How likely is it to have you immigrant status wrong on you social-security record?

A

AmerCan

Registered Users (C)
Spouse's swearing should be in the next month of so. Going over the post swearing in To Do List, we were talking about her social security info needing updating:

Speaking in purely hypothetical terms: how likely is it that they would have the wrong status on her file? She got her number 10 years ago when she became an LPR--after she got her greencard. Going over the list of documentation required to get a number, how likely would it be for them to have her listed as "citizen" all this time and not "legal resident?"

a. If the status was screwed up shouldn't it have kicked on some background check over the years?

b. Should it have shown up / flagged on her background checks performed by the USCIS when she applied for US citizenship?

c. If the status is screwed up with social-security, is it a big deal or do we just fix it and go on with life?
 
If it was buggered, shouldn't the USCIS have seen it when they did their background checks? If it is buggered, is it a problem seeing as we wouldn't have known about it? Even if she had ticked the wrong box on a form, all her supporting documents would have made it clear she isn't/wasn't a USC at the time.

We're second guessing ourselves after her interview: She doesn't drive, has no interest, never has, only has a state ID. The AO assumed she was lying/concealing a DUI/DWI conviction. She explained to him why she doesn't drive (city girl, no interest in it, etc), and he said he wouldn't need to follow up on it if her background check is clean--but he went ahead and recommended her for approval. So now we're second guessing everything.
 
I don't see what you're worried about if she was recommended for approval. Wait a few weeks for the oath latter. Your speculation on whether or not the wrong box was ticked for social security is just phishing.
 
Even if she had buggered up on the form, there's no "case" (to use a word) against her unless she had submitted fake evidence documents to the SSA--which we know for 100% she didn't do. If her status was buggers on her SSA account, it should have been caught by the USCIS; they would have found it and questioned her on it--if I understand their background checks work.

I know: be happy she got approved. And I am. But I'm a worrier by nature (I double and triple guess myself constantly), and when something comes out of left field (like the issue with her ID) it just makes the issue worse.
 
I've never heard of the SSA marking someone as a citizen when they become LPRs. When she becomes a citizen, she'll see that they ask for proof of citizenship before changing her status. Even if something was marked wrong, the evidence attached would have suggested otherwise.
 
cafeconleche said:
I've never heard of the SSA marking someone as a citizen when they become LPRs. When she becomes a citizen, she'll see that they ask for proof of citizenship before changing her status. Even if something was marked wrong, the evidence attached would have suggested otherwise.
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That's what I keep thinking:I know you can't get a card with just a state ID card--you can't even replace one with just that or just a marriage license (ours has her country of birth listed on it). You have to show some for of proof of legal residence or citizenship. even if you tick the wrong box, you'd have to present fraudulent evidence and lie about your place of birth on the form to make them think you were a USC.

And I keep thinking: if it was fubared, it should have kicked up and flagged when teh USCIS did the background checks for her N-400 application.
 
If you are worried about this why don't you have your wife call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 and ask them? She could just say she was waiting for the naturalization case to be completed and she wanted to confirm that her status is still listed as LPR. This should not cause any issues. She should be factual and not mention any of her worries.
 
We're thinking about doing that this week. If it is screwed up, can she get in trouble with the USCIS over it? Or would they have caught it during the naturalization process.

Thing is, the only way I could see it being (hypothetially) screwed up is if she had lied about her place of birth and used documents that said she was a USC on her application for a SS#. She would had to show her greencard (immigration status), birth certificate or passport (age & / Identity), and her state ID (Identity). She couldn't have gotten the number any other way, no thing she has for documentation remotely states she's a USC.

So if it is (hypothetically) screwed up, there shouldn't be any fault on her part, it would be the SSA office that had to had screwed up putting it in.
 
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AmerCan said:
We're thinking about doing that this week. If it is screwed up, can she get in trouble with the USCIS over it? Or would they have caught it during the naturalization process.

Thing is, the only way I could see it being (hypothetially) screwed up is if she had lied about her place of birth and used documents that said she was a USC on her application for a SS#. She would had to show her greencard (immigration status), birth certificate or passport (age & / Identity), and her state ID (Identity). She couldn't have gotten the number any other way, no thing she has for documentation remotely states she's a USC.

So if it is (hypothetically) screwed up, there shouldn't be any fault on her part, it would be the SSA office that had to had screwed up putting it in.
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Rather than speculate, call them and ask. In the unlikely event that she is listed as USC, ask the SSA whether they have any information why she is listed as that and whether her status was ever changed from LPR to USC.
 
natur08 said:
Rather than speculate, call them and ask. In the unlikely event that she is listed as USC, ask the SSA whether they have any information why she is listed as that and whether her status was ever changed from LPR to USC.
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That's the game play, pretty much.

* Likely hood of it being buggered? I'd say <1 out of 10. After all she'd would have had to lied about place of birth and shown false documents that would look like she was a USC; cause the only other way it could be botched is down to some database error on their part, not ours.

