My fiance and I popped down to the Social Security Administration building today to get his SSI number. It's been just under 4 weeks since his entry-- we've been busy and only just got around to it.

Well, we got in just before they closed, and were called to the desk. However, after giving the woman the correct forms and passport and bits and bobs, and having her look him up in the system, she kept questioning us on why his visa was dated so soon (90 days from entry). We explained to her that that's standard time for marriage visas and we have to get married before then. After going round and round for a few minutes, she informed us that the system says he is here on a F-1 STUDENT VISA. No, he's not, and he never has been. The visa in the passport says K1.

Now I think I've heard a horror story or two here on VJ about people who had a similar problem (I want to say one was in the UK section but for the life of me can't remember who it was), but searching is coming up empty, so forgive me if there's an obvious topic or two that explains what's happened here and if there's an easy way to correct it. And maybe I'm remembering those stories wrong. All I know is I was quite concerned after her mentioning the wrong visa type.

The woman at the counter made copies of everything and gave them back, as well as a letter stating the following:
---
This is to acknowledge that you applied for a Social Security number on May 24, 2007.

Before we can issue you a Social Security nmber card, we must verify the document(s) you gave us to show your citizenship or alien status with the Federal, State, or local office in the United States that issued the document(s). This may take up to four weeks.

If that office verifies the authenticity of your document(s) we will mail you a Social Security Card. If that office does not verify your documents, you are not eligible for a SS Card and we will inform you in writing.

If you are not a US Citizen and are applying for a SS card for employment purposes and your immigration status allows you to work, you may legally begin employment while you await issuance of a SS card. You cannot work if your immigration status does not authorize you to do so.

(blah blah if you have any questions standard blurb with phone numbers)
----

She seemed concerned but yet very passive at the same time-- I am at a loss as to whether this is something I should be worried about and calling every Tom Dick and Harry about, or if there's anything I can do to help sort it out, or if I should just sit back for a week and hope it's sorted by then (she told us to call back in a week if we hadn't heard back because she's concerned about the I-94 expiring-- It expires July 27.). I don't know whether she just made a mistake by telling us F1 was written there, and this is just a strangely long wait after the 2 weeks to 'verify' his info, or if there's been a problem with the information put in the system when he arrived.

Any help would be great, and again, I apologize if this is all routine stuff-- The things the woman mentioned to us have me quite worried regarding the wrong visa type!

(oops, I just posted this on my fiance's account, so those of you who know me as jezebelseven don't think we've had a sex change, lol)

Two things you could do - go to another office and try again or set up an INFOPASS appointment and re-verify exactly what status was entered in for your fiance. Mistakes do happen at PoE and you certainly want to know what the deal with all this mess is.

Best of luck!

That is not going to do any good for two reasons. 1 Every SSA office is going to see the same info when SAVE is queried.
2. You now have a application pending, so every SSA office will see that as well.

Figured I would bump this topic with the new information we've found out. We're in a bit of a panic.

After a week and a half of leaving voice mails for the woman at SSA and not hearing a thing back, we finally got a call from another woman in the building. She didn't seem to have much of a clue what we needed, but told us *WE* had to contact DHS and get it corrected. We asked how we do that several times and after telling us she couldn't tell us and that she had no information for us regarding that, finally, we got a phone number (long distance) to call. She couldn't tell us the persons name or anything.

We called and got through to, apparently, a person's voice mail who works for Cleveland DHS office. Which made little sense to us as the local DHS office for us is Cincinnati. But we left a voice mail trying to explain the situation. It was a Friday afternoon so we didn't recieve a call back. We got ahold of the woman on the phone the next week and she seemed concerned how we even got her number, let alone why we were calling. Someone at the SSA building screwed up, I guess, because her number is not meant to be given out to anyone not working at SSA or DHS. She was friendly enough to tell us that it wasn't our job to be chasing people down to verify Adam's K1 status, and told us to go back to the Dayton SSA building and set them straight. Which was nice because we finally had an idea of what to do, but worrying as we'd just wasted 2+ weeks while the SSA did absolutely NOTHING.

