Social Security issue

[Edi & Sua 1]

I need your advised VJ. My wife got her green card, social security and driver license issued all under her married name. I went to social security office and made sure that her status has been updated to permanent resident.

She applied for a job and they ran some kind of report for her background check under the same social security number and it's coming back and invalid ssn, number not yet issued. I called SS Office numerous times and they are all saying that everything is ok with them. I am really confused now and not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you,

[Caryh 5,206]

Its not uncommon for employers to run credit checks on possible hires. Does she have any sort of credit rating yet? Did you put her on any accounts, credit cards, checking, savings, bills, etc.... It could be a credit rating agency cannot find her yet, so is just kicking back the error SS number not found. Have you tried getting a credit report on her? There is also supposed to be a new system going in place where employers can check the legal immigration status of prospective employees. I wonder if they're checking that system, but there is a lag until the data gets there?

[Brandi n Michael 8]

That e-verify system takes about 4 weeks to update. SS office will say everything is fine because their system is up to date. However other systems can take 2-4 weeks to get up to date. If she needs something straight away she can go and get a print out from SS that verifies that the SSN does indeed belong to her. Free and Easy if she needs proof ASAP.

[Edi & Sua 1]

I think Caryh is right. I called SS office again this morning and they are saying same thing. They are probably using some kind of credit bureau agency for the report instead of verifying it correctly through social security office.

She doesnt have any credit cards on her name but we have 2 bank accounts and she is on both accounts. i dunno if opening a credit card on her name will do anything.

[Caryh 5,206]

I've gotten my wife on credit cards, bank accounts, utility bills, and soon a car loan and we're considering a refi on the house to. All of it should be good to help give her a credit rating and for the later ROC. I'm not really sure how long it will take though for those things to start showing that she has some sort of credit rating. My wife had her SSN for about 3 or 4 months before she had her EAD and started apply for work. Her first job I doubt ran any background check on her, but a couple weeks later she was offered a better job that did. They even finger printed her again!

[Edi & Sua 1]

I've gotten my wife on credit cards, bank accounts, utility bills, and soon a car loan and we're considering a refi on the house to. All of it should be good to help give her a credit rating and for the later ROC. I'm not really sure how long it will take though for those things to start showing that she has some sort of credit rating. My wife had her SSN for about 3 or 4 months before she had her EAD and started apply for work. Her first job I doubt ran any background check on her, but a couple weeks later she was offered a better job that did. They even finger printed her again!

Hello again,

Now i am really confused. I contacted the SSA and Immigration department, everything is correct and in the system. She applied with two different companies and getting same thing on both with SSN not in use. One company is using hireright.com for background checks, the other one USIS. I called the agency and sw a person at hireright and she said that they are going directly through SSA office to check the SSN. I mean, this is getting ridiculous now, i dont know who to contact anymore other than calling SSA every day now and keep bugging them till i get some answers.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Hello again,

Now i am really confused. I contacted the SSA and Immigration department, everything is correct and in the system. She applied with two different companies and getting same thing on both with SSN not in use. One company is using hireright.com for background checks, the other one USIS. I called the agency and sw a person at hireright and she said that they are going directly through SSA office to check the SSN. I mean, this is getting ridiculous now, i dont know who to contact anymore other than calling SSA every day now and keep bugging them till i get some answers.

You and these work places are mixing up separate things.

Your wife has a SSN and is a permanent resident. She is allowed to work. A SSN is a unique number used for the Social Security Administration to compute how much Social Security she will get when she retires. It is nothing besides that. Let that sink in for a minute.

Now, other companies use that number to do their own services. These companies ask for this number and have access to databases that use this number. They basically piggy back off of the Social Security Administration's ability to ensure that each person has a single number unique to them. That is the only reason they use that number, because they know it's not duplicated. SSA does not prohibit them from doing so, but SSA does not have any say what these companies show in their records.

Now, I suspect the company is doing a background check and a credit check on your wife. These companies use the SS number, as described above. SSA has nothing to do with how they use these numbers. The credit check is showing up as blank when the workplace does the report. That is because she has no credit score yet. A bank account does not generate a credit score (I thought it would too but it does not). Read about it at myfico.com

A background check will also be blank. She just got her SSN so there is nothing to report. It is also probably showing up as "blank" or invalid" because she is not in the system at all. They can't approve it because there is no information.

The work is misinterpreting this data to mean that she is not authorized to work, but that is completely false. Like I explained, work authorization and credit check results are not tied together. They are making this assumption, and it is totally incorrect.

You will need to get someone with a brain and explain that she is a new immigrant with a new SSN and that their verifications are going to come up blank. She has all of the documents to prove she is work-authorized on the I-9 form (in fact all she needs is her GC). If they want to do a background check, offer a copy of her police report or something.

I hope that helps, and best of luck.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Harpa Timsah

[Caryh 5,206]

Hello again,

Now i am really confused. I contacted the SSA and Immigration department, everything is correct and in the system. She applied with two different companies and getting same thing on both with SSN not in use. One company is using hireright.com for background checks, the other one USIS. I called the agency and sw a person at hireright and she said that they are going directly through SSA office to check the SSN. I mean, this is getting ridiculous now, i dont know who to contact anymore other than calling SSA every day now and keep bugging them till i get some answers.

I'm not sure if you work for a large or small company, if its small company or you know someone in humane resources in a larger company, maybe you could have them run a direct check on her SS for you? It requires getting access, which it appears you need a business tax ID to get.

http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm

Sounds like you're doing the all the steps on the failed to verify instructions, that you can do alone.

http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnvshandbk/failedSSN.htm

If you can get someone to access it yourself, maybe you can figure out what is being entered wrong when they go to check it.

[Conchale Vale 5]

Hello wonndering if you were able to resolve this issue? It has nothing to do with lack of credit..it relates to SSA randomizing the generation of social security numbers and some web sites and credit systems do not recognize the newer numbers as being valid. My wifes card was issued a year ago and this issuse has come up when we applied for a loan yesterday..."number not issued" She has bank accounts under her own name and also was filed on my taxes last year. getting any type of credit in her name even a $300 limit card has been impossible. The issue appears to be the certain credit burrow software does not liek these new numbers...not sure wher we go next

[Lydsch 0]

I am having the same issue. I got my card 2-3 weeks ago and it could not get verified twice now.

We just recently applied for an apartment here and we did not get accepted because they thought I am not legally in the country although I have my Green Card. I gave them a copy of the Green Card (which is still in my passport since I just came here) and now I am still hoping that it will work out.

I am already getting frustrated with this system. I hope it's not going to take too long until this is fixed.

[Darnell 8,478]

this sounds very familar with and to the background checks that Target does for potential new hires.

[belinda63 2,981]

Ask them to run it through E-Verify. It is a free service, for consumers at least, available online with instant results. This is the only government site I am aware of that can verify a SSN as being valid.