after a month that i arroved to the US my SScard never arrived,i called but the women that answered didn t have any idea about appling for the ssn as part of the visa process .

i went to the ss office and took my passport, green card ,birth certificate and the s-5 form.
the employer told me that it will take 6 weeks to get my birth certificat translated from arabic ,she didn t accept the translation that i used to apply for the visa .she said that they use only there translations!!
and i have to wait an extra week for the card to arrive.

am i the only one in this situation ?? i never heard of a sscard that takes more then 7 weeks!

If I remember correctly, mine took about 8 weeks. You'll just have to learn to have some patience from this point on

Ours took one week from the time we went to the ss office, however the birth certificate was in English.
Best Wishes

“If the applicant has no immediate need for the SSN and the translation can be done promptly or the foreign language document is the only evidence available; have the document translated by an authorized translator and use the document as evidence.”

“If the applicant has a pressing need for an SSN, and evidence other than the foreign language document is available; request other evidence and process the application without the foreign language document.”

RM 00203.040 Reviewing SSN Evidence:

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0100203040#B3
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GN 00301.340 Authorized Translators Defined:

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200301340
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If a foreign-born person has the foreign birth certificate (BC) in his/her possession or can easily obtain a copy, he or she must submit it as proof of age. When a person is foreign-born, a BC may not exist, may not have been recorded shortly after birth, or the probative value of the document may not be high. In these situations, SSA can accept alternative evidence of age in order of probative value. The alternative evidence of age may be less than a year old, e.g., a DHS document or passport.

You can find detailed information regarding evidence that establishes age on our Website at:

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0100203110
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I guess your only hope is to go back to the SSA office and speak with the office manager if you can come up with a "pressing need" reason that he or she will buy. Otherwise, you will just need to wait for the translation to be completed and periodically go into the SSA office to see if it's been completed.

It took me about 7 and a half weeks to get my first SS card...The 2nd one with my married name came in about 2 weeks. Just gotta be patient like others already said

Mine took about ten days, I think? (See my timeline) But again, my birth certificate was in English, also.

Unless you had to have your birth certificate translated when you applied for your SSN, you are comparing apples and oranges and your processing time is meaningless in the stituation.
Plus I would go on to say that even if you did need to have your birth certificate translated, unless it was in Arabic, even your processing time wouldn't be of much use.

thank you for the replies.
thanks mdyoung that was helpfull

Mine took around 5 weeks

We didn't even need Carlos's birth certificate. We had his passport, I-94..but the SS card never arrived, so we went back yesterday and were assigned a number on the spot. The guy helping us did ask him for another form of Identification such as a driver's license or voter registration card from Panama. Those things were in Spanish but it didn't hold us up at all.


Why do you need the birth certificate?

I don't think so. The number must have already been assigned and you just didn't receive the card. Field offices don't assign SSNs. The numbers are assigned and cards printed and mailed from SSA headquarters.

mdyoung, why would they not accept the translation done for the visa? You would think that if it were good enough for USCIS it would be good enough for the SSA.

Any ideas?

GN 00301.340 Authorized Translators Defined:

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200301340

1. SSA Translators

SSA translators comprise two groups:

FO and PC employees who volunteer their services as translators and are authorized in accordance with GN 00301.345.

Central Translation Section translators who hold actual translator positions.

2. Non-SSA Translators

A non-SSA employee able to translate the language, who is acceptable to SSA under the conditions set out in GN 00301.350.

3. Acceptable Translators - Outside Territorial U.S.

-- Designated translators in the Veterans Administration Regional Office in the Philippines;

-- U.S. Foreign Service offices and designated employees of the Federal Benefits Units in the U.S. Foreign Service Posts trained in the claims taking process.

-- U.S. military translators or foreign national translators employed by the U.S. Military (outside United States).

-- Authorized employees of the American Consulate in Adana, Turkey.

-- Officials of a foreign government when translations appear over his/ her seal of office.


That's the rules.

We have been waiting -- well, tomorrow will be four weeks.....

Ah well. A bit like having to go to a designated doctor for the visa/AOS medical, I guess.

Just our of curiosity, for those of you whose SS cards took longer then say 10 days, was it because you had to have the papers verified as you weren't yet in the SAVE (or whatever it is called) system?

I can answer that. If you aren't a U.S. citizen the things that can delay you being assigned an SSN are status verification and/or a document needing to be translated. With most people it's going to be the status verification that holds things up.

