How long to get the green card in the mail?

[wannagohome]

Hello guys. Once your significant other arrives into the US, how long does it normally take to receive the green card in the mail? Thank you kindly.

[dnoblett]

Depends on which visa.

 

• If K-1 Fiancee, a marriage has to happen within 90 days, then filing to adjust status, once AOS is approved, it can take several weeks after that for a card to be produced. Total time 4 months to a year or so.
• If K-3 Spouse, as above filing to adjust status, knock off the amount of time needed to get married.
• If CR-1 or IR-1 spouse visa, they all ready have a green-card upon arrival, it is their passport with visa showing I-551 status for up to 1 year. Production of the actual card can take anywhere from 4 weeks to upwards of a year.

Example of CR-1/IR-1 spouse visa, note the I-551 notation at the bottom.

[wannagohome]

It is an IR-1. Thanks a lot. So with their visa they will be able to apply for jobs and a bank account?

[NickF]

It is an IR-1. Thanks a lot. So with their visa they will be able to apply for jobs and a bank account?

And Social Security number.

[wannagohome]

What is the process and timing to get a SSN? We are just trying to plan. Thanks

[dnoblett]

It is an IR-1. Thanks a lot. So with their visa they will be able to apply for jobs and a bank account?

Yes.

 

• Give SSA 2 weeks to produce an SSN card after arrival, if one fails to arrive, visit SSA office and apply for one using the visa and passport as evidence of work authorization, and ID (Passport).
• Yes can take a job using the visa, Per form I-9 used by employers, work auth is indicated by the visa with I-551 notation, passport for ID, and SSN card.
• Banks tend to require a SSN to open or be added to an account, my bank did not. Another issue with some Banks is if your SSN is very new, SSA may have not updated the list that some banks use to verify the number, so even with a number it may take a few weeks or a month or so to open or get added to an account.

Ref I-9 Page 9 chart. Column A #3

 

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-9.pdf

[wannagohome]

Thanks for the great info!

[Randy W]

What is the process and timing to get a SSN? We are just trying to plan. Thanks

 

 

If you're in a hurry for the SSN, you might try dropping by the SS office BEFORE the 2 weeks - if the account shows up in the SS' computers, it's good to go. But you may have to make another trip if it hadn't shown up.

[tsap seui]

IF you have a local SSA office, wait a week after your wife's POE and go visit them....I signed the paper (can't remember which one in the immigration application process) to "automatically" have SSA send my wife and son SS cards but didn't trust that it would happen, so I took them in to the SSA office.

 

Our bank needed SS numbers to open an account, we were still on the plane from Beijing, rolling up to our gate in Dulles airport and my wife started buzzing me about when could she go look for a job, and I wanted to start them both on getting a credit history...so off to the local SSA office we went.

 

In the SSA office you will have to get a person who knows and understands immigration (most of the teller window agents have no clue). We waited around a bit and got seats in front of another window where a young lady who knew immigration protocol interviewed us. She got onto the USCIS computer and searched to see if my family had been entered into the USCIS computer...from their POE. We were too early. So the lady took my phone number and said she would look on the USCIS computer each day until she found their entry, upon which she would take the info there and make SS cards for them both. It took a total of something like 6 or 7 days for their info from POE to show up on the USCIS computer and as soon as it did the very nice and caring SSA lady made new cards and sent them to us.

 

Even if you personally worked at the SSA and were in a hurry to get a SS card for your loved one, the above is how the system works for SS cards...the SSA MUST must await your wife's entry into the USCIS computer before they can issue a card...some POE workers do it quickly, some...well, you would think they were asleep at the wheel. I never trusted that governmental workers, just because I had checked the box on some form for them to do so would EVER automatically send us SS cards. LOL

 

You want a card quickly for your wife? Wait 3 or 4 days from POE and go to the SSA in person, request someone who knows about IR-1 green cards (as we did in our case), POE, who can log onto the USCIS computer, etc etc... and git er done, bubba.

 

tsap seui

[credzba]

... we were still on the plane from Beijing, rolling up to our gate in Dulles airport and my wife started buzzing me about when could she go look for a job, and I wanted to start them both on getting a credit history...so off to the local SSA office we went.

...

 

tsap seui

 

This is very common, my wife did the exact same thing.

A question you might not think to ask is "When did you wife actually use her SS to get a job?"

I think for Tsap it is never, and for my wife it was months later before she could find a job.

 

There is enough fog in the move from China to USA that a few weeks really doesn't matter.

Everyone is so used to mashing that "get the visa through the government process" pedal, that when it actually happens they want to continue running full speed.

I believe the reality is 2 days, or 2 weeks, just after entry to US is not huge.

It is something you, obviously, don't want to ignore as the government may well forget your wife's ss card, but it is also no longer a full court press to get it done asap.

[tsap seui]

Yep, Wenyan never used the SS card to get a job....no one ever hired her from the many applications we submitted. LOL We used the card to quickly establish a credit history, open her own bank accounts, and put her name on the loan for her Winoma Helmsley "slum landord" business. Now she gets more banks trying to get her to take their credit cards than I do...LOL Better yet, she's gonna soon open her own reflexology type massage business...if they won't hire you, you start your own business...like I seem to remember Cred's wife did.

 

Anybody remember the ugly witch in NYC, Winoma (or something) Helmsley who had the slum landlord scandal years ago? Hilarious stuff, and what a pure bitch.

 

tsap seui