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Hello everyone, My wife received her F21 visa and have entered the country. I'm excited about this new journey but have some questions about the next steps. Could anyone please help me with the following: 1. How does she go about obtaining a Social Security Number (SSN)? 2. Does she need to apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to work in the US? If this isn't the right forum for these questions, kindly let me know where can find the appropriate information. Thank you in advance for your guidance!

Hello all, My spouse is scheduled to enter stateside shortly after obtaining her CR-1 visa. However, due to my upcoming move, she will be arriving at a new address (same state - NJ) and I was wondering what is the best way to document the same with the USCIS? I have used my current address across all forms and have requested the SSN, GC to be sent to my current address as well. I want to make sure the SSN and the GC dont get delayed due to this impending change. I read somewhere that a change can be requested at the port of entry (POE). Is that accurate? If yes, what additional details will I need to provide to the immigration officer? If no, do I have to submit an AR-11? Any other options that I need to consider? TIA for your timely assistance.

Our judicial oath ceremony is scheduled for 8/25, and per the suggestions on this forum we are thinking of getting passports and passport cards first, /then/ using the passport card when updating our names on our Social Security cards, then using that to update bank accounts, names used for payroll, etc. Problem is... expedited processing now takes an estimated 7-9 weeks, and normal processing takes 10-13. Not including mailing time. What happens if, say, we end up with W-2s with our old names? And... Given this timeline - is taking an emergency trip out of the country to qualify for an urgent travel appointment the only recourse? We also thought of using expeditors but a) are not sure how much faster it is, and b) are told on another forum that those are currently not allowed to operate Thanks!

As you can see in the screenshot attached that we filled SSN information in this manner. My question is that after landing in US, will my husband have to go to the office of Social security to get his SSN or will the Social Security number be automatically sent to us since we filled out DS260 in the manner below?

Hi all, I applied for my unrestricted SSN this morning. The SSN lady filed out the form for me today and said “she was unable to remove the legend” and it will still come with some kind of legend saying “work authorized.” I was throughly confused by this because either your card is restricted or unrestricted. I got this letter too that says I still need DHS approval for my SSN. Is this correct? Sounds like she did not know what she was doing! Any help on this would be highly appreciated!

Hello, I reside in Houston, TX. Fort bend county, and today my fiance and I went to our local county clerk to get our marriage certificate. I handed them my US passport along with my Fiance's Vietnam Passport, and they told me that they have to match the order of her name that is on her passport. So on our marriage certificate it shows her name in the following order (Middle Name, First Name, Last Name). Which is wrong. My name is shown in the correct order. They told me it has to be this way and that it can't be changed. I'm worried that we may have complications when we apply for ssn, greencard, us citizenship, buy a house, opening a joint bank account, etc that her name being in the wrong order will give us problems. Could someone please help me with this. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing and it can be somehow changed later and not to worry about it. Or is it something we must look into and get it resolved ASAP to avoid future complications? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi @Villanelle, I am on F1 visa. and my case shows returned to the agency (last is on Dec 7th) and I have 6 cases returned to the agency. SSA people say verification is pending with DHS. I applied for the first time in Aug 2022, not sure what to do at this point. Please help! Thanks, Khushboo

Hello VJ members, If I remember well, at some point of filling out the forms and everything for the petition of my mom I checked a box (somewhere) in which you could opt to have the applicant's SSN processed after becoming a resident, am I right? Are they doing that now? She had her interview and was approved a couple of weeks ago and I don't know if we should expect her SS card to come in the mail or if I should take her to the Social Security Administration office. I appreciate any guidance on this. 🙏

Hi all, so I entered the states on my IR1 visa a few weeks back. I went and applied for my SSN and got everything set up while securing a job. anyway a day after I applied for my SSN I got my card in the mail, I thought it was odd then realised I checked the box on my DS-260 to get it issued on entry (completely forgot about it in the excitement and exhaustion of moving across) anyway back in the UK now finishing up my notice for my job and packing a few more things and my wife told me a second card had been delivered. how bad is this? How do I fix it? And will I get in trouble? most a total mess up on my end as I completely forgot about the DS-260 box I checked for my SSN to be assigned automatically…. what do I do? How do I rectify this situation very scared and don’t want to get in trouble thanks in advance

My wife and daughter entered at IAH (Houston) on 7/22/2022 and their social security cards were issued on 7/26/2022. They were received sometime between 8/1/2022 and 8/6/2022. We were out of town during this week.

Hello everyone! I arrived in the US one week ago. (IR1) We are waiting for my permanent resident card and SSN to arrive in the mail (the fee was paid 16 days before my arrival) I heard that it can take up to 90 days to be mailed to me, and I didn’t want to wait that long to start working. Our question is: as the now stamped immigrant visa is valid as a proof of permanent residency for one year after arrival, can I go in person to a SS office and be able to get my SSN earlier by showing them my passport? Or do I need to wait for my physical GC to arrive? I appreciate your help! Thank you!

I have applied for my SSN in May 16th, and I didn't get a number yet. The agent from the SSA told me that my application is pending verification from DHS because it's showing that I am a US citizen instead of a F-1 student. I contacted USCIS myself and got a tier 2 call back. They refused to arrange an appointment for me. The SS officer just told me to wait. However, my summer internship only lasts 10 weeks. I have missed 3 weeks already. Is there any way that I can expedite the process? Or anyone knows how and what to do with the situation? Thanks so much....

My husband originally came to the US on K-1 visa. We tried to obtain a SSN before we were married but ran into problems. The SSA could never really explain what the problem was other than Homeland Security found an error on our application. Eventually, we ran out of time and were told to reapply once we received his green card. It sounds like this is pretty common during the K-1 process and I wrote about it in another post. So now he has received his green card and we went to the SSA office to reapply for a SSN. First they said we had two pending applications (one from when we tried during the K-1 visa period and another was opened on his behalf I believe since we checked that he wanted a SSN on the I-485 application). However, they could not process the SSN application because of a "mismatch in immigration status"' that was being investigated by Dept of Homeland Security. The SSA officer said there was nothing they could do since it was on the Dept of Homeland Security side but they did cancel the other 2 pending SSN applications. The SSA officer gave us a phone number to call Dept of Homeland Security but that number was a dead end. I reached out to USCIS and they said we would probably need to schedule an appointment with the local field office (they couldn't go into more detail since my husband wasn't around when I called them and they could only speak to the issue with him). We'll reach back out to USCIS tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to proceed? Has anyone had a similar experience and how did you solve it?

I arrived in the US from Canada on a B2 visa. While in the US I purchased a business and applied for an E2 and was approved for E2 status change with an immigration lawyer about 4 weeks ago. I have not left the US yet. Last week I applied for a SSN, the employee referred to my I 94 that said I had entered on a B2 and would need my I 94 to say E2 to get a SSN. Can I get a SSN with E2 status change? Do I have to leave the country and re enter with a E2 visa to get a SSN? Also I would like to import my vehicle. Can I import a vehicle with an E2 status change or do I need to leave the country to get the E2 visa before I can import my vehicle?

Hello, My EAD is approved but I still don't have a SSN, I've been told it keeps getting automatically deleted from the system because we didn't get it processed before the 90 days were over so we had to wait until I've got my AOS to apply for one again. Is it possible to apply for a SSN once I get the EAD or do I really have to wait for the AOS? Our AOS is still being reviewed because of an RFE. Also, is it possible to work with my AOS pending or without a SSN but with an EAD?