No SSN, Here on F1, Planning to marry soon in Chicago

[missD 0]

Hello everyone!

I have a few questions since I am planning on getting hitched soon! yay!

Currently I am on the cusp of finishing gradschool, and am waiting for my EAD - that I know can take a while since I filed in June.

I came to the US in January 06 and did not receive my SSN (they didnt give them out anymore at that time to international students). I did not work at school or work in a school related internships therefore I never got an opportunity to received SSN.

My question is, will I need SSN if I were to get married in Chicago? IF i do need it, is there a way to bypass it or use other documents? Also, since I am here on F1 and will be on OPT status when this is happening, how long should I wait to do an adjustment of status after I get married?

thanks so much!

[Dr_LHA 3]

If you have OPT status you should be able to get a SSN.

That said, I don't believe that you need a SSN to get married in Chicago, but I'll let someone who has direct experience tell me. You could look on the website of or call your County Registrars office and see what the requirements for marriage are.

As for how long you should wait until after marriage to file for adjustment of status, that is up to you really. Your presence on an F-1 and OPT will not be invalidated through marriage, although you cannot legally travel on the F-1 internationally and return to file AOS, so the only issue is really that you are stuck here until you either get a Green Card or AP.

I would advise filing AOS as soon as possible, and you should really file no later than after your F-1/OPT status expires. If you want to work, you will have to wait for 90 days to get an AOS based EAD, so filing earlier is better.

That said, a period of overstay (remaining in the USA after F-1 expires) does not affect AOS so if you wanted you could wait years to file AOS and still be successful, as long as you didn't have a run in with any ICE/Border patrol types.

[YuAndDan 153]

Looks like SSN is only one ID that is accepted, but not indicated as a requirement.

http://www.cookctyclerk.com/sub/marriage_licenses.asp

[payxibka 10,044]

My thought is that you probably have two of the items from the list below:

Two of these forms of ID:

Certified copy of Birth Certificate (English translations required for foreign certificates)

U.S. naturalization certificate

U.S. resident alien card

Life insurance policy (at least 1 year old)

Foreign passport

U.S. issued consulate identification card

Baptismal record (date of birth must appear)

Edited August 15, 2007 by fwaguy

[missD 0]

thank you so much for the replies.

yes I would be able to get SSN on OPT, but thats only if I get hired by a company first who issues the SSA a letter. Right now finding a job is as tough as making all these marriage/immigration arrangements! LOL