Hello all!

Hopefully this question is in the correct forum, if not I apologize! I did a little searching for the answer to my question, but nothing was directly on point. Therefore....I am posting the question here.

My husband rec'd his SSN some months ago, with the DHS notation about the card only being valid with work authorization. He rec'd his GC a few weeks ago, and has since been able to finally begin working at the job where he'd been given an offer long ago. Yesterday we went to our bank to open a separate account for him. The woman handling the transaction tried to enter his SSN but it kept coming up "invalid." She surmised that this was due to the DHS notation on the SSC. And then she talked about conditional green cards, removing conditions, etc. Clearly she was quite familiar with the immigration process. She did say that after getting the new SSC w/o the DHS restrictions, the SSN can finally be entered.

Luckily he was able to open an account (non-interest bearing) w/o entering a SSN, but I am wondering if anyone else has run into this problem? Would love to hear your experiences!

Hmmm. My bank had no problem entering my SSN and I also have the DHS restriction.

I'm not sure why the bank was unable to get the number to work, but I suspect it was not due to the restriction/notation on it.

When you get the number (and card) it is a valid number for all intents and purposes so there must have been some other problem (perhaps with their system.) Of course I could be wrong, but I've not heard/read of anyone having an issue exactly like this.

It might be worth checking with another bank or calling/visiting the SS office to check this out. Would be interesting to hear the results.

Many banks will open account (w/interest) without the use of a SS# (course this varies from state to state, and/or bank to bank).

sounds like she thinks she knows more about immigration that she actually does others have reported their SO's ssn has come up invalid and it wasn't due to the notation.

Thanks for all of the replies everyone! To me the rep's explanation sounded kind of strange but I chose not to argue the point right then because the most important thing was to just get the account. I mean logically, if you can use the very same SSN to get a job, get a driver's license and credit card, why not a bank account? We will have to do some further investigation into the matter.

Thanks again!

I went to open the bank account with EAD but could not becoz they need SSN. I think the bank here just needs SSN to enter into their system. And they have nothing to do with online checking and stuff as of now becoz they acrd would be new and so no credit history for background check.

I would like to hear the solution for this problem. It is quite interesting.

I have another question: After one gets his regular, unconditional green card after 2 years of marriage... DO THEY HAVE TO APPLY FOR A NEW SS CARD WITHOUT DHS NOTATION? Plz someone answer this...

I did not have a SSN at the time we opened our joint account. The customer service rep requested help from a supervisor when he ran into a roadblock and was provided with a workaround solution. They do not need a SSN to open an account but it is totally up to the employees at the bank as to how far they go towards customer service. The minimum they can do is enter you as a non-resident, which does not require you to have a SSN.


You do not apply for a new SS card. You apply to have the restrictions on the existing card removed.

Thanks krikit. May I know how to do this? apply to have the restrictions on the existing card removed? Good luck.

taurean,

Was the woman trying to "enter", or look up, the SSN electronically? Or was she manually checking the number against a printed list?

The SSA publishes a list of valid SSNs, and when this was all done by paper would periodically issue an updated list when a new series of numbers was begun. It was not infrequent that the updated list would not be fully circulated until after numbers in the new series were already being issued, and people getting numbers in the new series would have problems when being checked against an outdated list.

I would expect that this is done electronically by now, but perhaps if the bank is using its' own database of valid SSNs the database has not been updated recently enough.

Yodrak

Krikit and Indian Doc,

Point of clarification: The notation on the card is not a restriction, it is a reminder - a reminder to an employer that the SS card alone is not evidence that the person has employment authorization from the USCIS, a reminder that the employer also needs to see a USCIS-issued document evidencing employment authorization.

As a practical matter, the only way to remove the notation from the card is to replace the card, so yes the person does have to apply for a new card if they want to have a card without the notation. Not a new number, but a new card to replace the existing one. But, it is not necessary to replace the card. Convenient, but not necessary.

Yodrak

Yodrak:

If I remember correctly she first tried to "look up" the SSN to no avail. Then she tried to "enter" the number for his new account I believe, and that is when she was saying the number wasn't valid due to the DHS notation. I didn't see a printed list. Thanks for the additional information though. If what you say is right, then the banks move slower than even the SSA! He has had the SSN for almost 4 months now. One would think that the SSN would be valid in any database right now.

taurean,

Yes, one would think that by now the information on new numbers would be immediately available via electronic means.

Whatever the problem, it has nothing to do with the notation that is stamped on the card.

Yodrak

Back in the day when I had an SS card with the DHS notation, I tried to open a bank account, and the teller told me that my SSN kept coming up as ITIN She tried some other tricks on her computer, and was finally able to make a SSN out of it, so my guess is the SS card is not to blame - it's the bank