Pre AOS Jitters

[Birdysboy 5]

We too were married before we applied for SS # and it was easy.

The more I am on this forum reading , the more it seems like some of the government officials go out of their way to make it hard. Tita and I have been blessed to have only dealt with one difficult person so far, and fortunately this person was not a decision maker.

[seldi 1]

The boogey man definetly doesn't check SS cards. I should know because for the past 15 years, I've had the "Not authorized for work" card, eventhough I'm a USC.

What happened was that a gazillion years ago, when I applied (actually when my mother applied since I was still a little kid ) for my first SS card, I had just moved to the US and AOS was still pending, so they issued me the "Not authorized for work" ss card. I didn't know about this until recently when my mom was cleaning out some documents and found it. I've never had any problems with work, taxes, whatever. Maybe I just happened to slip through the system.

I finally "updated" my SS card after getting married to avoid problems with the IRS since I changed my last name and all.

On a totally random semi-related note, changing my last name has been a pain in the a$$. I know I didn't have to do it, but it was my decision to drop my last name and use his, I was not influenced by anyone at all. Using a hyphenated last name was not a choice either, since my first name is already long as *beep*, with 2 last names, I'd probably never fit in the "space provided". Changing the signature you've used since first grade is not that easy either. Everytime I have to sign something, I have to pause and think

Maybe in a couple of years it'll be joy, but right now it's a real pain in the a$$!

[Emancipation 2]

As a side note to the above - KritKat again you NAILED this experience of AOS on the head there... I always thought name changes on the SIN (equavalent to the SSN in Canada) was optional. I have been married previously and never bothered to change my name on my SIN card. Now that I've left the country lo and behold I realize I probably should change it to my new married name just to be on the safe side should we ever decide to return to canada.. Written right on the instructions it states

"If you are employed it is important that the name and SIN under which you are working are identical to the name and SIN that appear on the card. This will ensure that your Canada Pension Plan contributions are properly contributed to you".

That caught my attention. It would be just like a gov agency not to credit the contributions that one makes in a married name to your Pension plan, social security or whatever fund you pay into via payroll deductions. It convinced me that updating SSN and SIN is probably better earlier than later. I don't want to get to retirement and realize that one or more of my contributions under one of my former names was not credited to my pension account. THAT would suck entirely.

SSN updating was a breeze - took us 5 min. I took all my documents and had the form all filled out prior and there were no problems for us in Waterbury, CT.

[Krikit 1,164]

Sorry. I was trying to give a little insight on how 'minor' this is to most American woman. I was hoping it might make it seem less scary.

Thanks rebeccajo. I appreciate that.

[Krikit 1,164]

"If you are employed it is important that the name and SIN under which you are working are identical to the name and SIN that appear on the card. This will ensure that your Canada Pension Plan contributions are properly contributed to you".

That caught my attention. It would be just like a gov agency not to credit the contributions that one makes in a married name to your Pension plan, social security or whatever fund you pay into via payroll deductions. It convinced me that updating SSN and SIN is probably better earlier than later. I don't want to get to retirement and realize that one or more of my contributions under one of my former names was not credited to my pension account. THAT would suck entirely.

Gawd. (scribbles furiously on the "to do" list)