Timing of Marriage and appl for SSN

[Jon and Yulia 0]

I am planning and waiting the arrival of my fiance sometime in late Jan or early Feb. Our original plan was to marry immediately after she got here, perhaps the next day. (Just the legal procedure, we will do a formal wedding later).

Will this cause a problem when we apply for our Social Security number? Should we wait until after we apply for the marriage, then do a name change? In terms of an immediate wedding, I am thinking about last name issues (it will be different than on her visa, POE card, etc)

Any ideas here? Thanks

Edited December 6, 2011 by Jon and Yulia

[Dave&Roza 748]

It depends on how educateed your local SSA office is. First, the K-1 visa hold is eligible for a SSN as they are "a legal alien eligilbe for work" for SSN purposes. The advice is to wait 2 weeks after POE and apply for the SSN. Here's the catch. Some will let you apply in the married name with the marriage certificate and others will tell you that you will now have to wait for the GC or EAD--which is incorrect. I would get married. Wait 2-3 weeks and then go and apply for the SSC in the married name--if that is the name she wants to use. While at the SSA office note the date, time, and name of the person who is helping you and if you are turned away, send an e-mail to the head SSA office and explain what happened. You should get an e-mail response that you can take with you to educate the local people. You can search on the forums here as someone posted an e-mail from the SSA that instructs them to tkae this e-mail to the local office.

The other option is to get married. Wait the 2-3 weeks and apply for the SSN in the MAIDEN name and then go back later and apply for the SSC in the MARRIED name. Having a different name on the SSC is not a big deal. My Motehr went by Middle Maiden Married most of her adult life but here SSC was in First Middle Married. It was only when she was going for benefits did she worry about it. The number is the most important thing that you need as it is used as a pseudo national ID number--of course my SSC states that it is for tax purposes only, not to be used for ID.

Good luck,

Dave