K1 and Social Security Number

[Dodi 69]

We went to the Social Security office on the Monday after our wedding to change my name and apply for his card. He'd been here for 2 1/2 weeks by this point, so I figured there'd be no problems. The girl at the window, during the course of our conversation, told us she was pretty new and was working the window as a clerk because she'd not been trained on everything else. I got worried at this point, but she didn't try to tell us he wasn't eligible for a SSN, and accepted his application nicely, so I just let it go.

Then, she said she couldn't give us a number right away for him because she had to wait for more information to come back from the Dept of Homeland Security. I was under the impression that his entry would show up right away in the SAVE database if we waited two weeks, and that they'd be able to tell him then that his number would be generated overnight and to just come back the next day if he needed it before the card arrived.

She gave us a letter telling us that she was waiting on more info from the DHS, with a reference number, and that if it came back accordingly he could receive his card by mail in about 4 weeks.

I'm sorry, but I just have a sinking feeling that something got screwed up here. I have read too many horror stories about people's SSN getting screwed up by untrained clerks who don't know ####### they're doing. One of my friends here who is also on VJ said her SSN was screwed up here in OKC, and now she doesn't have one, and is going through the AOS process without one.

I don't want to wait a month only to find out they've screwed it up. What should I do? Is it too soon to panic?

Thanks in advance.

[Golden_State 2]

I wouldn't worry about this too much. You don't need your SSN to apply for AOS or EAD, so it's not a major priority at this point.

It sounds to me that even though the clerk was inexperienced, she asked the right questions and did what she was supposed to do. I wouldn't sweat it.

[Adrian+Mike 2]

We went to the Social Security office on the Monday after our wedding to change my name and apply for his card. He'd been here for 2 1/2 weeks by this point, so I figured there'd be no problems. The girl at the window, during the course of our conversation, told us she was pretty new and was working the window as a clerk because she'd not been trained on everything else. I got worried at this point, but she didn't try to tell us he wasn't eligible for a SSN, and accepted his application nicely, so I just let it go.

Then, she said she couldn't give us a number right away for him because she had to wait for more information to come back from the Dept of Homeland Security. I was under the impression that his entry would show up right away in the SAVE database if we waited two weeks, and that they'd be able to tell him then that his number would be generated overnight and to just come back the next day if he needed it before the card arrived.

She gave us a letter telling us that she was waiting on more info from the DHS, with a reference number, and that if it came back accordingly he could receive his card by mail in about 4 weeks.

I'm sorry, but I just have a sinking feeling that something got screwed up here. I have read too many horror stories about people's SSN getting screwed up by untrained clerks who don't know ####### they're doing. One of my friends here who is also on VJ said her SSN was screwed up here in OKC, and now she doesn't have one, and is going through the AOS process without one.

I don't want to wait a month only to find out they've screwed it up. What should I do? Is it too soon to panic?

Thanks in advance.

First off, Don't panic. Secondly, Don't panic

When I entered I had the same issue. Having read up that most of the time it appears in the database after around two weeks I was also given the same letter to say that they need to verifiy etc. After roughly 3 weeks I received a letter to say that they had verified it and to expect my card shortly. A week later it appeared in the post.

If after 3 weeks you haven't received a letter I would ring and chase it up, however I suspect that your going through the same process as I went through.

Just a btw though - after I had received my SSN I ran into the wall of "not a valid SSN number". It turns out when they issue a new set of numbers they don't always filter through to the banks/insitutions straight away. It wasn't till a month after receiving my card that I could actually get on a bank account due to them all using a credit check system which checks for the validity of your SSN. Phoning up the SSN office is useless by the way as they'll just tell you it is valid, just have to wait till the credit checkers have updated their new "high list" of numbers.

[Dodi 69]

I know it's not required to apply for the AOS or EAD, but it's required to put him on my bank account, etc. I'm even having trouble putting him on my insurance at work without it. We're wanting to transfer the balance of his account in the UK to our account here, which is still MY account, and I'd feel better if it were OUR account.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

You don't have to wait for anyhting. Go back and speak to someone that knows what to do. Apply in your MAIDEN name, exactly as in the passport and change it later (if you want to) after you have a green card.

[Dodi 69]

Gary, what in the world are you talking about? This is my HUSBAND who is having problems. He only has ONE last name.

Update:

Got a call back after our initial inquiry into the local SSA office today. They're claiming that the Dept of Homeland Security won't validate his K1 status, but is instead saying he's here on a B2 status. They've got a copy of his K1 visa at the SSA office, so they know that's wrong. They told us to call the DHS and gave me the USCIS number (which I already had) and when I got through to a 2nd tier operator, they told me they couldn't even see the SAVE database, that we'd need an Infopass appt to do anything. So we're going in Monday morning to see if they can tell us what's up.

