Applying for a SSN on a K1

[DasBoot 7]

Hi Folks!

My fiance entered the US on a K1 visa, and one of the first order of business is to get her a SSN.

Should the SSN number be applied for before or after marriage ?

[Richard-Y-Abigail 18]

It takes a couple of weeks for your K-1 information to reach the proper authorities. It is recommended that you wait a couple of weeks before applying for your SS card/number. If you decide to apply right away, you will wait longer. It is better to get your SS card/number after you marry, and before your I-94 expires. After we got married, we did not register her name change fast enough, and now have to wait until we receive our residency permits. We hate that she still has to use her maiden name, but we just laugh about it.

[DasBoot 7]

It takes a couple of weeks for your K-1 information to reach the proper authorities. It is recommended that you wait a couple of weeks before applying for your SS card/number. If you decide to apply right away, you will wait longer. It is better to get your SS card/number after you marry, and before your I-94 expires. After we got married, we did not register her name change fast enough, and now have to wait until we receive our residency permits. We hate that she still has to use her maiden name, but we just laugh about it.

Thanks.

What do you mean by not registering her name change fast enough? Where do you have to register it?

[Aztec&Taino 144]

Hi Folks!

My fiance entered the US on a K1 visa, and one of the first order of business is to get her a SSN.

Should the SSN number be applied for before or after marriage ?

Your fiancee will not be able to apply for a SSN right away because her file needs to be cleared first by Homeland Security. This takes approximately a couple of weeks. Depending on the plans for your wedding and also depending on whether she will be taking your last name, you may want to wait to apply for a SSN after you get married if your wedding date is not too far in the future (close to the 90 days deadline). By doing this, she could apply for her SSN under her new name.

Best wishes!

[I'm Gone 60]

Thanks.

What do you mean by not registering her name change fast enough? Where do you have to register it?

RM 10213.305 Procedure when an SSN Applicant Files for an SSN within 10 Days of Arriving in the U.S or being Granted a New Status:

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0110213305

[Richard-Y-Abigail 18]

By fast enough, I mean we waited until after her I-94 had expired. We will, however, when we apply to the two-year conditional residency permit, use her married name. Then with her AOS, she can change her SS card from her maiden name to her married name.

[sweetnovember29 0]

what is the expiration period of I-94? Thank you

[faust-yusov 103]

I experienced a bit of difficulty at my local Social Security office earlier today.

I entered the US on a K-1 in November, and my fiancee and I married earlier this month. At the SSA office today I was told that because I had married, my status had changed from K-1 to K-3, and I needed to obtain DHS work authorization (via the I-766 EAD) before I could obtain a SSN.

I queried this, saying I didn't believe that could be the case, that I was still - for immigration purposes - a K-1 non-immigrant, married or otherwise, until I adjust status to LPR. The man I spoke to simply swiveled the screen and pointed at "K-3 - Spouse of US Citizen".

I left, went home, printed out the lengthy e-mail posted by Jilli & Ales on this page, and returned to the SSA office.

With the e-mail print out, and my insistence that the K-3 was an entirely different type of visa and in no way related to my situation, my application form was (provisionally) accepted. Apparently it still needs review by a supervisor, but hopefully that's just a formality.

I suggest going armed to the teeth with what you can garner of their own policy. Unfortunately, while mentioned in the linked e-mail above, there doesn't appear to be anything on the SSA website that explicitly states that marriage does not alter the eligibility/status of a K-1 non-immigrant. However, there isn't anything that explicitly states it does, either, which is worth pointing out.