Thanks mdyoung! It's definitely the verification holding us up as my husband is from Ireland- no translations needed. Oh well, as with everything else involved with immigration its just going to take patience

Suggest that he go back to the SSA office no more than once a week with his documents to (1) ask them
to check SAVE again (2) ask if they sent a G-845 (3) if yes, did it come back (4) after 30 days ask if they have followed up on the G-845 by calling or sending another mark "second request."

After having waited at least 30 days and your local SSA office doesn't seem concerned about following up on the G-845 he can try contacting the SSA Regional Office (RO) responsible for your state:

http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/natlpocontacts.html

Refer them to this:

RM 00203.740 Requesting Additional (Manual) Verification By DHS

B. PROCEDURE – HOW TO REQUEST MANUAL VERIFICATION

STEP 6

DHS should respond to SSA within 15 federal work days after receiving the Form G-845. If DHS does not respond within 15 federal work days from the receipt of the G-845 from SSA, follow-up with the DHS, USCIS
Immigration Status office. (Allow 15 days plus five additional federal work days of mail time for the G-845 to be received at and returned from DHS.

Follow local practice to follow-up with DHS. Some SSA offices have an arrangement with the DHS, USCIS office to telephone for the follow-up contact; other SSA offices send a copy of the original G-845 annotated
“second request.”) If the DHS response is still not received within 15 federal work days after the follow-up contact (if the follow-up is by mail allow five additional federal work days of mail time for the G-845
to be received at and returned from DHS), make a second follow-up contact. If the DHS response is not received within 15 federal workdays (again, if the follow-up is by mail, allow five additional federal work
days of mail time for the G-845 to be received at and returned from DHS), after two follow-ups, contact the RO. Also report to the RO any trend that shows a serious deviation by DHS from the above time frames. The RO will consult with central office.

I for one wasnt in the SAVE system and it took a bit for the maiden name one to come, like about 3 weeks after the 14 day wait period. It sucked for sure, cos we like 'obeyed' the rule and waited nearly 20 days after my arrival but nothing in the system. Yet the married one came within a week.... on my bday actually hehe....

As for my son, he cant get one at all, because he is 'an alien not authorised to work'... he was told to get an IRS number.... since it was in the same building we tried our luck, and would you believe it....they told us to get him an SSN............ DUH!

Anyhow, we finally found out from SS office that once he has a greencard, they can assign him one then.... lets hope it is before next year taxes need to be filed huh!

As for birth certificate trouble.... didnt go anywhere near bringing then a birth certificate. They were happy copying our passport and I94 along with the K1 and K2 showing we entered US legally....

Why did you even show them your birth certificate? Big mistake.

Should have used your passport and driving licence.

Call the IRS ITIN office 1-215-516-4846. Explain that your child currently is not eligible for an SSN and ask what you need to do to get the child an ITIN. Just be sure to notify them once the child has an SSN if you do get the ITIN.




This is why:

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0100203110
RM 00203.110 Evidence of Age for an SSN Card

If a foreign-born person has the foreign birth certificate (BC) in his/her possession or can readily obtain (i.e., within 10 days) a properly certified copy, ask him/her to submit it.

Gareth's first one took five weeks ... the second one (without the restrictive legend) never came—apparently they f***ed up entering the data the first time and got his birthdate wrong, so he needs to be re-verified because all his ID (including birth certificate and green card) "have the wrong birthdate." Anyway so we moved 6 weeks after he applied for it and I don't know if they just won't forward them or what, but it's been 9 weeks now and no card.

The card is sent to the address he put on the application. If the application is still pending you can contact the SSA office and have them change the address. Call the SSA 800# 800-772-1213 to see if the card was issued. If the card was issued ask what is the CYD date and if the IDN code is H. That way you will know when it was issued and that it was an unrestricted card. If it was issued and it's been over 14 days from the date it was issued he will need to apply for a replacement card.

So you are saying when he orginally applied they entered the wrong DOB on his SSN record and you are sure he put the correct date on the application?

I had to show my birth cert when I first got my SSN. I had to show birth cert ,I-94 and passport.

I went there today to get my SSN changed over to my married name. I had to show my marriage cert with the certified stamp on it. My passport and EAD card. I was not updated in the system she told me so she said it would be about 4 weeks to verify the information from HLS.

My son applied for his SSN today also. He had to show his birth cert,I-94, passport, and EAD card. They said his will be here within a week. Which my SSN did come in with in the week of applying for it.

Also the lady never asked to see my SSN in my maiden name, and never asked for me to turn it in. I seen some people being asked to turn the SSN with the maiden name in.

Thanks for the number. Will ring tomorrow, see if they are more helpful than local IRS office was and update on the progress!

S.