Warning about SS card request

[Jose&Jeff 126]

Hey everyone! 

 

I just wanted to share my experience, hopefully it will be useful to someone else and avoid the frustration I went through.

 

A few weeks upon arrival in the US I went to the local SSO and made the request for a SS number. I took all required documents (passport, I-94, filled form). The first employee was not sure k1 visas could get SS numbers, me and my husband showed her the list from the SS manual where it says we can, she then passed me to a more experienced employee.

 

Everything went ok until she tried to match my name and info with the DHS database. It resulted in a mismatch of the immigration status, although everything, including visa category, was matching in the screen. 

 

She was very polite and asked me to wait since she would have to ask for verification. I went there 3 times in the next month always having to explain the situation again. They always said "oh, is not verified yet, come back next week".

 

After a month they gave me the extension number of the employee that was managing my case and on the phone she said that because 30 days have passed from the day I applied they would need to close my case since it wasn't verified. I asked what I should do, she recommended me to contact DHS.

I tried to call DHS and USCIS and wasn't able to connect with anyone that could help me.

 

I decided to apply again, this time already with my married name since that in the meantime we got married.

 

Luckily this time we were attended by a more knowledgeable person and she called her colleague that previously worked on my case to understand what happened. She didn't say anything while her colleague was speaking, but in the end she said she would try again. She said this more confidently.

 

When I got home I searched a little more and realized that I could check on SAVE verify webpage if there was any verification case with my passport number. I checked and there was one open the day I last went to the SS office.

 

What this means is that the first lady, although very nice and polite, actually didn't send any request to DHS, she just tried to do the same thing on the system over and over again every time I went there. 

 

After a week I got a letter that my card was being issued and after another week I received it in the mail.

 

So a word of warning, if they tell you that there is a mismatch in your DHS information and they will need to verify, make sure to check if they actually opened a case on the SAVE check webpage.

 

This all thing made me more than a month behind being able to join my husband insurance and a SS card is needed for other things. I also was unable to get a state ID (even if only valid for a few weeks) because I would need to apply for one at least 30 days before my I-94 expires in my state and needed the SS number to do that. A photo ID issued by the government, even with very limited validity would be very important to do certain things like changing my name at the bank.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Jose&Jeff

[Cryssiekins 976]

Oh your experience brings back nightmares.  

 

My last name was misspelled on my i94, so there was a mismatch, and it took forever for SAVE to reconcile (I went back to POE to have i94 corrected).  SSA ended up denying my request.  

 

We got married before I could go back, so I went in and they put the SS in my maiden name, which I didn’t realize until it came in the mail 4 weeks later.

 

Then when back (a third time now) to correct to married name, but i94 was expired, so I had to wait until AOS was approved.  Which resulted in a fourth trip to the SSA 6 months later.

 

Luckily, I didn’t have a problem getting a state license without a SSN.

 

Nightmare. 

[TBoneTX 45,540]

Thread about SSNs is moved to the Social Security Numbers subforum.

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

On 3/26/2019 at 4:40 PM, Jose&Jeff said:

Hey everyone! 

 

I just wanted to share my experience, hopefully it will be useful to someone else and avoid the frustration I went through.

 

A few weeks upon arrival in the US I went to the local SSO and made the request for a SS number. I took all required documents (passport, I-94, filled form). The first employee was not sure k1 visas could get SS numbers, me and my husband showed her the list from the SS manual where it says we can, she then passed me to a more experienced employee.

 

Everything went ok until she tried to match my name and info with the DHS database. It resulted in a mismatch of the immigration status, although everything, including visa category, was matching in the screen. 

 

She was very polite and asked me to wait since she would have to ask for verification. I went there 3 times in the next month always having to explain the situation again. They always said "oh, is not verified yet, come back next week".

 

After a month they gave me the extension number of the employee that was managing my case and on the phone she said that because 30 days have passed from the day I applied they would need to close my case since it wasn't verified. I asked what I should do, she recommended me to contact DHS.

I tried to call DHS and USCIS and wasn't able to connect with anyone that could help me.

 

I decided to apply again, this time already with my married name since that in the meantime we got married.

 

Luckily this time we were attended by a more knowledgeable person and she called her colleague that previously worked on my case to understand what happened. She didn't say anything while her colleague was speaking, but in the end she said she would try again. She said this more confidently.

 

When I got home I searched a little more and realized that I could check on SAVE verify webpage if there was any verification case with my passport number. I checked and there was one open the day I last went to the SS office.

 

What this means is that the first lady, although very nice and polite, actually didn't send any request to DHS, she just tried to do the same thing on the system over and over again every time I went there. 

 

After a week I got a letter that my card was being issued and after another week I received it in the mail.

 

So a word of warning, if they tell you that there is a mismatch in your DHS information and they will need to verify, make sure to check if they actually opened a case on the SAVE check webpage.

 

This all thing made me more than a month behind being able to join my husband insurance and a SS card is needed for other things. I also was unable to get a state ID (even if only valid for a few weeks) because I would need to apply for one at least 30 days before my I-94 expires in my state and needed the SS number to do that. A photo ID issued by the government, even with very limited validity would be very important to do certain things like changing my name at the bank.

Thanks for this. We went to the SS office yesterday. Just checked the SAVE system and we have a verification case pending with SSA and DHS...whew))))