SSN from K1, DHS problem

[green_rabbit 69]

Hello, 

 

 My fiance arrived at the POE on Dec. 19, 2020. We went to the SSA office on Dec. 31, 2020 to get his SSN. The person who helped us was at least aware that K1s can get SSN, and had done them before, so that was good. 

 

When he entered the data and submitted it, it came back as a mismatch in the SAVE system. He said he would email the relevant agency about that and get back to me. 

 

Today, he said he had spoken to someone at DHS, who asked if my fiance and I had married yet. The DHS employee said that it would take 35 days in order to process the SSN if we remained unmarried (not clear when the 35 days would start -- from POE or from application date or? ). Otherwise, it would have to be resubmitted as a new request if we had married (because my fiance would no longer be under K1 status if we had married (????)). 

 

We have not yet married, though I don't see how this would change anything (neither of us plan on changing our name after marriage). I asked the SSA officer if it made more sense to marry and resubmit the request or to wait for the 35 days for DHS first. He said he wasn't sure, but would let the DHS person know we were not married. 

 

We're still planning how/when to marry, and we have some time, but I'd rather not wait too long for any of this. The SSA officer asked if we were waiting on the SSN to start work (!!) and I said it was just for doing things like putting my fiance on my lease and getting him a bank account and such. 

 

Has anyone heard about this 35 day thing from DHS, or the idea that immigration status changes just after marriage??? Any advice on how to proceed is also welcome. 

[Marcelina 246]

For them when you guys are married means you can’t apply for SSN at their office but.... until you got your marriage license signed by the court to present for them it’s not their business and they can’t even check this.  Even if you would be married already  his immigrant status won’t change till you apply for AOS. So I strongly recommend waiting 35 or even more days and getting the SSN card ASAP. 😎 I just got mine in my maiden name and later changed/refreshed the last name during an appointment where I present marriage license. 

[green_rabbit 69]

Updating with a bit of a non-update. I guess it had been 35 days since the SSA office requested my fiance's information be run by hand by DHS. The SSA officer called me back today, but said he never heard anything back from DHS. My fiance's I-94 status ends March 17. We married last month. 

 

The SSA officer said once we get our marriage certificate back from the county records office, he can re-run the SSN request with my fiance listed as married. He seems to think the lack of time left on the I-94 will not be a problem, but I suspect he is wrong and we will have to wait for AOS. 

 

The SSA officer also said it's SSA policy not to give numbers to people with under two months of status remaining, unlike the two weeks I generally hear quoted here. He also mentioned that in addition to SAVE, Oregon uses a system called SSNAP which creates an additional layer of problems for assigning new SSNs. 

[milimelo 4,477]

You’ve wasted a lot of time. Call up deferred inspection (locations and numbers on CBP.gov) and ask them to go through his SAVE record and fix what was the problem causing mismatch. You may still not be able to get the SSN before his 90 days are up but at least he’ll be all set up in the system. 

[green_rabbit 69]

How have *I* wasted time? I've read through the questions on this site fairly thoroughly and this is the first I'm seeing this advice.