SSN & EAD

[bcagney 0]

Does anyone know if an EAD needs to be in the "system" for 10 days before we can apply for a Social Security Card? My wife has been in the U.S. since May 2009, but she didn't apply for a SSN before her I-94 expired. She just received her EAD, which says it's valid from 3/9/10 to 3/8/11. She applied for a SSN today (3/18), which is obviously only 9 days since the EAD was approved. The woman at the SS office told us that she couldn't verify her documents (EAD) because it hadn't been 10 days yet...so now, according to the letter she gave us, it has to be verified with the office that issued the EAD and it could take up to 4 weeks! We were expecting to have the number in a few days and the card in the mail in 2 weeks...

I know it takes 10 days when first entering the U.S. for the I-94 to be in the system, but I have spent a lot of time reading these forums and have never come across anything about having to wait once you get your EAD...Is this the way it works or are we just dealing with another incompetent government employee again!?!?

Thanks in advance

[I'm Gone 60]

It's 10 calendar day in the country and after having been granted a new immigration status. So I guess it depends on how the office interprets new immigration status. Is being issued an EAD card a new immigration status, or is a new immigration status going from say K-1 to CF1 status.

[sciencenerd 56]

I do not know the policy, but I can say that my wife got her EAD in the mail today with a valid date of 3/10/10. We went to the social security office this afternoon (3/18 - 8 days) and it was totally easy and they never said anything about having to be in the system for 10 days. They said we should have the card within 2 weeks. I don't know if that means anything except that it's not a universal rule.

[I'm Gone 60]

I do not know the policy, but I can say that my wife got her EAD in the mail today with a valid date of 3/10/10. We went to the social security office this afternoon (3/18 - 8 days) and it was totally easy and they never said anything about having to be in the system for 10 days. They said we should have the card within 2 weeks. I don't know if that means anything except that it's not a universal rule.

Did your wife enter the U.S. with K-1 status? Was the EAD card issued while a I-485 is pending?

[sciencenerd 56]

Did your wife enter the U.S. with K-1 status? Was the EAD card issued while a I-485 is pending?

My wife entered as a visitor, so she was not eligible for an SSN until the EAD arrived. We went down to the social security office pretty much the moment the work permit arrived because she needs to get a state ID, which required a social security card. The EAD was issued while her AOS is pending.

[I'm Gone 60]

My wife entered as a visitor, so she was not eligible for an SSN until the EAD arrived. We went down to the social security office pretty much the moment the work permit arrived because she needs to get a state ID, which required a social security card. The EAD was issued while her AOS is pending.

OK just wondering, since I have seen that when some people that arrive as a K-1 and apply for an SSN with an EAD card while the AOS is pending and the SSA office tries to verify their status to assign the SSN it shows on the secondary electronic verification "Application Pending" rather than "Full Time Employment Authorized." This causes the SSN application to be denied.

[bcagney 0]

OK just wondering, since I have seen that when some people that arrive as a K-1 and apply for an SSN with an EAD card while the AOS is pending and the SSA office tries to verify their status to assign the SSN it shows on the secondary electronic verification "Application Pending" rather than "Full Time Employment Authorized." This causes the SSN application to be denied.

This is such a screwed up system. I understand social security personnel need to follow protocol, but come on, where is the common sense? We followed protocal and did everything by the books and legally (apart from SSN upon entry, which we had no idea would be such an issue). My wife has been here on a K-1 since May 2009, we married within 90 days, applied for AOS and EAD at the same time, EAD is approved, but still can't get a SSN even though all that is required is the EAD.

No offence sciencenerd, and I don't know your full situation, but how does one enter as a visitor, overstay, apply for AOS and EAD, and not run into any problems? Did you get married on the visitor visa?

p.s. We went to the social security office again yesterday and got the same response: "needs to be verified with DHS." Nobody could offer any type of explanation other than "that is just the way it is."

[I'm Gone 60]

Nobody could offer any type of explanation other than "that is just the way it is."

Not just the way it is. There is procedure on when the SSA office is supposed to follow up with immigration if a response has not been received to either a secondary electronic verification request or a G-845 being mailed. Normally the secondary electronic verification requests come back in around a week. If a G-845 was mailed, the SSA office has a number to call if a response is not received within a month. I would find out why things didn't verify in the first place, since there are times when things don't match and it's acceptable, for example, one letter of your name can be off, Bob Smith comes up Bod Smith is OK. Then find out at which step they are at. If a G-845 has been mailed, has a month gone by without a response. If the service rep gives you ####### when you ask, then ask for the operations manager.

Edited March 20, 2010 by I Quit

[bcagney 0]

I would find out why things didn't verify in the first place, since there are times when things don't match and it's acceptable, for example, one letter of your name can be off, Bob Smith comes up Bod Smith is OK. Then find out at which step they are at. If a G-845 has been mailed, has a month gone by without a response. If the service rep gives you ####### when you ask, then ask for the operations manager.

We tried to find out why it didn't verify originally, but both the service rep and the manager could only tell us that "it needs to be verified with DHS". I can only ask "why" so many times before I feel like jumping over the desk and checking for myself.

Now, I don't know if middle names would affect this, but on her EAD card it only has her middle initial (first and last names are correct). We know for a fact that will filled out the I-765 application with her full middle name, so whoever entered it in for USCIS did that wrong. Could this be the problem?

We did get a letter on our first visit to SSA acknowledging that she applied for a SSN, but that it needed to be verified and it could take 4 weeks. Does this mean they sent the G-845, or would they still be waiting for electronic verification?

Thanks again for the responses...

[sciencenerd 56]

No offence sciencenerd, and I don't know your full situation, but how does one enter as a visitor, overstay, apply for AOS and EAD, and not run into any problems? Did you get married on the visitor visa?

No offense taken. Without getting totally into it, an overstay is usually forgiven when applying for AOS through marriage. I can't say whether we'll run into problems as we haven't had the interview yet, but our lawyer is confident that there shouldn't be any problem. As long as someone doesn't come over as a visitor with the intent to get married and apply for immigration, the overstay can be forgiven. In our case, there was no intention for her to stay or for us to get married when she entered, but that's what ended up happening. We did get married while she was overstayed on a visitor visa (3 years after entry) and are now in the processing of applying for adjustment of status. People may have different feelings about how fair this is or whether we should run into problems because of it, but this is how the current immigration system is set up. Getting back to the topic of the thread, we had no problems getting the EAD or social security card when the EAD had only been active for 8 days. Maybe it was not an issue because she didn't not have any prior status, but that would be a random guess. It also seems that the specific person you talk to and what kind of mood they're in makes a big difference, unfortunately.

[bcagney 0]

Update:

Our 3rd visit to the Social Security office proved what we had suspected...it all seems to depend on who is handling your case. The service rep handling our case this time was very knowledgable on the subject and explained what had happened on our previous visit...nothing...surprise, surprise! We were told on our 2nd visit that the secondary electronic verification had been submitted, but it was obvious to her that it had not been. She resubmitted it, and we got a call the next day from her saying that the application was approved and we'll have the SSN in a day or two! So, had we not gone in for a 3rd time and pushed the issue, we'd still be waiting with nothing actually happening on their end.

So, I guess if anyone else ever runs into anything like this, you have to be persistent and make sure they are doing their job!

Thanks for the input everybody!