Well I hope somebody can help me ...I am here in K1 Visa I didn't get married yet, we will get married at the end of this month, so I was wondering if is better if I applied to the SSN before I got married because I read in some post that is better if you apply before you got married. I am not sure about that ...so I hope you can help me to decide.

It worked best for us to get the SSN after Claudeth had been here for two weeks.

Like Claudeth, I went to the local SSA office two weeks after I arrived but my info was not in their system yet. They gave me the SSN application form to fill out, made copies of the K1 visa page in my passport, and then gave me a letter acknowledging my application. The nice manager also told me they had a huge backlog that month so it might be awhile before I'd show up in the system.

It took about 2 months and the invaluable help of mdyoung before I received my card in the mail.

The next time I returned to the SSA office to get a "condition-free" card was 6 months later when I received my two-year green card. It was only a 20-min wait.

I filed for my SSN two weeks after I'd entered the US. I was married by that point so just submitted the documentation in my married name. There weren't any issues in processing.

Get the SSN right away, in your maiden name. After you are 76 days past your I-94 entry date, SSA will not do anything for you until you get your green card.

It's easy to change your name after you get married. Of course if you don't change your name when you marry, then you don't need to do that.