Denied a Social Security Number- help!

[Shannon ♥ Nick 0]

Thanks for your answers everyone Hi Kim!

Well, we DID get supervisors over - two in fact! And they were both emphatic that it was NOT possible and printed of the RM 00203.500 as proof of the fact that it was not possible! I saw that K1 is listed in the section of people who do not need direct DHS authorization- but they seem to have read that and still insisted that K1 is not eligible! I dont really have any hope of convincing the morons in that office otherwise, we spent at least 20 minutes arguing with them...so I'm considering mailing all my original documents to a bigger social security office with previous approvals (any in Florida that anyone knows? Or I could even mail one outta state!!) Any up to speed offices? (my office didnt even know what the USCIS was!)

Please let us know which office you find that cooperates with you. I believe I read that you're in the Orlando area... so are we (or WE will be as soon as he gets here!!).

So it's sounding like to avoid all issues, make sure we apply for his SSN *before* the marriage.

[GauraD 0]

Thanks for your answers everyone Hi Kim!

Well, we DID get supervisors over - two in fact! And they were both emphatic that it was NOT possible and printed of the RM 00203.500 as proof of the fact that it was not possible! I saw that K1 is listed in the section of people who do not need direct DHS authorization- but they seem to have read that and still insisted that K1 is not eligible! I dont really have any hope of convincing the morons in that office otherwise, we spent at least 20 minutes arguing with them...so I'm considering mailing all my original documents to a bigger social security office with previous approvals (any in Florida that anyone knows? Or I could even mail one outta state!!) Any up to speed offices? (my office didnt even know what the USCIS was!)

Please let us know which office you find that cooperates with you. I believe I read that you're in the Orlando area... so are we (or WE will be as soon as he gets here!!).

So it's sounding like to avoid all issues, make sure we apply for his SSN *before* the marriage.

I will let you know how I go- we are going to try again in a week or two we are just concentrating on getting my AOS forms etc done at the moment.

I think it might be a tad easier if u do try to do it before marriage as one of the many 'issues' the supervisors brought up is that 'your name has to change in the immigration database because we cant enter you as a different name unless they both match so you have to wait until you adjust your status'

...and the other big ' issue ' was 'you cant get a SSN on a K1' 'but I know lots of people who get them on K1' 'Well Im a supervisor who deals with lots of cases and let me just tell you that the only way is if they adjust from another visa like a B1 etc to K1, if you come into this country straight on a K1 visa you cant work and you cant get a SSN number' - yeah- thats the kinda bull they can spring on you!! Im going in armed with lotsa ammo next time (I didnt even think I needed to Including print offs from their OWN website! (as they didnt even KNOW what the USCIS website WAS.....seriously - they didnt know USCIS!!;

[aidan80 9]

You got the right idea, go in armed with their own rules be firm. Some of these people are idiots.. they have to just make it up as they go along not knowing ####### they are supposed to be doing. We had an issue getting the "Not Valid For Employment Without DHS Authorization" notation removed from my original SS card. We went in with a copy of their own rules and give it to them after they told us no? 2 weeks later my unrestricted SS card arrived in the mail after they told us "no".. idiots! We did that after I got my GC.

Just to note we applied for my SS card after we where married, as I was the groom my name didn't change and had no issues there. It made getting a bank account open very easy and everything else you'll need a SS number for easy as well. I got the feeling people thought it was weird if you didn't have a SS number!

Good Luck!

[braveheart1 0]

Interesting. I wanted an ID to open a bank account and do various things so off I went to get one. There I was told my marriage licence - I only had a copy, not signed by the Clerk's office - must be the original and authorised. When that arrived in the post, off I trotted to get my ID but was told a SSN was needed so I applied for one. This SSN doesn't allow you to work unless you have EAD etc. Back I went to get my ID but was told I had less than 60 days left on the K1 so I couldn't have one. Now why couldn't SOMEONE tell me the full story at the beginning of this painfully long experience? But like the clerk said to me, 'Welcome to America'.

