Social Security Number Name Change and SSA Can't Find Wife's Green Card in System

[Austin&Olga 66]

Hi everyone, 

 

So kind of a weird situation with my wife and her trying to get an updated social security card with my last name on it. We got married in September 2022, applied for I-485, and she received her permanent resident card on February 2. We went into the social security office today with all necessary documents to get her name changed on her social security card from maiden name to my last name. The clerk at the office was going through the normal review routine, and when she went to pull up my wife's name in her system, she said that she couldn't find her name. My wife received her green card from USCIS, we have all the official documentation, but it didn't show up in the SSA system. 

 

From here, the clerk copy scanned her green card, marriage license and a couple other documents we brought in. She gave us a document that states, "Before we can issue a Social Security number card, we must verify the document(s) you gave us to show your Alien status with the Federal, State, or local office in the United States that issued the document(s). This may take up to 4 weeks." I asked if this has happened before and she said yes (then why don't they fix the process...), but it's a gut punch to my wife who was ready to take her driver's test this week and begin applying for jobs. 

 

Has anyone else ran into this problem before? Hoping it doesn't take a full 4 weeks and I'm not worried since she has an official permanent resident card. Just sucks that it's more waiting and we thought she would basically be all set after receiving the green card to get a job, car, open a bank acct, etc. Never a dull moment with government agencies! 

[Lil bear 4,258]

3 minutes ago, Austin&Olga said:

Hi everyone, 

 

So kind of a weird situation with my wife and her trying to get an updated social security card with my last name on it. We got married in September 2022, applied for I-485, and she received her permanent resident card on February 2. We went into the social security office today with all necessary documents to get her name changed on her social security card from maiden name to my last name. The clerk at the office was going through the normal review routine, and when she went to pull up my wife's name in her system, she said that she couldn't find her name. My wife received her green card from USCIS, we have all the official documentation, but it didn't show up in the SSA system. 

 

From here, the clerk copy scanned her green card, marriage license and a couple other documents we brought in. She gave us a document that states, "Before we can issue a Social Security number card, we must verify the document(s) you gave us to show your Alien status with the Federal, State, or local office in the United States that issued the document(s). This may take up to 4 weeks." I asked if this has happened before and she said yes (then why don't they fix the process...), but it's a gut punch to my wife who was ready to take her driver's test this week and begin applying for jobs. 

 

Has anyone else ran into this problem before? Hoping it doesn't take a full 4 weeks and I'm not worried since she has an official permanent resident card. Just sucks that it's more waiting and we thought she would basically be all set after receiving the green card to get a job, car, open a bank acct, etc. Never a dull moment with government agencies! 

The DMV and other agencies/ institutions should accept the SS card in the maiden name and the GC in the married name by presenting the marriage certificate at the same time. No need to wait if she already has a SSN and card 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Lil bear

[Austin&Olga 66]

2 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

The DMV and other agencies/ institutions should accept the SS card in the maiden name and the GC in the married name by presenting the marriage certificate at the same time. No need to wait if she already has a SSN and card 

I was thinking the same thing originally. However, did some research on Michigan.gov and for drivers license documents it states, "Please note: You may be required to correct your information with the Social Security Administration before applying for a license or ID."

https://www.michigan.gov/sos/all-services/first-time-license-or-id

 

So I'm afraid that even though we have our marriage license, her green card, and her social security card with her maiden name that she received before we got married, she still might not be able to take her driver's test for the time-being. I think she can still apply for jobs since they just need the SSN, but pretty ridiculous that we have all the supporting documents to show her official identification yet they need this small name change.

 

 

[Lil bear 4,258]

Just now, Austin&Olga said:

I was thinking the same thing originally. However, did some research on Michigan.gov and for drivers license documents it states, "Please note: You may be required to correct your information with the Social Security Administration before applying for a license or ID."

https://www.michigan.gov/sos/all-services/first-time-license-or-id

 

So I'm afraid that even though we have our marriage license, her green card, and her social security card with her maiden name that she received before we got married, she still might not be able to take her driver's test for the time-being. I think she can still apply for jobs since they just need the SSN, but pretty ridiculous that we have all the supporting documents to show her official identification yet they need this small name change.

 

 

Key word is MAY.  Give it a try .. 

[JeanneAdil 6,579]

Can I change my last name on my green card?

