Southy_SWFC

Whilst it is obviously frustrating that there are so many hurdles to jump, it's a good time to be in Florida as it's starting to cool down. Spend some time checking out the cold drink situation between SSN, cars etc

mandela

Cheers guys, some helpful stuff.

Not encouraging to hear about a 2 and a half month delay on the SSN due to a mismatch because that's exactly the reason I was given...although he seemed to think it was due to immigration systems not being updated in the 2 days between my arrival and appointment. I'm going to pop back in next week, as advised.

Choose an apartment today but obviously will fail all checks as I basically don't exist here so the lease agent has to do some work for us. I just hope it goes through as we're basically completely blocked without a proof of address.

Still no bites (or even feedback) from a job.

Hopefully this updated serves as a "it could always be worse" example if they're feeling frustrated about their move.

yellowroom

Ah, ok, that makes sense. I had visions of you just presenting the tiny bit of paper. Mind you, I have no idea how that tiny bit of paper proved my id any more than the (non-accepted) UK government photo id I presented (ie driving license*), but there you go.

*My UK driving license was accepted as evidence I had enough skills to skip the learner's requirements for a Virginia license, just not as proof of my identity. My argument was that surely if they accepted it as proof of my driving ability, they are by default accepting it as proof of me being me. This got me no-where whatsoever. It's 5 years ago now - I should really learn to let it go...

yellowroom

I was on a different visa to you, but was advised to wait 10 working days between arrival and going to the SS office to allow for updates of the computer system (ie immigration arrival information percolating through to SS systems). I don't know if that's still the case.

In my case, I never found out what the mismatch was - the guy in the SS office turned his monitor round to show me the error messages as we went through and double checked he had entered all the information correctly. We suspected that the immigration officer at the airport had mis-typed or entered something incorrectly on my arrival and that was enough for the mismatch.

Once you're in that process, there is nothing whatsoever you can do about it, you just have to wait for the wheels to turn. Keep on keeping on!

RICH

Not my experience, but someone I know got an apt in St Pete for 1 month in advance just recently. paid $40 for "background check" whatever that means.

mandela

It looks like we've got an apt. Have to pay a months rent as security deposit, which is fine. Now we just have to get our wire transfer account activated which has been delayed until we can provide proof of address...which we can't as we're in an airbnb. They've sent a code out in the post so we'll have to contact the owner to come and open their mailbox for us, which isn't ideal.
Hopefully after that I can update the social security office and start the drivers license process.

Pulaski

Something like this.

RICH

I don't suppose that would be much help for a new immigrant, except that nothing "bad" would come back. It might be enough for a landlord.

Pulaski

I think that it is just something to check off on the list of things to do for property managers before they offer a lease.

mandela

Just a quick one on the recruitment process, if anyone has experience...

My wife went for an interview (and a second) and today was told that they're progressing her so asked for her references (who they've already contacted) and her salary requirements.
Now, they haven't offered her the job. Is it safe to assume she has it or do they still have multiple candidates at this point for whom they request references and salary expectations?

I've had no such luck in my job search but did get my SSN through and have booked my driving test for next week.

Noorah101

No.

Rene

Pulaski

I think it is highly likely she will be offered a job, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Certainly when I am hiring, I am not going to mess around with references and salary expectations if I wasn't working on an offer. By that time I would only deal with my #1 pick, only moving on to #2 if #1 either blew up (I discovered something ugly) or they turned down the offer.

mandela

Exactly how I've done it and been done in Scotland but I wasn't sure if the process was somehow different here. Still trying to manage expectations here but hopefully it's in the bag. She's not asking for anything outwith the advertised pay bracket and her references are sound so here's hoping it's made official shortly.

dj6372

I'm with P, I wouldn't be faffing around with references unless I was offering the position.

BTW its not unusual to be called for 3 interviews!

The wheels of industry can be painfully slow here in Murica.

mandela

Aye, I'm learning that. I've had some contact with an Agent who is putting me forward for a position and he's told me there will be an interview with HR, one with my potential boss, one with her peer then a 3 hour onside assessment. Seems extreme but it is what it is.
I've also had an online interview (just 4 questions I had to answer. One of which was "if I gave you 1 million dollars and told you only had until the end of the day to spend it what would you spend it on?) which I've just this minute found out I've been progressed to a phone interview for. I'm thinking best case I could be looking at another 4-5 weeks before I'm in work which isn't great as my savings dwindle...even longer if neither of these jobs work out and both are early stages so I can't be too hopefully.

...the missus getting her job will relieve some of the pressure though.