I'm seriously peeved off right now at both the DHS/UCIS/CBP and the SSA clerk who didn't seem to know ####### she was doing in the first place. I really believe it was the idiot clerk who got things wrong, but her supervisor told me that she's seen the paperwork and it was all done correctly and that it's a DHS matter that we're going to have to take care of. She said the application we filed on Monday will have to be deleted since DHS wouldn't verify his status.

He's never had a B2 visa, so someone either typed it in wrong at his POE (even though everything was written and stamped properly on his passport and I-94. They wrote K1 in three different places between the passport and I-94. We can't get him a bank account or anything until he's got a SSN, so this is seriously holding things up. I wanted to send in copies of bills and bank statements with both names with our AOS packet to prove our marriage is bona fide, but now we can't do that. We'll have to rely on letters from friends and family and photos from our wedding (what a fiasco that turned into).

I knew our K1 seemed too easy. Something HAD to go wrong.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

** moved from "K1 Process & Procedures" to "Working & Travelling in the US" as this is regarding a SSN and not a K1 process **

[VanessaTony 3,567]

We can't get him a bank account or anything until he's got a SSN, so this is seriously holding things up. I wanted to send in copies of bills and bank statements with both names with our AOS packet to prove our marriage is bona fide, but now we can't do that. We'll have to rely on letters from friends and family and photos from our wedding (what a fiasco that turned into).

I knew our K1 seemed too easy. Something HAD to go wrong.

I'm sure you're aware but I thought I'd make sure... you don't actually provide bank accounts or photos or anything like that with your AOS application. You CAN if you want but you don't have to. I certainly didn't and was approved without interview or RFE... so do most people I know. K1's have different requirements so IF you have an interview (not all do) then you'll provide proof of your relationship. Otherwise, no stress. Hopefully you'll get his EAD while waiting for his GC and then get his SSN based on that (if you can't get it now). You have all that time to get this stuff sorted.

Good luck.

[sorchaine 10]

My husband had the same issue. We waited about 5 days from the time he entered, went and applied. They said that we needed to wait because he wasn't in the system yet and they scanned his passport and I-94 just in case they needed to send that in (in case he didn't show up after the weekend). We received the letter that you described, with the reference number. We waited about a week and gave them a call to check on it. At that time they said it would take another week and to check back then. We waited another week, called back and they said it was fine and that they issued him his number and we would receive the card in about 2 weeks. Actual time to receive it from the time we heard he was issued a number on the phone was about 1 week.

We also had a slight problem (or so we thought) as the person we called to find out if he was issued a number had told us that his name was listed with his first and middle together as one name. But upon contacting the CBP at my local airport and faxing them the passport/visa/I-94, they informed us that his name was first/middle/last in their records. So I'm not sure what the SSA person was talking about.

[I'm Gone 60]

We went to the Social Security office on the Monday after our wedding to change my name and apply for his card. He'd been here for 2 1/2 weeks by this point, so I figured there'd be no problems. The girl at the window, during the course of our conversation, told us she was pretty new and was working the window as a clerk because she'd not been trained on everything else. I got worried at this point, but she didn't try to tell us he wasn't eligible for a SSN, and accepted his application nicely, so I just let it go.

Then, she said she couldn't give us a number right away for him because she had to wait for more information to come back from the Dept of Homeland Security. I was under the impression that his entry would show up right away in the SAVE database if we waited two weeks, and that they'd be able to tell him then that his number would be generated overnight and to just come back the next day if he needed it before the card arrived.

She gave us a letter telling us that she was waiting on more info from the DHS, with a reference number, and that if it came back accordingly he could receive his card by mail in about 4 weeks.

Need to find out if the girl entered his I-94 number, or his "A" number. Should use the I-94 number. If they used the "A" number they need to reenter the initial verification request with the I-94 number. If they did the initial verification right, was the secondary electronic verification request submitted and what is the response.

[marlea 84]

He's never had a B2 visa, so someone either typed it in wrong at his POE (even though everything was written and stamped properly on his passport and I-94. They wrote K1 in three different places between the passport and I-94. We can't get him a bank account or anything until he's got a SSN, so this is seriously holding things up. I wanted to send in copies of bills and bank statements with both names with our AOS packet to prove our marriage is bona fide, but now we can't do that. We'll have to rely on letters from friends and family and photos from our wedding (what a fiasco that turned into).

