Is SSA Out to Get Us?

[joe.b 33]

The title of this post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes I'm really not sure.

 

I wrote about the nightmare of my husband trying to get an SSN based on his K1 visa last fall. After enlisting the help of our member of congress, the local SSA office called my husband in again to try to figure out why his immigration documents weren't being verified by USCIS. We later got an email from our congressmember's staff giving us the message she got from SSA. The SSA employee ended up calling DHS, which confirmed that the immigration documents were being shown as confirmed on their end, but SSA's system was still saying they weren't confirmed . It was purely a technological issue, and one that SSA alleged they could do nothing about. At that point it was only days before my husband's I-94 was expiring, and too late. (He applied for the SSN over 2 months before his I-94 was expiring.) So we've been waiting 6 months for his EAD to be approved, so he can finally get an SSN.

 

His EAD was finally approved on April 22. A week later, on April 29, we called SSA. An employee confirmed my husband's SSN card had been issued on April 22. But it's been over two weeks now and he still hasn't received it. We called the local SSA office today. They could give no explanation about why the SSN card hadn't arrived, and told us to "contact the postmaster." So we've scheduled an appointment for him to once again apply for an SSN card tomorrow (third time's the charm?).

 

The postal service delivers us mail every day, and I have a hard time believing the problem lies with them. After the atrocious "service" we received from SSA last fall, it's quite easy for me to believe SSA is still messing up somehow, regardless of their system showing the card as issued. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[SteveInBostonI130 3,486]

Officially you need to allow for 3 weeks to deliver the SSN card, after which you can inquire with SSA.  In your case, I would give it one more week to arrive.

 

The other issue you mentioned, we suffered the same.  We applied for the SSN one week after my fiance (now wife) arrived, and they said the system could not confirm her immigration status.  The agent completed the application and told us that it should take just a week or two for the status to get updated, at which point the SSA would mail us the card.  It never arrived.

 

 

[joe.b 33]

19 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

Officially you need to allow for 3 weeks to deliver the SSN card, after which you can inquire with SSA.  In your case, I would give it one more week to arrive.

 

The other issue you mentioned, we suffered the same.  We applied for the SSN one week after my fiance (now wife) arrived, and they said the system could not confirm her immigration status.  The agent completed the application and told us that it should take just a week or two for the status to get updated, at which point the SSA would mail us the card.  It never arrived.

 

 

We already had another appointment this morning to apply for the card again. It's striking how multiple SSA employees (at both the national line and the local office) told us it should arrive within 14 days, but then the person at the appointment today said 4 weeks. Luckily, she took my husband's application again anyway. After their abominable service last fall, I have no trust in SSA and would rather apply for multiple cards than risk not getting one. But at least they told him his SSN today at the appointment.

[joe.b 33]

I doubt this matters to anyone, but just wanted to share that 4 weeks after SSA allegedly issued the first SSN card, it still hasn't arrived. I'm guessing they didn't actual send it, nor will they.

 

It's been 10 days since the second card was applied for, and it hasn't arrived yet. We'll see if it arrives within the 14 days that SSA says it should...