a question about SSN

[blueheart73]

I'm K1, in NY state. I went to SSN office to apply SSN twice, but a woman always asked me why I needed a SSN and told me that I couldn't apply until my "status changed"! Now my fiancee and I just registered, and we will have a ceremony soon, can I go to apply SSN after get married? If the woman still say No to me, can I persuade her by some documents? Also I heard from a friend that I must get the SSN before I-94 expires (mine will expire within 40 days), or else I would really have to wait until I got AOS, is it true? What paper work should I do after get married besides to apply AOS and SSN, can I apply a permission to go to work? How long do you estimate to get AOS? can I return to China for some time before I get AOS? Thanks much!

[Trigg]

I'm K1, in NY state. I went to SSN office to apply SSN twice, but a woman always asked me why I needed a SSN and told me that I couldn't apply until my "status changed"! Now my fiancee and I just registered, and we will have a ceremony soon, can I go to apply SSN after get married? If the woman still say No to me, can I persuade her by some documents? Also I heard from a friend that I must get the SSN before I-94 expires (mine will expire within 40 days), or else I would really have to wait until I got AOS, is it true? What paper work should I do after get married besides to apply AOS and SSN, can I apply a permission to go to work? How long do you estimate to get AOS? can I return to China for some time before I get AOS? Thanks much! 

You can apply for SSN before you are married. But this is a temporary SSN that doesn't grant work privileges. When you are married and apply for AOS, you can also apply for EAD at the same time. This will give you authorization to work. You must apply for and receive Advanced Parole (AP) in order to go to China and return to the US. A K1 visa is single entry and if you go to China before you are granted AP, you will not be allowed to return to the US without going through the entire visa process all over again-God forbid anyone has to do that. It appears that the SSN people have told you wrong

[tonado]

You can try another SS office.

[blueheart73]

Thanks for your reply. I think the SSN officer must doesn't know K1 much, maybe next time when I go there again, if it's still her there, she would give me the same answer. Really, can I try a different SSN office, don't I need to apply in the local one?

[tywy_99]

K-1 sure does have it easier than a K-3 when it comes to SSN....

 

My wife and I went down to the SSA building this afternoon to apply. After an hour wait our number was finally called, "number 53"...lol. I told the nice, big fat lady that we are here to apply for a SSN; I have my wife's EAD card. She looked at it and then asked, " DO you have any other picture ID of your wife?" I said, " I have her Chinese passport with her K-3 visa stamped inside. Do you need any more ID than that?"....geeeez, some ppl!...lol. She took it and made copies of it all. Came back a few minutes later and said that they will need further verification from CIS. She said it will take 10 days to verify and another ten days to mail the SSN if all checks out good. So, I guess in 3 weeks we will get the card in the mail, I hope.

When this lady was talking to us, her manager walked up wanting to see my wife's K-3 visa. I showed it to her. I said, " She's good, in fact....she's spectacular!"..........

[Trigg]

K-1 sure does have it easier than a K-3 when it comes to SSN....

 

My wife and I went down to the SSA building this afternoon to apply. After an hour wait our number was finally called, "number 53"...lol. I told the nice, big fat lady that we are here to apply for a SSN; I have my wife's EAD card. She looked at it and then asked, " DO you have any other picture ID of your wife?" I said, " I have her Chinese passport with her K-3 visa stamped inside. Do you need any more ID than that?"....geeeez, some ppl!...lol. She took it and made copies of it all. Came back a few minutes later and said that  they will need further verification from CIS. She said it will take 10 days to verify and another ten days to mail the SSN if all checks out good. So, I guess in 3 weeks we will get the card in the mail, I hope.

When this lady was talking to us, her manager walked up wanting to see my wife's K-3 visa. I showed it to her. I said, " She's good, in fact....she's spectacular!"..........

K1's may not have it that easy. My fiancee came to the US March 20th. we were married March 24th. I applied for SSN April 10th. they said 3 week. May 27th I called and they said they had lost the application and I had to come to the office and apply again. June 1st I went to the SSN office as instructed and the lady who lost my file said she was sure she had sent it in and that I could not file again until late June. Now, my wife has been in the states for 89 days and can't get SSN without EAD--and the beat goes on

[se_lang]

http://www.k1k3.com/stuff/SSNMemo.pdf

[Trigg]

http://www.k1k3.com/stuff/SSNMemo.pdf

Great info and from the horses mouth. Now if i can get them to understand that my application has been lost, but then they would have to admit to being mistaken---naw, ain't gonna happen. I just gotta keep reminding myself that the SSA works for the same beurocratic boss that the BCIS works for--dejavu all over again.

[frank1538]

I made the mistake of thinking that we would wait for EADs and then apply for Social Security Cards for Jingwen and the kids. In retrospect, I wishl I had applied for the cards when the family first arrived.

 

Ninety days have passed since the filing for EADs, so I called USCIS and they said that the local office would issue interim EADs. Great I thought. Just to double check, I called SSA to verify that an interim EAD was sufficient to get SSNs since I'm not sure that an expired K-1 would be acceptable. The first lady I spoke to said I'm SOL - have to wait for the EAD. Got pissed and asked her for the number of the local SSA office nearest the house. "Sorry, the number is 1-800 blah blah blah." Hung up and called back and spoke with another lady. She said that a K-1 is okay to get a SSN but wasn't sure about an expired K-1. She said it would not make much sense for USCIS to issue an interim EAD and then not be able to work because SSA would not issue a card. But, she said I should check with the local office. Number please? (all SSA office numbers in Atlanta are unlisted). She gave me the local phone number.

 

Called the Atlanta satellite office and spoke to a nice lady. She agreed that it would not make sense for USCIS to issue an interim EAD for work and then not have SSA issue a card. But, then she said I must remember that I am dealing with the US government, so common sense does not always prevail. Her suggestion was to come by with all my paperwork, including a copy of the SSA policy memorandum re K-1.

 

So, bright and early Monday, we are headed down to USCIS to get interim EADs and then off to SSA to try to get cards for the family.

[frank1538]

Frank, Jingwen could have gotten a SSN card on her K-1 if flied for soon after her arrival; the K-2s could not without an EAD. Go figure.

 

The temp EADs should be sufficient to obtain the SSNs. The EAD is proof of the right to work and to do so, one must have an SSN. You shouldn't have any problem getting them.

Well gang, I can report that Jingwen and the kids have received their interim EADs and have applied for SSNs. The EAD adventure only took four hours - that's 3 hours and forty minutes of waiting and 20 minutes of actual processing. Since I haven't seen an EAD card before, I can't tell what makes the cards the family received "interim" other than the fact that they expire in 8 months.

 

With EADs in hand, we went over to SSA. Actually, they weren't in hand. Jingwen and KK, ever the fashion minded Asians, had worn shirts and pants without pockets, so they had left their EADs in the car and had to go back to get them. Add thirty minutes to the SSA process.

 

The EAD and passport were sufficient for them to get into the SSA system. This time the wait was only about 30 minutes. Now it's more wait time. The little handout said that foreign citizen SSNs will take at least 45 days to process.

 

Damn, the government sure makes it hard to work legally.