So we did that today. Got a more competent worker at the desk this time, who seems to know what she needs to verify and the process to do it. We believe we also figured out why it's in the SAVE system as an F1-- Whoever wrote K1 on the I-94 got sloppy, and it looks like an F and a K had a lovechild, and someone interpreted it as an F. The woman at SSA this time did mention that whoever did that wasn't really thinking correctly as if he WAS on an F1, he'd have more forms to fill out than just the I-94, so that should've been a huge clue to which letter they were looking at.

So she's going to send out for verification and hopefully they sort that out in the 4 days she said that might take. Otherwise, she said she will have to send out a form (G-845 I assume) for manual verification, which may take awhile. She said even THAT may not come back positive and we may have to go to DHS in Cincinnati to have them refill out a new I-94 with someone who can actually make a K that looks like a K.

We're getting nervous because his I-94 is coming dangerously close to expiry-- we're getting married on June 26 and the I-94 expires July 27. Never imagined this would be happening. I don't know what other hiccups we are going to stumble across, but we're scared that somehow nothing will come back in time, and we have no idea what problems it's going to cause.

Wow, you are running it dangerously close with the wedding... make sure to get the marriage permit papers sorted enough in advance, as in NOW... Some states do have a three day wait before you can actually follow through on the marriage permit, you don't want that three day wait to get you over the I-94 expiration date

Good luck

You dont need a SSN to get a marriage license..... just take your passport with you when you go to apply... you dont even need a SSN to file for AOS after the wedding....

Good Luck

Kez

They're getting married June 26 and the I-94 expires July 27 (same day as mine!), so it's not that dangerously close. I did mis-read to start with and think 'eek!' then remembered that Jezebelseven's fiance flew in (also to Cincinnati, although I came via JFK) on the same day I did, so wouldn't be in any imminent danger of K-1 expiry.

Anyway... Jezebelseven and Adman, nothing useful to add, just wanted to say I hope you can get all this sorted out without too much hassle. I too have an almost unreadable 'K-1' on my I-94, although it seems mine did get entered in the SAVE system with a K rather than an F. But it did mean that I got yelled at by the foul-tempered SSA employee I encountered on my first attempt to get an SSN: 'WHAT'S THAT SAY, K-1??? I CAN'T HARDLY READ THAT, LOOKS LIKE AN F!!'

But oh yeah - you can get married without the SSN, just like Kezzie says, unless things are drastically different in Dayton! We got married before I got my SSN - I ordered the marriage licence online and was told just to put zeros in the space where the SSN should go. So if all else fails, you can combine a trip down here to supervise the making of a new I-94 (joking, I seriously hope you won't have to do that!) with a visit to the nice Hamilton County marriage licence people to get a marriage licence sans SSN (joking there too, 'cos I'm sure you won't need to do any such thing)!

Good luck... so annoying having to chase around fixing messes that aren't even of your own making!

Thanks guys!

We do already have our Marriage License, so that was a relief when we got that. We got it the same day we found out about the whole mess at SSA, and were worried we wouldn't be able to get the marriage license, but the woman we met with said it was absolutely no problem and did just what you mentioned, FeatherB-- All 0's.

We really want to get his EAD and such sorted (which we haven't started yet) and weren't sure if we needed his SSI number for that or not, but if we have to wait on him getting a job, we can squeak through, it's just pretty tight with our budgets at the moment so it's thrown a wrench in the plans a wee bit... but nothing we can't work through. Hey, after 5 years of a long distance relationship, we should be used to playing the waiting game by now, right?

A big (and not so happy) update.

As mentioned last time, we were dealing with a woman who seemed to be familiar with what to do. We were feeling more confident, as that day, she also promised (seemingly sincerely) to keep in touch each step of the way so that we weren't riding blind.

