SSA Office Experience -- Confused: Please respond

W

WheresMahGreen

Registered Users (C)
Folks,
This past Friday I took my wife to the local SSA office to get her a new SS number. My wife arrived in the US a week ago as an FTJ beneficiary.
At the SSA office, the lady behind the counter looked at the stamp on my wife's passport and said that we should wait 21 (business) days prior to attempting to apply for an SSN. She told us to await some letter (not sure if she meant the welcome letter) with the number in it. She mentioned that if we don't receive it in the said number of days, we should approach the office again and get the card issued. When I asked her how long has that been the procedure, she said that this was initiated as of July last year.
Can someone please throw some light on this? Have any of you faced this before?
Thanks in advance.
 
WheresMahGreen said:
Folks,
This past Friday I took my wife to the local SSA office to get her a new SS number. My wife arrived in the US a week ago as an FTJ beneficiary.
At the SSA office, the lady behind the counter looked at the stamp on my wife's passport and said that we should wait 21 (business) days prior to attempting to apply for an SSN. She told us to await some letter (not sure if she meant the welcome letter) with the number in it. She mentioned that if we don't receive it in the said number of days, we should approach the office again and get the card issued. When I asked her how long has that been the procedure, she said that this was initiated as of July last year.
Can someone please throw some light on this? Have any of you faced this before?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Don't know how relevant it is to your case, but the SSA office needs to get the status about the Permanent Residents from the INS Office before they can issue a SS Card.

So, that could be the reason why they asked you to come later.

Raju
 
I faced a similar situation when my wife returned a few weeks after I did following the CP interview. This happened 2 months ago. We went to the local SSA office to apply for SSN 3 days after my wife's date of entry.

The SSA person at that time said that my wife's USCIS file would be accessible to SSA roughly 10 days from her date of entry. He accepted her application but said that he would have to wait till the 10 day limit is over. He could access my file immediately because I had entered the country earlier. My wife got her SSN in 3 weeks.

So this seems to be the case in some states but nothing to worry about.

Hope this helps.

KAT02.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for your replies

Actually, the situation described by the lady behind the counter at the SSA office seems to be different than USCIS updating SSA registry. I looked up some info on the SSA website and learnt that the SSN will be allocated as part of the immigration process.
If you noticed the form DS 230, the applicant is expected to answer if he/she would like an SSN allocated upon lawful entry into the US. If the applicant answered in the affirmative, the Consular post will send the info to DHS and then DHS will inform SSA upon the entry into the US. This will automatically generate an SSN number for the new immigrant.
Of course, this is what is on paper. We all know the efficiency of USCIS. The lady says that since that is the recommended procedure these days, we will have to wait the prescribed 3 weeks prior to approaching a local SSA office.
 
WheresMahGreen,

As you said it is on paper.

Generally what I have read on this forum is that it rarely happens. So it would be better to go right about the time SSA official indicated.
 
In spite of checking the right boxes on the DS230 form, I decided to apply for my family's SSNs in person. Our POE was 1 April 2004 at Detroit. On 2 April 2004 we turned up at the SSA office near Naperville, IL, and the SSA officer accepted all our SSN applications. She was apparently able to retrieve our A numbers right away. In fact at the POE, the INS agent mentioned that we could apply for the SSNs right away. So I am rather surprised at these experiences posted by others. I guess that either I am lucky, or the Detroit POE is extra efficient in passing on the A numbers to the SSA.

- Prithis
 
prithis said:
In spite of checking the right boxes on the DS230 form, I decided to apply for my family's SSNs in person. Our POE was 1 April 2004 at Detroit. On 2 April 2004 we turned up at the SSA office near Naperville, IL, and the SSA officer accepted all our SSN applications. She was apparently able to retrieve our A numbers right away. In fact at the POE, the INS agent mentioned that we could apply for the SSNs right away. So I am rather surprised at these experiences posted by others. I guess that either I am lucky, or the Detroit POE is extra efficient in passing on the A numbers to the SSA.

- Prithis
Click to expand...
Nice to know. My POE will be DTW also .... :)
 
http://www.ssa.gov/ssnvisa/index.htm

This is the information I found on automatic SSN for new immigrants. I am not sure if my experience has anything to do with my luck or the efficiency of EWR staff. I think it is just a regulation now to wait 3 weeks before attempting to apply in person. We have seen how USCIS staff interpret instructions in an inconsistent manner; I guess its the same in the SSA office.
 
The lady told me as of July last year. That's why I made the remark of the staff not interpreting the instructions consistently.

alren said:
Has it been changed or enforced post 4/1/2004 (when prithis got his done) ?
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I saw that SSA website and thought that my new SS Card will show up automatically. But one colleague of mine, who did his CP before me, did not get his card 2 months after the DOE and so he went to the local SSA office. He took the Soc. Security info document that he received at the consulate that explained that new number/ card will be sent after 2-3 weeks. The officer at the local office simply ignored it and said that one has to apply in person regardless. Similar thing happened to me.

My wife was told at the POE that she could apply for SSN immediately with the I-551 stamp. The SSA application form says that the stamp itself is not a valid status document (the physical GC is!) and that SSA will have to verify the status through the computer.

Bottom line is that there is no standard procedure and there is no consistency in the process. So be prepared for the surprises and not stress about them.
 
SS Card Received

Looks like it worked well in my wife's case. We received her SS card last Friday. That was 2 weeks from her date of entry into the US. No action was required from our side other than marking the appropriate box in form DS 230.
 
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