 

 

You can correct the spelling of the name on your green card by requesting a correction on an Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90). This involves paying a fee. You may not need to pay a fee if you correct your name during the naturalization process.Oct 18, 2022

[Austin&Olga 66]

Just now, Lil bear said:

Key word is MAY.  Give it a try .. 

We have her appt set up at the DMV this Friday, so we definitely want to give it a shot.

[mam521 2,111]

In my dealings, the SSA seem to be the most jobsworth types of the government agencies and are often not well trained.  I wouldn't stress.  The DMV is probably familiar with these situations and have likely seen them a million times before.  Sending positive vibes to your wife for a successful driving test!  

[powerpuff 6,744]

I’m a bit confused, were you expecting to receive an updated SSN card right away? When I went to change my name on SS card after receiving the GC, they also took a bunch of documents and said it’s going to take some time to verify everything which I thought was normal. I think it took 3-4 weeks to receive it in mail 

 

try to see if you see it pending in the SAVE system:

https://www.uscis.gov/save/save-casecheck

 

[Austin&Olga 66]

2 hours ago, powerpuff said:

I’m a bit confused, were you expecting to receive an updated SSN card right away? When I went to change my name on SS card after receiving the GC, they also took a bunch of documents and said it’s going to take some time to verify everything which I thought was normal. I think it took 3-4 weeks to receive it in mail 

 

try to see if you see it pending in the SAVE system:

https://www.uscis.gov/save/save-casecheck

 

No, but we were expecting everything to be approved there and then have the card mailed a couple weeks later. The clerk said, "Huh, that's weird. Her name isn't showing up in our system," and then proceeded to take copies of our documents and probably email them to USCIS for confirmation. I'll check the SAVE system though. Thanks for the link! 

[NorthByNorthwest 359]

15 hours ago, Austin&Olga said:

No, but we were expecting everything to be approved there and then have the card mailed a couple weeks later. The clerk said, "Huh, that's weird. Her name isn't showing up in our system," and then proceeded to take copies of our documents and probably email them to USCIS for confirmation. I'll check the SAVE system though. Thanks for the link! 

How long after receiving the GC was this? For naturalization the advice is to wait at least 10 days after oath ceremony before going to SSA office to update the record, not sure if GC info takes some time to propagate through the systems...

[Austin&Olga 66]

1 minute ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

How long after receiving the GC was this? For naturalization the advice is to wait at least 10 days after oath ceremony before going to SSA office to update the record, not sure if GC info takes some time to propagate through the systems...

Just over a month. About 5 weeks.

[NorthByNorthwest 359]

11 minutes ago, Austin&Olga said:

Just over a month. About 5 weeks.

That should be more than enough time then, must be something unrelated. Every time I've updated my SS record (initial K-1 entry, EAD received, GC received, naturalization completed) there was never any issue finding the record despite some differences in hyphenation of my name between different documents. Fortunately Washington state has no requirements on immigration status for DL and I could get that and bank accounts sorted within weeks after arriving as soon as I had a SSN with the NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT limitation.

[JeanneAdil 6,579]

CHANGING YOUR NAME AFTER YOUR MARRIAGE-BASED GREEN CARD IS APPROVED

Changing your name after the fact is usually more involved, but not impossible. If you don’t apply for a name change when submitting your immigration paperwork, the next chance you would have would be at the I-751 filing (once you’ve had the green card for 2 years). Or you would file Form I-90 for a name change and pay additional government filing fees, on top of updating your name separately with every agency (social security, USCIS, banks, etc.). You could also request the name change later with USCIS if you later apply for naturalization to become a US citizen. Should you choose to update your name after the fact, you will also need to change your name with other agencies and services as well, including but not limited to:

 

 

or u can wait to have it changed during oath ceremony (N 400)

 

she doesn't need a last name change to get a DL / it can be in maiden name 

[Austin&Olga 66]

Just an update -- she wasn't able to take her driver's test. She needs to wait for Social Security to verify her documents, which I can't believe we don't have a better process here since USCIS approved and issued her card like a month ago. 

[Lil bear 4,258]

17 minutes ago, Austin&Olga said:

Just an update -- she wasn't able to take her driver's test. She needs to wait for Social Security to verify her documents, which I can't believe we don't have a better process here since USCIS approved and issued her card like a month ago. 

😤