Well, she wasn't so great at the calling thing. The wedding date and reception came and passed, as did the 4th of July. We hadn't paid much attention to how much time had passed as we had been so busy. We had started leaving her several voice mails and heard back July 6. She basically told us the electronic verification had failed and been denied (sounded as though USCIS refuse to admit he is here on a K1 because of the sloppily written K1 on the I-94). She told us she would be sending a paper verification and would again call us by July 11th, or 12th at the absolute latest, to let us know whether that had worked. She also told us that the application for social security numbers could be processed up until the day before, or even day of, expiry of the I-94, at least, on a case by case basis. Essentially, it was up to her discretion, supposedly.

July 12th passed, and naturally our worry shot up. We called and left practically daily voice mails pleading with concern and frustration-- His I-94 was up to the 2 week 'limit' on the 13th, and we went from worry to absolute panic. Voice mails increased in annoyance and urgency to her. Yesterday, we had enough and made both an infopass appointment for this Thursday in hopes somehow we can sort this out ourself, and this afternoon, we went into the SSI building once again.

After a long wait, we were called to a desk with yet again a different lady. We were immediately met with a very poor attitude from this woman. We first asked for the woman who we've been dealing with, and we were cut off and told she wasn't available. So, we attempted to start from the beginning, explaining the most important parts as much as we could, even if this is a detail oriented case. She was much too anxious to interrupt us multiple times, insisting she had the case in front of her and knew 'exactly what was going on', then proceeding to give complete 'wtf are you on about' faces to us when we'd ask a question or try to explain something she clearly had no clue about. She also seemed to like getting up and walking off when we were in the middle of a sentence as she did that several times, among other service related nightmares.

Suffice it to say, she was no help, basically told us that it's not their problem, acted as though we were being incredibly impatient and unfair (practically saying we lied about the woman before not calling us back), and generally gave us the brush off. She raised her voice at me several times when I would try to say something vital to the case, or even ask a question, as though this was somehow all my fault and I had quite the nerve to act like this was any sort of problem.

We asked if we could have some sort of form or something showing that we had come in for a follow up, a note, a copy of the letter and information she had printed out (she briefly showed it to us), for the infopass appointment, but she outwardly refused until we asked if we could have her name. She said yes, then walked off AGAIN randomly, then sat back down like we should be giving her something. We dug out the old letter we had confirming the original case, and she wrote a long detailed note about us being there (which was what we originally wanted but she refused to give??), her name, and number.

The name explained quite a bit. This was the same woman who had called us the first time around and sent us on a wild goose chase in Cleveland (NOT our district, not even the second closest) doing what was meant to be HER job.

She did, however, leave the main woman in charge of our case a note, and she called us less than half an hour later explaining that she'd still not heard back. Didn't apologize for the wait.

The timing for this whole thing blows, what with the rate increase for AOS right around the corner, and we keep trying to wait until the K1 is CONFIRMED before we file (I have nightmares of filing our AOS and being denied outright on cause of incorrect visa type-- I don't know if AOS goes off the SAVE system or what?)... Hopefully infopass can sort this out, but we are incredibly frightened of what is going to happen.

2 months and no SSI number without a hope in clear sight.

At least we're married and together (and to preempt, the reception was lovely!)... it'd just be nice to be able to start our lives together under a tiny bit less stress.

jezebelseven, what a mess. I hope that the proper agencies sort this out for you soon!

=0( Im sorry that you are going through all this trouble. I hope that you are able to sort it out soon. Think of the one possitive thing, that at least you are together now to pull each other up and walk together through the rest of the journey.

You are now within 14 days of your I-94 expiriation and are no longer eligible to recieve a SSN based on the K1 entry. You will now have to wait until she either has an EAD or permanent residence to qualify for a SSN.

