ssn application taking so long

[francie 0]

so i received my Employment authorization card and went ahead to get my SSN. after the hgours of waiting, the lady told me that they need to verify it to the federal state and it may take 12 weeks to get it. does anyoen had the same experience?

[dutchmatt 1]

why didnt you apply for your SSN soon after you entered the US?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

so i received my Employment authorization card and went ahead to get my SSN. after the hgours of waiting, the lady told me that they need to verify it to the federal state and it may take 12 weeks to get it. does anyoen had the same experience?

This because you waited until after you got married and you changed your name. K-1s are eligible immediately for an SSn and should get one immediately in their MAIDEN name, exactly as it is on the passport. That way you HAVE the number when your get the EAD and when they go through their convulsions over the name change. The number never changes.

If I am wrong and you did NOT change your name, then go back to the SS office and ask to see a supervisor that knows what they are doing. A k-1 with no name change should get an SSN immediately. My wife got her number 16 hours after she arrived and had the card in the mail 6 days later

[francie 0]

i had name changed and i didnt know that i can apply for ssn as soon as i arrived. i thought u needed an employment authorization befoer applying for an ssn. now i feel bad that i didnt do a lot or research. so do i really need to wait 12 weeks to get ssn? but i can work with my ead right?

[francie 0]

so i received my Employment authorization card and went ahead to get my SSN. after the hgours of waiting, the lady told me that they need to verify it to the federal state and it may take 12 weeks to get it. does anyoen had the same experience?

This because you waited until after you got married and you changed your name. K-1s are eligible immediately for an SSn and should get one immediately in their MAIDEN name, exactly as it is on the passport. That way you HAVE the number when your get the EAD and when they go through their convulsions over the name change. The number never changes.

If I am wrong and you did NOT change your name, then go back to the SS office and ask to see a supervisor that knows what they are doing. A k-1 with no name change should get an SSN immediately. My wife got her number 16 hours after she arrived and had the card in the mail 6 days later

was she already allowed to work after getting an ssn after arriving here in the us?

[Old Dominion 26]

All questions about waiting aside (since they are irrelevant anyway), go back to the Social Security office and ask to speak with a supervisor. I assume you applied in your married name, the one that's on the EAD. The USCIS verification and issuance of the SSN card should take no more than two weeks if handled appropriately at the SSA office. Not so many SSA clerks know how these things work.

Edited September 12, 2009 by Old Dominion

[francie 0]

yeah i showed them my employment authorization card and i told them i will be having my AOS interview on monday. the lady told me that if teh greencard arrived first than my ssn then i could go back there and show it to them to make the process faster.

i think its redundant for them to check again to the federal since i already showed them my EAD in my married name. this immigration process gives me headache lol. being bored at home makes me crazy!

[Krikit 1,164]

A K-1 can get their SSN within 76 days of entry. It doesn't have to be in your maiden name. Quite a number of us were able to obtain our SSN's in our married names without any problem. The problem lies with the SSA employees who don't know the policy.

Francie, it is normal that they told you there is a waiting period. All they are doing is verifying your status. You usually receive it within 2-4 weeks.

Moving this from AOS to the Working & Travelling forum where the SSN section is.

[I'm Gone 60]

then go back to the SS office and ask to see a supervisor that knows what they are doing. A k-1 with no name change should get an SSN immediately.

Look at the time line, she arrived in May. She is long past the point of being assigned an SSN based on the K-1 status.

[I'm Gone 60]

All questions about waiting aside (since they are irrelevant anyway), go back to the Social Security office and ask to speak with a supervisor. I assume you applied in your married name, the one that's on the EAD. The USCIS verification and issuance of the SSN card should take no more than two weeks if handled appropriately at the SSA office. Not so many SSA clerks know how these things work.

If they could have verified her status while she was in the office, she could have her SSN the next day and card within two weeks. For some reason they couldn't clear the application. However, 12 weeks is way over the amount of time it normally takes.

I would try to find out why they couldn't verify your status. Since, some things such as a name misspelling are OK if it's only one letter of the name. If they really needed to go to the next step of the verification process, which is a secondary electronic verification, make sure it has been done and have they received a response. That normally doesn't take more than a week.

Then if the response is to see a copy of your EAD card, a copy of the EAD card is mailed along with form G-845. Once immigration has processed it they mail it back to the SSA office. Now this is what can take a while and figure another month for this. If the SSA office hasn't received it back in a month they have a number to call to get the verification over the phone. Things that can drag this out are the SSA office forgetting to send a copy of the front and back of the document or sending bad photocopies.

[Stepha 0]

I applied for the SSN on July 29 and still waiting for it. On the paper they gave to me it's written the verification may take up to 8 weeks, even if the guy told me it would take only 3 weeks. Next week is my 8th week of waiting so I'll pay them a visit. Thank God I could apply for the driver's license (the instruction permit) without the SSN.

[New Beginnings 32]

My husband's took a while too. They needed to verify the information that was submitted with USCIS. We applied for it at the embassy as well as POE. Those applications were never processed so we had to go to the local office to apply.

It took some time to get it, we involved our congressman.

[I'm Gone 60]

My husband's took a while too. They needed to verify the information that was submitted with USCIS. We applied for it at the embassy as well as POE. Those applications were never processed so we had to go to the local office to apply.

If he checked off on the DS-230 that he wanted an SSN, no actual application was ever submitted. Dept of State transmits the info to the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) and DHS transmits it to SSA. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The process is called Enumeration At Entry.

RM 00202.315 Enumeration At Entry

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0100202315