[aidan80 9]

Interesting. I wanted an ID to open a bank account and do various things so off I went to get one. There I was told my marriage licence - I only had a copy, not signed by the Clerk's office - must be the original and authorised. When that arrived in the post, off I trotted to get my ID but was told a SSN was needed so I applied for one. This SSN doesn't allow you to work unless you have EAD etc. Back I went to get my ID but was told I had less than 60 days left on the K1 so I couldn't have one. Now why couldn't SOMEONE tell me the full story at the beginning of this painfully long experience? But like the clerk said to me, 'Welcome to America'.

You need to dig around on this site or make a post and ask if your missing anything. It'll save a lot of time and a lot of being bounced back and forth between all these government departments. I've never seen so many government departments that don't talk to each other don't really work with each other and are held accountable at, at least 3 levels of government.

We found that to do anything in this country you will need an ID, SSN just to get going. You should be ok to get a SSN right up till (someone said) day 74 if like me you came in on a K1. I came in on a K1 got a SSN without any problems. I've read quite a few counts on here of people having all kinds of trouble with the idiots at the SS Office. If you've applied for an EAD it shouldn't take to long to get it so if your out of time with the K1 use the EAD. Get your SSN as soon as possible and get yourself a State ID or DL as quickly as you can. It's not nice or easy carrying around a passport and forget about using it to buy beer with.. some people couldn't read my date of birth on mine!

[penn-kd 0]

So, I'm on a K1 visa, just got married, and waited two weeks before going in to apply for my Social Security number so I would be on the government systems- only thing is - the staff at the Gainesville SS office say that you CANT get a SSN on a K1 unless you have your EAD (even though I said I want a card that says 'cant work' and they DO have them- until I get my EAD!) They said the computer REQUIRES the input of the EAD number or it won't go ahead with the processing!! From what I've seen on this website, thats BS! So- I'd like to hear from anyone who entered the US on a K1 (without adjusting from say a student visa or anything- just a K1 like me) and just got their SSN so I can know what you did and which office I should send my documents to because my local one doesnt know anything!! And I need that SSN or I cant get a Driver's License!

Thanks for reading!

That is strange as it does say on the SSN card (vaild for work only with DHS Authorization)

[chris-lei 1]

You may go to another SSA, bring your passport, visa, birth certificate and I94. Apply for SSN with your maiden name first, it is easier. Then if you want, you may go back at the SSA after you get you EAD or GC for a name change. Anyway, you will still have the same SS number.

Having SSN is helpful at some point. You need it when applying for a driver license, credit/debit cards or joint bank accounts, health insurance, buying a car or house.

[GauraD 0]

Well, great news- today we went in again, armed to the teeth with print offs from their website, and all sorts of things- and we saw a different lady at the same office- and as we sat down at her desk, prepared to argue, we said' Last time we came here we were told that on a K1 you can get a SSN' and she said 'Yes you can!' - I have to say we felt SO much relief just hearing those words!!!! She was a more learned officer who used to work at a military base and so was familiar with K1 visas - and she asked who had 'helped' us last time, told us how ignorant they were and apologized, and said that we were going to be 'part of a huge learning curve around here'. She said she would get the ignorant SS officers trained (and apologized again, saying they were more familiar with dealing with 'student visas') and would speak to them (my man and I couldnt help but smile at that, picturing the rude lady and man who'd been all loud and adamant with us being put in their place and told that they was SO wrong!!!) She even took that RM00205 form thing from us to show to them later (we gladly let her have it! Glad to save future couples going through the same thing!)

She took my details from my passport (without asking for my parents names and all of that like the other officers had wrongly been doing- Im foreign, they dont need that info!!), and ordered the card for me in my married name That took about all of 5 minutes!!! SOOOO easy and hassle free!!!!

The tips I now have to share- definitely go in armed with evidence paperwork (just in case!!), and DONT go to the SS office early in the morning as we did, as the less senior staff are probably on that shift- go later in they day when the better paid and more educated people are around!!