The woman in charge of our case disagrees-- As I mentioned, she told us that the application for social security numbers could be processed up until the day before, or even day of, expiry of the I-94, at least, on a case by case basis.

Seeing as she phoned us not 5 minutes ago letting us know that the issue has been resolved, and the application had been processed this morning as she came into work, I'm going to assume she's right on that. Card supposedly is on the way and should be here within 2 weeks. Hurray!

I hope it's all (finally) sorted out for you now... just read through your post from last night and am SO sorry you've had such a nightmare with the whole thing! Fingers crossed the card arrives quickly and things all move smoothly for you now after this!

Happy that it got resolved for the SSN. But for your AOS I wouldnt worry too much, you have to make copies of your Visa and this one should clearly state that it is a K-1, and they will have forwarded your original petition and interview papers back to USCIS so with your Alien number they should be able to clarify it with no problem.

We had a similar problem with the SSI people as well, but not nearly as bad.
When my husband and I went there and applied for my SSN, I wasn't in the system and yes, my "k-1" was not clearly written either and the guy almost created the same mess...we were lucky though that he gave us a print out of what he put in the computer and I was able to correct it right there.
What should I say, I never got my SSN...nothing happened and calling was pointless, so we went back to the office and after some debating with a another gentleman there, my husband asked to speak to a supervisor, as my information wasn't even in th system.
The supervisor checked, then send us home to get our marriage certificate (we applied initially the day before the wedding, the day after the wedding did the name change so my SSI would have my married name on it...). We still don't know why they wanted to see that again but I guessed to win some time because we were pretty persistant. (I showed them my brandnew shiny military ID with a temp. SSN and told them I really needed my real SSN..lol)
I don't know WHAT they did, but when we got back with the marriage certificate, the supervisor just took a look at it and then said she would call DHS to verify that I was indeed a K-1..took like 5 minutes to get that verified and she said my SSN would be created the next day and I would have my card in about 10 days...had it in the mail in 3 days...

I really don't know how these people work or get trained in the first place.

I really hope, you can get everything sorted out. I just learned to be really proactive, don't wait for them to do something and be really persistant when you know you are right with the info you have.
Good luck!

That's great news!

I just read through this, I might be reading this wrong but.....


You do not need an SSN to file for AOS or EAD.

You can use your green card or EAD to obtain your SSN.

We knew we didn't need a SSN for AOS, but we were concerned that the reason holding up the SSN (incorrect info in the SAVE system) would also cause problems with filing AOS (like a denial due to incorrect visa type).

Not to mention we need a SSN for putting him on my bank account, which goes hand in hand with the AOS due to our income levels and whatnot, but that's neither here nor there.


We're both very curious as to the sudden 'oh, it's still pending' switching over to approved overnight, after our complaints, but hey, whatever gets us rolling onto the AOS filing.

I am glad you got everything resolved, that is great!!!

If the I-94 expires on the 27th and the SSN application was processed today, that person screwed up big time and consider this your lucky day.

https://s044a90.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0100203488

2. Neither the Immigration Document(s) Nor the Immigration Status of the Applicant Can Expire Within 14 Days

Do not process the SSN application if the applicant’s immigration document or status expires within 14 days. This 14-day rule prevents SSA from processing an SS-5 to assign an SSN to an alien whose status will expire before receipt of the SSN and card in the mail.

Perhaps I am missing something, but that link says absolutely nothing about K1, only F, J, and M. To clarify, he was not here on an F1, it's just what the system had him as, incorrectly.

She seemed to be absolutely certain that this happens fairly often at this office, whether she's screwed up or not, sounds like we're getting what we need, at least... *shrug*

That section POMS is about processing SSNs for people with F, M and J-1 status, but it's the only POMS section that is available to the public that discusses the 14 day rule. Trust me that person made a big mistake, but you are right you got what you need, so I guess that's all that matters. So score that VJ 1 SSA 1000 LOL

Im glad that ill worked out. =0)