Question about I-94 and SSN#

[HollyEslem 6]

okay so my husband and I are about to file his AOS..his I-94 expires in 8 days and due to my scheduling with work (working 2 jobs and going to school full time) we never made it to the Social Security office (It's almost an hour away) He's freaking out saying that he is going to get deported and without a SSN, if he is stopped and question and all that, he could be deported without having a SSN or a state ID. I keep telling him that he's not going to be deported if the AOS has been filed and that we can apply for it when his work authorization is approved. I don't know what to do. I realize we should have applied sooner but it's been almost impossible due to my schedule (my fault) and I didn't realize that they recommend you to file before two weeks of it expiring. Is he going to be deported based on this? He claims that he can't even travel within the U.S. We are waiting for the paperwork from our co-sponsor before we can send our stuff in. Thanks for any advice or help you can give us. I keep trying to tell him that it will be okay but he's a panicked mess and nothing i say can convince him otherwise!

[Lynkali 163]

Social Security Number has absolutely ZERO to do with "deportation". You could, conceivably, live your entire life in the USA and never have a social security number. (It wouldn't be easy to deal with banks or many other things, and you couldn't get a job, but it has no effect on your legal presence here.) So please stop worrying about anything on that front!

He can travel domestically wherever he wants, SSN is not hindering that! It might not be a good idea to travel near the Mexican border, due to lots of checkpoints where he might be asked to prove his status, but even that is not a hard and fast rule.

Now, it IS true that you should try to file for AOS before (or very soon after) his I-94 expires. The reason being that he is technically "out of status" once that I-94 expires -- but once you have the receipt saying you've filed the I-485 for AOS, you have proof that he is here in a period of authorized stay. But even filing a few weeks or even months later -- he is NOT going to be deported! The absolute worst case scenario, if he were stopped and questioned about his legal presence: they'd put him before an immigration judge, who would see that he had married within the 90 days of the K-1 visa, and the immigration judge would tell him to file for AOS immediately -- no deportation, no worries.

Without AOS, he simply can't do many of things he will want to start doing: open bank accounts, get credit cards, get a state ID, eventually look for work, etc. And without SSN, he can't do any of those things either.

So ideally: file for AOS as soon as you can, but don't panic. Once you have the EAD (about 2-3 months after filing), then you can go get a SSN and a state ID and anything else you want.

[HollyEslem 6]

ohhhh thank you so much, sweetheart!!! THIS was exactly what i told him but he didn't want to believe me..now when i show him this, maybe he will LOL! He's so hard headed and seems to second guess my sanity until someone else tells him the same thing! *eyeroll* LOL!

[Stevephoto 230]

Social Security Number has absolutely ZERO to do with "deportation". You could, conceivably, live your entire life in the USA and never have a social security number. (It wouldn't be easy to deal with banks or many other things, and you couldn't get a job, but it has no effect on your legal presence here.) So please stop worrying about anything on that front!

He can travel domestically wherever he wants, SSN is not hindering that! It might not be a good idea to travel near the Mexican border, due to lots of checkpoints where he might be asked to prove his status, but even that is not a hard and fast rule.

Now, it IS true that you should try to file for AOS before (or very soon after) his I-94 expires. The reason being that he is technically "out of status" once that I-94 expires -- but once you have the receipt saying you've filed the I-485 for AOS, you have proof that he is here in a period of authorized stay. But even filing a few weeks or even months later -- he is NOT going to be deported! The absolute worst case scenario, if he were stopped and questioned about his legal presence: they'd put him before an immigration judge, who would see that he had married within the 90 days of the K-1 visa, and the immigration judge would tell him to file for AOS immediately -- no deportation, no worries.

Without AOS, he simply can't do many of things he will want to start doing: open bank accounts, get credit cards, get a state ID, eventually look for work, etc. And without SSN, he can't do any of those things either.

So ideally: file for AOS as soon as you can, but don't panic. Once you have the EAD (about 2-3 months after filing), then you can go get a SSN and a state ID and anything else you want.