PS- you ARE allowed to work until your 90 day K1 expires even if you dont have any sort of specific authorization! But I guess that once that runs out and if you dont have your AOS EAD yet you should probably give up working as it would be illegal in that period of time.

Thanks for all your help guys and reaffirming my conviction that we WERE in the right!!!

Edited December 16, 2008 by GauraD

[Ban Hammer 13,573]

good to hear. it seems to me that at the ssn office, saying no is easier for them usually.

[SpelaD 4]

I applied for SSN around 2 weeks ago and I got a mail today saying they cant issue me a SSN because they didnt receive doc's showing my age, identity, my legal alien residence in the US... I felt like crying... what are they talking about? When I was applying for SSN they made copies of my birth certificate, passport, visa...what more do they need??? this is craziness...I guess what we'll do is we'll just go back to Orlando office, bring the RM 00203.500 and hope for the best

[john_and_marlene 162]

<!--quoteo(post=2466199:date=Dec 10 2008, 01:31 PM:name=payxibka)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (payxibka @ Dec 10 2008, 01:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2466199"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->please explain then why 100's of people are successful getting SSN after marriage but before 14 days before the I-94 expired? Please explain that to my wife? Did she get her SSN incorrectly?

Many reason to get SSN (particulrlay this time of yeat)... soon to be tax filing, bank accounts, pension benneficiary, etc......<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I'm not about to explain anything to anyone as I have never looked at the regs.

If you wish, you go down there and take copies of all the regs and you tell them how right you are....after wasting your time, you will decide like I did and just go along with the program and save the frustration.

We went to get Marlene's SSN a few days after we were married. The clerk first fed us the dribble that a K1 needed an EAD. I sternly educated the idiot on the rules and then they tried to tell me that since we were already married, she was no longer a K1. I sternly educated the increasingly irritating idiot regarding class of entry and the I-94 validity and how marriage does not change either. I was not going to leave their office without a benefit that we rightly deserved and we got her SSN in her married name. We did not waste our time.

[rlogan 2,036]

Well, we DID get supervisors over - two in fact! And they were both emphatic that it was NOT possible and printed of the RM 00203.500 as proof of the fact that it was not possible! I saw that K1 is listed in the section of people who do not need direct DHS authorization- but they seem to have read that and still insisted that K1 is not eligible! I dont really have any hope of convincing the morons in that office otherwise, we spent at least 20 minutes arguing with them...so I'm considering mailing all my original documents to a bigger social security office with previous approvals (any in Florida that anyone knows? Or I could even mail one outta state!!) Any up to speed offices?

The social security office people are the worst, with countless stories here on VJ about them. For us it was numerous visits, demands to see supervisors, repeated phone calls in vain, involving our congressman - nothing would get them to obey the law.

They did the paperwork wrong three times, lost our file - then claimed that since they lost it for six weeks we had applied too late! One employee advised us to COMMIT A FELONY that would get my wife deported by changing her I-94.

So we waited until she had her green card. They turned us down AGAIN, and claimed we needed certified copy of the marriage certificate, which was not true because the green card was in her married name and the social security card was in her married name.

The clerk (the ranking employee) was outright smug about turning us down all these times - real happy about ruining our day again and again; the hassle; the money - we live a long ways from the office.

We went back after the certified copy of the marriage certificate arrived. They had a new employee. She gave us the social security card and flatly stated we did not need the certified copy of the marriage certificate.

The ranking employee came over and tried to interfere. She did her best to stop this new employee from giving us a social security card. Tried to invent new reasons. But she stuck to her guns, pointed to the regulations, and did it for us.

From our experience the social security offices are filled with mean-spirited people who take great joy in exercising their petty power. There is nothing you can do to make them accountable.

I agree with those who have advised going to a different office. We had to find an employee that wanted to help instead of one who thought it fun to torment people.

[SpelaD 4]

what we were told at the Social security office is that they have me in a system on a STUDENT visa...but I entered the USA on a K1 and i never had a student visa. They just told us to go to the USCIS office and check the status. I made an appointment and the earliest date available was Aug 26. Is there any other way to fix this mess?