---

Originally posted by LucyMO
here is my comment: there is no such thing as renewing someone's SSN.

---

---

Originally posted by syedraza70
hi all, i told her to wrote the whole thing so it make some sense. following is all what she wrote.

On January 16th ( Friday) someone broke into my place. One of the stolen things was my social security card. I went to the social security office in Beckley, carrying with me my international passport,I-20, I-94 form. After they looked at my papers and entered my data, a secondary verification request showed up on the screen. Then the person who was helping me told me that the admission numbers on my I-20 and my passport didn’t match plus the new admission number from my last entry to the country ( December 12, 2003). He advised me to go to INS in Charleston so they can decide which of the admission numbers they were going to use and hence to get a new social security card with my old number.

January 23 (Friday ) , I went to INS in Charleston with my friends. I went over there and showed my papers ( passport,I-20, I-94) to a lady explaining her that my SSN is stolen and the social security office in Beckley sent me to INS. As soon as she looked at my papers she asked me why I didn’t have any stamps on my passport, I-20 and I-94 form, then she said that I had to leave the country because I was illegal. She took my papers and she was gone more that one hour. Two gentlemen showed up after some time and asked me to follow them. One of the is a special agent ( Edwin De Quires ) who told me that I was under arrest. I started to cry because I was very upset and honestly I didn’t expect to hear something like that. I asked him why. He said that I violated the rules of INS and that I hadn’t been admitted properly to the country. Practically, they don’t have any records of me entering the United States. I took a semester off and I went home. I was out of the country between September 9 and December 12.

On December 12th I arrived on Newark airport, New Jersey. There was almost one hour delay of the overseas flight ( OK 0052 , Czech Airlines, coming from Prague ). Because of the flight I was very tired as it took around ten hours. I knew I had almost no time to catch the other plane, besides I didn’t want to stay all night long until the next day to get on another plane, so that’s why I was in a big hurry. I remember it took me like twenty minutes to get my luggage , meanwhile there was a lady who was asking all the passengers if there were any for connecting flights, she was just helping people and pointing them to the right way. Then she showed me where to go for the Immigration check. I prepared my passport, I-20,I- 94, the letter from the school saying why I went home and my boarding pass. As I went through the immigration, I gave the gentleman all the documents listed above. I remember it didn’t take him a long time looking at my papers. After a very while he gave them back to me as giving me a plastic folder as well saying that I can put them inside so I won` t lose any of the papers. Then he said that I could go pointing me to the EXIT. I was a little surprised that the check through the Immigration took such a short time but I assumed that if he let me go that meant that everything was fine. I didn’t even bother checking my papers because an authority representative had already seen them and I thought that there was no problem, so I just went through the EXIT heading to the place where I left my luggage and then to the gates. I had another two connecting flights from Newark until I reached my final destination which was Charleston, WV. I had a connecting flight from Newark to Cincinnati. I was very afraid that I would miss the plane because there was almost no time. I was actually the last person who got on the plane in the last couple of minutes before it departured. It took me also some time when I went for the hand luggage check which was before I headed to the gates. I was already in the system that there was something wrong but nobody stopped me on the airports.

When INS arrested me , I asked if I explain what happened. I was tired of the flight, I was in a hurry, I was worried that I was going to miss the plane. According to INS I just walked away and I didn’t show up for a secondary verification as I was told to do so. But actually I didn’t hear him ( the person from the Immigration) telling me to go for a secondary verification. All I heard was that I could go. Then as I didn’t show up, they put me in the system as a person who they were looking for. I can`t imagine that they will tell me to go to the Immigration for a secondary verification and I will just walk away. Then I will get myself into trouble, I will “ do my best� to lose my student visa, then I will go to INS and practically tell them to send me in jail. It doesn’t make sense to me at all.

If I didn’t have my social security card stolen, I would never go to the social security office and then to INS and I would never be aware that there was such a huge problem until the time I decide to go home and get the problem on the airport. So when I went to the social security office in Beckley, the person who was helping me looked at my admission numbers on the I-20 and my passport. Then I realized that there was a mistake. The admission number from my previous entry is 27*********. I arrived on JFK airport January 10. 2003. The immigration representative who was checking my papers wrote the admission number on my I- 20, then she wrote it one more time above my student visa. As far as I know, the university issued new

I-20s in the summer 2003 because all the universities ,colleges and INS were going to share the same data and information and in that way they could keep a good track of every international student in the United States. But when my I- 20 was reissued, the person who entered my data made a mistake typing a wrong admission number which appears to be 07********* now. So this is what I think happened.

I arrived on Newark airport, showed my papers, the immigration saw different admission numbers on my old and new I-20s and that’s why they probably asked me to go for a secondary verification which I obviously didn’t hear. That’s why he didn’t stamp my I-20, my passport and my new I-94 form as he was expecting that on the secondary verification they would make it clear why my admission numbers don’t match as they are supposed to be the same. Besides, when he told me that I could go, I assumed that everything was fine and that there wouldn’t be any problem.

The special agent from INS in Charleston told me that I had to go to register with INS every first Wednesday each month until the hearing . I am illegal right now and I was threatened by INS that I might go to jail and I will go to jail if I don’t show up for the registration for some reason but i` ll do my best to be there always on time.

I tried to explain the coordinator of the international students what happened. I tried to explain that a part of the problem and the whole situation is because of the wrong admission numbers on my I-20 which the university issued me. exception of Mr. Edwin De Quires ( the special agent) told me that I was listed as a wanted person in the Immigration system. Since every university shares the same data and information with INS, Mountain State University is supposed to know that I have such a problem. It` s their responsibility to inform the students about this kind of matters. I was not even aware of the fact that I had to give my fingerprints on the airport plus a picture of me. That rule was only for particular countries and Bulgaria was not one of them. This rule has been dropped and now every international who enters the country has to follow this procedure. I just learned that last week. Even when I came back from home I asked if I have to go to INS and register that I came back. I was told that it was fine and I didn’t need to do that.

I am just a student and it is not my job to know the regulations of INS. That’s why every university has a coordinator and a bunch of other people responsible for making sure that we , the internationals, are aware of what we have to do. I enrolled for the spring semester and there was no problem. I think I made a mistake by not getting so much suspicious regarding the Immigration check. I should have asked why they let me go so easily. Obviously, they didn’t let me go but that’s how the misunderstanding happened. But I also think I am not responsible for someone`s negligence and it is not fair to pay because of someone.

Right now I am illegal, I might lose my student visa or get deported just because someone made a mistake issuing my I-20 and then not letting me know what i`m supposed to do. I was out of the country and for three months things have changed. That’s why every institution has an international department so they can help the international students being comfortable with the rules of the country and not getting them into troubles. That’s not the first time things like this happened.

I have entered the country three times and the previous two I had no problem. I have everything that is needed to be admitted but right now as I have nothing stamped, the misunderstanding is going to cost me a lot. Besides, as I mentioned in the beginning there was a burglary in my place, I had some of my most important documents stolen plus all of my money and I would never violate any rule because I just came here to study and to get a good education not to go to jail.

---

---

Originally posted by LucyMO
a person on F-1 coming back within 5 months to the same school or a different school will have the same admission number. I have gone out of the country and back 4 times in 9 years, and every time the printed number on I-94 was crossed out and the same number from my first I-94 (which was written down in my passport by the officer) was written in by hand every time I crossed the border.
I do have stamps on the last pages of my passports indicating the date and the port of entry and departure.
I am an F-1 student.
Get someone from your International Office to help you and get a lawyer.

---