I knew our K1 seemed too easy. Something HAD to go wrong.

You might want to look into the requirements a bit more. I think joint accounts and such are required more at the removal of conditions than at AOS. Since he just arrived and a SSN isn't required for AOS, that would be really awful for them to expect him to be on all your accounts just a month after arrival.

Sorry for all the hassle you are having! At least he is here arrived ok and you were able to get married. Congrats BTW!

[Nik+Heather 121]

Gary, what in the world are you talking about? This is my HUSBAND who is having problems. He only has ONE last name.

Update:

Got a call back after our initial inquiry into the local SSA office today. They're claiming that the Dept of Homeland Security won't validate his K1 status, but is instead saying he's here on a B2 status. They've got a copy of his K1 visa at the SSA office, so they know that's wrong. They told us to call the DHS and gave me the USCIS number (which I already had) and when I got through to a 2nd tier operator, they told me they couldn't even see the SAVE database, that we'd need an Infopass appt to do anything. So we're going in Monday morning to see if they can tell us what's up.

I think that's the wrong answer for your problem, so let us know how it went and if you were successful (I might learn something!). If not successful, I'll paste the rant I had against the "damn misinformation line!!" and how to fix SAVE database errors for you.

[Dodi 69]

UPDATE:

We went to our infopass appointment this morning at the Oklahoma City USCIS office. We were early and they almost didn't want to let us in because we got there at 9:20 and our appt wasn't until 10am, but they didn't have anyone set up for 9:30, so they let us pass.

We handed the man behind the counter his passport with his K1 and I-94 in it. He's been here for less than a month and we're already married, so he's still very much within status and he attempted to look Peter's info up and told us, "He's not in here. There's nothing we can do for you. He's not here. K1's aren't eligible for a social security number. You have to fill out all of these forms (hands me a list of the AOS forms) and get an EAD card before he can get one."

I then explained to him that no, he's eligible as a K1 as soon as he steps onto US soil with his visa, and he should be in the system correctly. I then pulled out my huge folder of immigration paperwork and gave them our NOA2 letter and asked if they could look him up by the receipt number, at which point the man yelled at me and asked me why I didn't give him that in the first place. I told him because that number is no good anymore after the case is transferred to the NVC and given an LND number, so you'd THINK his A#, his Visa number or his Passport number would trigger SOMETHING in their system.

He pulled up the NOA2 approval in their system and said, 'Oh, ok, yeah, he's here, and he's showing as approved, but a K1 still isn't eligible for a SSN." I told him I'd worry about that part because I knew he was wrong, but that I just wanted to know why the SAVE database was showing him as a B2. He said I'd have to fill out an I-845 request for status verification, but not to fill in the section about the requesting organization, just leave it blank. That would do me absolutely no good, because then they'd not have anyone to send the verification TO!

We left the USCIS office with me feeling like we'd gotten absolutely nowhere. I said, "Why don't we try a different SSA office and see if it was just the girl who processed us that messed things up." So we went to the main OKC office, same issue, "Immigration Status Mismatch Error". Another dead end. The girl there tried to tell us that because we were already married it meant his immigration status had changed and he was now a K3. I had to tell her no, he stays a K1 until he gets his green card. She said, 'Oh, you're going to keep him a K1, ok, most people change it." Idiot.

Came home, called the DOS. They told me it was correct in their system but it sounded like the CBP people had entered it wrong, and gave me the national number to the CBP. Called them. They told me that's probably the case, so I'd have to make an appt to visit the local deferred inspection office, so they gave me the number and address. I called the local office. He looked it up, and said he couldn't tell me over the phone whether it was wrong or not but that if we'd come in on Wednesday between 10 and 3 they'd fix it. Well.... that kinda tells me it's messed up, if they're going to fix it. They told me that after they fix it we'll need to wait another 10 to 15 days before going to re-apply for his SSN, because it'll take a little while to update his info in the database.

So here's hoping Wednesday is going to fix things. We're finalizing our AOS paperwork tonight and I'll make the last of my copies tomorrow at work (took a vacation day to deal with things) and then we'll send it off on Wednesday when we fix his POE processing. I really hope this doesn't mean his brown packet is lost somewhere in Immigration Limbo.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Dodi

[Nik+Heather 121]

Well, see, after all that churning you got to the right answer - going to CBP to get it worked out. Sorry I didn't see this before this morning, maybe I could have saved you a trip. Those people! Sending you to USCIS to get the SAVE database fixed is like sending someone to the library to get their driver's license!! Completely wrong department.