you are in the process.

Yes Carla, it would be more helpful if the OP gave us a time line or some more information to better understand what is going on. I took it as they got married and she applied for a visa, and it is taking too long so they wish to apply for AOS instead.

Question, please tell us more about your situation so we can give you more accurate information on what you may be able to do.

ps-I saw the other post he made:

My wife is canadian and she came to US with here Canadian passport. We got I-130 approval and now the case is waiting in NCV. However
we decide to fill the Adjust Status I485 & I765 instead of waiting for NCV issue the visa in Canada.

1. In the I485 Part1 for A#, I-94#, & U.S SS#, is it ok to put "N/A"?
2. In the I485 Part3 for Nonimmigrant Visa Number, I put "N/A", and Where you inspected by a US Immigration Officer question is "Yes" since my wife is Canadian so she doesn't need a Visa to get in US. Are these correct?
2. Do you know how long it will take for I-485 approval and I765 approval from USCIS? since my next step will apply SSN and it requires to have I766 ready.

Thank you in advance for your advise/help

Oh okay, that does speak to her coming down and them getting married then making application and trying to "hurry" up the process.

He doesn't know that he can't do this before getting issuance of the visa.

Well, hopefully he'll check out this thread and see that he can't do that. I didn't see the other thread, but you might want to note on that one that he should come here to read this thread, or post a link to this one.

Awesome treble..thanks for doing more checking on this!

Thank for advise,

I recieved the AOS Fee Bill from NVS and asked to pay $70 before process the case.
Under the important notes there, the last line said
"If your intention is to adjust status with Citizen and Immigration Services (CIS) please notify this office before taking further action"

There is a line in other page "Choice of Agent and Address Form" that stated "Unless an adjustment of status in the United Stated is requested, after approving an immigrant visa petition filed in the US, the CIS forwards it to the NVC where the State Department's immigrant visa process begins"

Does it mean legal to do AOS in US?

Of course you can do AOS legal in the US...that's not the point. You do the AOS AFTER you've been granted the visa in Canada, after the interview, and your spouse is living with you in the US. You can't do it before.

With no timeline filled out, it's difficult to get a handle on when you got married vs filed and where your spouse was! Did he/she come down to the US and during a visit, with no intention of staying after marriage, marry you? Is it during this visit that you are inquiring about? That would certainly change the circumstances of your filing then. Please give us a more chronological order of your journey please so we can better answer you.

Here is my timeline

1. Married on 01/08 at Toronto
2. Filled I130 on 04/08
3. Got approval I130 on 06/08
4. Waiting on NVC issue Visa on 07/10/08.

My wife is here in US with me. I am US citizen & my wife is canadian citizen.
Can we fill AOS since she is already in US? & What other forms we need to submit for SSN as well?

Thank

Where did you get that date from? NVC doesn't issue visa's. They send the information they received from USCIS and now they forward it to a Canadian Consulate who will then notify your wife when she has an interview. IF the interview is successful, then she'll be granted a visa. After she gets her visa, she can move back to the US to be with you. What type of visa did you even apply for? Your profile doesn't even say.

We did a fiance visa (K1) and never seriously considered a spousal visa (K3 or CR1) plus I don't know which type of spousal visa you've applied for (CR1 or K3). So take that as a proviso. Someone who did the same type of visa you are applying for may well have a better answer.

But it looks from what you wrote like you got married in Canada, then you returned to the US and she stayed in Canada, and then you applied for the visa. Your wife is in the US as a visitor from Canada without a visa (Canadians can visit the US for up to 6 months without a visa). Is that right? To adjust status, you have to first have a visa to adjust status from (K3 in your case--if you've applied for the CR1, she will have a permanent resident visa from the consulate to begin with). So the short answer is no, she can't apply for a social security card; she will have to wait until she has a visa.

I hope that helps and does not just confuse you more.

Nothing makes sense without knowing what he has done. I'm still confused about his process.