user77575775

What other evidence would be required to search/apply for work?
Utility bill? Would venhicle insurance be accepted .. it's currently the only thing in my name (and spouse name).

I dont' have an Ohio Licence yet nor SSN.

Pulaski

With your I-551 stamp you can legally work immediately, literally right there in the airport, once you have cleared immigration - legally nothing else is required.

I started work six days after entering the US with an I-551 stamp in my passport, and before I got my SSN, and that wasn't a cash-in-hand job, it was a proper career job with a multinational corporation.

"Searching" for work? You don't even need a visa, you can do that, legally, on a VWP visit. ..... You just can't sign a contract and start working until you have your I-551 stamp.

civilservant

I agree with Pulaski, I am not really sure why you think you need anything else. Now the company may take some convincing of course if you where to find work, but the fact is that the I-9 has an option for an 1-551 holder on it, so you just tick that.

The visa and the stamp are the evidence of status until your card arrives (or 1 year passes)

petitefrancaise

I'm just going to pop this in here...
a few years ago my DD was advised by the careers team at her university to put the following sentence on her resume "legally allowed to work in the USA". It doesn't contain any of the trigger words which might get your resume kicked back by an automated system and yet answers the question that any human looking at it might have about your immigration status when all of your qualifications/work experience is from outside the USA.
Don't put "visa" or anything else like that in the resume...

civilservant

This is actually really good advice. I never had to bother since my first job was right across the street, and I've been at that employer (in various roles across a couple of locations) for 7 years now, but for someone that has to supply a resume that is not part of an immediate 'face to face' this would work well.

Pulaski

My first job was found for me by a recruitment agency, that handled any visa/ work authorization concerns and questions, and back then a lot of the leg-work in setting up interviews was done by the agent by phone and in face-to-face meetings. So I assume that my status as the spouse of a USC with a visa in the works, was easily explained, and accepted in good faith based on the reputation of the recruitment agent, and led to me having three job offers on the table before my visa was approved, which was how I came to have a job waiting for me when I arrived in the US.