Hey my friends

Can anyone tell me if it is absolutely necessary to get the SSN before marriage. Is this necessary to have it before we can be delivered a marriage license?

Thanks

I highly, highly doubt it. I'm not 100 percent on SSA procedure, but I don't think you can get an SSN until you get an EAD or green card. Which usually come after marriage! So I'm betting on no. You can always call your courthouse or city hall to check, though.

Hey here I hope I can help.
As far as I can tell, you only need your SSN before getting married if you have to have one to get a marriage license. Some states require it, so check on yours.

You should wait about 2 weeks after you get into the US before you go to your local SSA office to apply. It takes them about 2 weeks to put your name and info into their system called "SAVE-ASI" (I believe).

It is highly recommended to apply for your SSN before your I94 expires though. If your I94 is close to expiring they won't issue you a SSN until you get your EAD and that can be a large gap of time.

I came here, waited 2 weeks, went to the office. I wasn't in the system so they did a manual verification that took a few weeks. While that verification was happening, I got married.
My SSN was in my maiden name-big deal.
I went back with my marriage certificate and changed my last name afterwards. No problems at all.

That's my experience, I hope it can shed some light. And I hope I have helped!
MDYoung will surely post if you have further questions.

Good Luck

Yes you can get your SSN before you marry. My wife went and got her's, the only thing is we were unable to change her name post getting married. Primarly because we waited until after the original 90 day k-1 period expired and they said she would have to wait until EAD occured. No big deal because as far as I know you can't until then anyways. If you cahnge her name before the 90 days has expired you should have no problems getting a new card with the new married name on it. Hope this helps.