Filed my AOS TODAY

[beantown79 0]

Yeah filed th AOS package today just go back from the post office will be in chicago by noon with a signature required. I applied for ssn on friday and that was no problem and should have my card in a few weeks. Opened up a bank account last week aswell (canadians dont need a ssn to open a bank account here). I posted my resume on monster on Wedneday and on Thursday got a call from a company that had seen my resume online. I did a phone interview with the recruiter and have an onsite interview tomorow. I advised them that I wasnt authorized to work yet it could take up to 3 months, however i can work i just cant get paid for working. They are ok with this if i am i just toldthem if i was the sucssful applicant i would want it written in my contract that this is the agreement. I guess we will see what happens but i thought the economy was in the toilet here and i had to calls for interviews less than 24 hours after my posting. I am going a litte stir crazy now not working, i was going to volunteer at the hospital just to get me out of the house.

[flustered 14]

don't know where "here" is but I had to have a SSN and so did my daughter to open a bank account

[CanadianRedneck 8]

depends on the bank, if you go higher up to senior management, they'll tell you it's not required..just bullshit they pull on you..

[Canadiandggal 49]

In PA(wachovia) and Maryland(m&t) I had no problem opening accounts without SSN

[Hendea3 4]

I'm not even "in" the US yet but I was able to open up a joint one back in March of 08 at HSBC in Buffalo area....they just wanted a copy of my passport and i think drivers.... as my two forms of ID

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Yeah filed th AOS package today just go back from the post office will be in chicago by noon with a signature required. I applied for ssn on friday and that was no problem and should have my card in a few weeks. Opened up a bank account last week aswell (canadians dont need a ssn to open a bank account here). I posted my resume on monster on Wedneday and on Thursday got a call from a company that had seen my resume online. I did a phone interview with the recruiter and have an onsite interview tomorow. I advised them that I wasnt authorized to work yet it could take up to 3 months, however i can work i just cant get paid for working. They are ok with this if i am i just toldthem if i was the sucssful applicant i would want it written in my contract that this is the agreement. I guess we will see what happens but i thought the economy was in the toilet here and i had to calls for interviews less than 24 hours after my posting. I am going a litte stir crazy now not working, i was going to volunteer at the hospital just to get me out of the house.

Careful about that - technically you're not authorized to work, so at this delicate juncture (AOS pending...new immigrant) - you may not want to be seen by USCIS as trying to circumvent the rules if they find out.

I don't have any particular knowledge of anything that says you can't - I'm just saying to be careful. I would tread on the side of caution personally and not "work" (paid or not) until I had an EAD in hand. Volunteering is fine of course.

[HeatDeath 430]

This comes up frequently regarding teaching jobs, where "in-classroom volunteering" is somewhat commonplace. The precise wording from USCIS is that a nonimmigrant cannot "fill a job for which a US citizen could be paid."

This means that continuing to work remotely for your foreign employer is ok, but "volunteering" for a position for which you will later be hired [and probably receive back pay under the table] is a strict no-no.

[ashenflowers 5]

Agreed. Use caution when working 'unpaid'. Especially if it's a job you will later get paid for doing.

I agree about volunteering though. I've been doing it since a month or two after I arrived, and it's led me to a lot of great people and opportunities.

[TimandJoyce 1]

I hope all your paperwork for AOS goes quickly, with no hassles.

You definitely need to rethink on the unpaid work...but volunteering at the hospital sounds great!