Social Security, Immigration, Identity Theft

[Epi 0]

Hello,

My fiancee in the past was a victim of identity theft. Basically, long story short, She came as an international student here for her masters in Boston, received a social security number, and later on had that social security number stolen alongside her credit cards by her roommate. She is handling things on this side with equifax, and will be filing a police report in person when we arrive to the states together in December. Her social security card and other intellectual property is still in the proximity of her roommate who stole her information, since he still with takes residency at the same address.

Now we will be getting married soon, and starting the process for her in immigrating to the states. She will be changing her legal first name and last name, applying for green card and residency, and since she was a victim of identity theft, we were wondering if it were possible for her in applying for a new social security number, so she could build a new line of credit which was untainted by the identity theft which she suffered to. We're talking about 30,000$ worth of theft and a series of 5 or 6 cards being opened under her name.

Now for the sake of her immigration process, should she apply for a new SSN and leave alone the old one by not reporting it, I mean ideally I would like her to be able to get a new social, build a new line of credit, without having to worry about her past identity theft from the time she was an international student.

Can someone please assess this in the most logical/rational manner for me, because she is a bit worried/confused. Ideally I would like to continue filing the police report against her old social being used for identity theft purposes, and apply for a new one meanwhile.

[LA NEGRA 19]

They won't give her a new soc sec card....

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

**** Moving from US Citizenship to General Immigration as not citizenship related ****

Above answer is correct, you get one social security number for life.

[akihon 129]

Changing her first name?

also yes, you only get ONE social security number for laif

Edited October 24, 2012 by akihon

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

On top of it, changing her first name would require her to return to her home country to get it done there -- assuming they play along -- or an act of God. All she can change in the U.S. is her family name.

So if Bobby Gee marries Gina Jo,

Gina Jo can stay Gina Jo,

Gina Jo can become Gina Gee,

Gina Jo can become Gina Gee Jo, and

Gina Jo can become Gina Jo Gee.

Bobby Gee can stay Bobby Gee,

Bobby Gee can become Bobby Jo,

Bobby Gee can become Bobby Gee Jo, and

Bobby Gee can become Bobby Jo Gee.

But if Bobby Gee is a US citizen, he can also have his name changed at a US court. Gina can't do that, because a US court has no legal authority over a foreigner national's name. Imagine Gina were a citizen of Transsylvania, and she could go to a US court and become Countess Elvira Dracula. If that were possible, she then would go to the Transsylvanian consulate in the US and say:

"Listen up, losers . . . . my name is not any longer Gina Jo. I am from now on known as Countess Elvira Dracula. Now give me a new passport in my new names or I will suck out the last drop of blood from your unworthy bodies!"

The consular office would ask Gina into the next room. Bend her over a chair, then insert a 10-foot pole somewhere. Afterward he would guide her to the staircase and push her down while yelling "don't you ever show you pale face here again, you %^$!"

Once Gina naturalizes, she can get a new first name.