If there is a (hypothetical) mistake:

* Effect on USCIS? Wouldn't that go back to (1) Them reporting their (hypothetical) mistake, (2) proving that we knew about the (hypothetical) mistake? So likelihood of either? Unknown. I don't think it'd be something that if (hypothetically) the SSA did report it to the USCIS would lead to a revocation attempt against her citizenship.
 
Nope, no joke. Just over thinking things: a lot. It's my nature: one thing goes wonky (the issue with the AO thinking she had lied about a DUI conviction), I start going back over every, damn little, detail, of anything remotely related to said core issue.

I know, that there is nearly a 0% chance of her SSA record having the wrong status (not without a whole lot of lying and false documents that never happened). I know in the 0.0001% likelihood it is buggered there should be nothing to it other than them updating their files and it going no further than that; I know USCIS, if they were ever notified of the mistake, would never go through the trouble of revoking his citizenship--and if they did we'd likely win in court. It's the 0.0001% that keeps gnawing at my overthinking (hell, I'll call it paranoid) nature.
 
AmerCan said:
I know USCIS, if they were ever notified of the mistake, would never go through the trouble of revoking his citizenship
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USCIS could not unless they had the SS-5 where the alien made a false claim to US citizenship under penalty of perjury. They can't revoke citizenship because some clerk mistyped things into a computer.

It's the 0.0001% that keeps gnawing at my overthinking (hell, I'll call it paranoid) nature.
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You need to stop worrying.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
USCIS could not unless they had the SS-5 where the alien made a false claim to US citizenship under penalty of perjury. They can't revoke citizenship because some clerk mistyped things into a computer.



You need to stop worrying.
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That's what I keep going over and over in my head: did she tick the wrong box on the SS-5. But even then, it would have been caught unless (and we know she didn't) she lied about where she was born and lied (and had documents to prove the lie) about her immigrant status. Somewhere between when we talked to the Clerk and when they processed it, if the immigrant status selected and the evidence provided mismatched it should have caused a denial of her SS#. It wouldn't be enough for her to have checked off the wrong box, all the underlying evidence and the rest of the form would have to supported that too.

Plus, I keep thinking: when the USCIS did her background checks, shouldn't her (hypothetically) being listed as USC in the SSA computers tossed up a flag in their background checks?
 
Several of my F-1 friends got SS cards without the "valid for work only with INS authorization" line, this can only mean that the clerk mistakenly marked them as citizens in the system, and I'm pretty sure my friends weren't stupid enough to misrepresent themselves as such. Before 9/11 these mistakes were common, as the focus of the SSA was administration of benefit (still is, actually) rather than enforcement of immigration policy. It would not surprise me if they still make this kind of mistakes.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
 
Hexa said:
Several of my F-1 friends got SS cards without the "valid for work only with INS authorization" line, this can only mean that the clerk mistakenly marked them as citizens in the system, and I'm pretty sure my friends weren't stupid enough to misrepresent themselves as such. Before 9/11 these mistakes were common, as the focus of the SSA was administration of benefit (still is, actually) rather than enforcement of immigration policy. It would not surprise me if they still make this kind of mistakes.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
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Well that's one thing we've been real down careful about: The wife has never once claimed citizenship anywhere. We've been real careful about that.

I don't even see how the SSA stuff could be (hypothetically) screwed up: She would have had to lie about her place of birth, then shown a document that showed her as a USC citizen. Both of which we know she didn't do. Even if she had ticked the wrong box, by accident it should have kicked out when the supporting evidence didn't support a citizenship claim.
 
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AmerCan said:
Well that's one thing we've been real down careful about: The wife has never once claimed citizenship anywhere. We've been real careful about that.

I don't even see how the SSA stuff could be (hypothetically) screwed up: She would have had to lie about her place of birth, then shown a document that showed her as a USC citizen. Both of which we know she didn't do. Even if she had ticked the wrong box, by accident it should have kicked out when the supporting evidence didn't support a citizenship claim.
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I would hazard a guess that the SS computer system is a bit old, so it probably doesn't have sophisticated safeguards. The computer system doesn't check the supporting evidence, the clerk does. For the vast majority of his time the clerk deals with citizens rather than foreigners, so it's an easy mistake to make.
 
We called the local office: When we go to update along with her certificate, they want to see a copy of her old greencard, her passport, state ID, birth cert, and marriage cert. As for her status, they can't give that info over the phone.

Hexa said:
I would hazard a guess that the SS computer system is a bit old, so it probably doesn't have sophisticated safeguards. The computer system doesn't check the supporting evidence, the clerk does. For the vast majority of his time the clerk deals with citizens rather than foreigners, so it's an easy mistake to make.
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So if it was screwed up (her being listed as a citizen for the last 10 years when she should have been listed as an LPR): would there be any blow back from the USCIS? Would they come after my wife for misrepresentation on her application (the whole have you ever claimed to be a USC question)? Or would it likely just be something that we'd fix and not have to worry about any legal troubles from the USCIS?
 
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