Friday, June 3, 2011

Applied for SSN

Well, yesterday marked 3 weeks since my POE. I read on VJ a lot that if you checked off on the DS-230/DS-260 for an SSN and don't receive it after 3 weeks from POE that you should go to a local SSA office and apply in person. So that's what I did today.

After lunch, Ben drove me to the SSA office here in town. I explained to the lady there that I had to come to the USA on an immigrant visa and still hadn't received an SSN, after 3 weeks of waiting. So she asked for my visa, so I gave her my passport. A few moments later, she requested for my birth certificate, which I brought with me as well. She then asked me some questions, like my address, if I ever had a US driver's license before, if I had applied for college in the US, if I ever had a checking or savings account in the US, if I had ever filed taxes, if I had ever been registered to vote, etc etc. After she finished asking all the questions, she printed out a form with just my basic info on it (name, date of birth, parents' names, address, phone number) and asked me to verify if everything was correct. It was. She took the paper back and printed something else out. She told me that I should receive my SSN in the mail within 10 days. If I didn't receive it in 2 weeks, she told me to call the number that was listed on the paper she gave me. All in all, it took about 15 minutes.

So, back to the waiting game. I'm hoping the card arrives next week sometime. I really want to apply to school for the fall semester and then apply for a credit card, so I can finally buy a computer. And then of course, find a job.

~Lindsay

10 comments:

  1. So from your experiences when my wife has her interview in Montreal in July and they make us fill out the manual DS-230, I will have her leave the SSN checkmarks as no. And just do it manually as soon as we get back. I know we can get it way faster on our own here.

    Also if your going to school you should check the residency requirements at your local college!

    They often require a year of living there before they consider you a resident, and that could mean the difference of 1000 a semester local vs 5000 as "out of state" resident!

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  2. Yeah, it'd probably be better if you didn't check off the SSN question on the DS-230. You'd still have to wait maybe a week just for USCIS to get the paperwork from POE and put her in the system, but you won't have to wait like 3 weeks like I did.

    As for the residency question, it's just a tech school and not a college or university anything. They're really tiny, and they don't seem picky at all. There's no question on the application about whether I'm a resident. They only ask if I'm a US citizen. And looking at their tuition costs, they don't even have a separate column for out-of-state residents, so I think I'm fine. Thanks though for mentioning it, I hadn't even thought about that. Glad the school I'm going to isn't strict :)

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  3. im so glad i read your post. ive been waiting for the ssn card since poe. i remember checking the box asking whether i wanted them to give me an ssn once i get my card. but its been over 4 weeks since i arrived and i havent received the ssn card.

    ill be going to the ssn office tomorrow so i apply for mine. thanks for this informational post.

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  4. Yes, since it's been more than 3 weeks since your POE, get your butt to your local SSA office to apply. Make sure to bring your passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate and green card if you've gotten it already. Once you apply, it'll be about a week or two to receive it in the mail.

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  5. hey thanks a lot! i appreciate it!=)

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  6. My wife has her interview today and is planning on comming to the US at the end of this month if everything goes well.The problem is that she has alreday checked off the box on the DS-230 SSN question. Now once she arrives in the US should i wait the 3 weeks to see if we will get the SSN card or should I take her to the SSN office right away and apply in person?

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  7. If we apply for the SSN at the SSN office before the 3 weeks will there be any confusion, cause delay or will two SSN be issued?

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  8. Definitely wait at least 3 weeks. Going before then can cause problems, with the possibility of two SSNs being issued. Also, going right away, she might not be in the system yet, so they wouldn't be able to issue one anyways. Just wait 3 weeks as the card can be issued and sent before then.

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