Gilnat

I am helping a friend of mine who is an immigrant, and English challenged. He is here in the USA. on a visitors visa, and would like to obtain a social security card. He already tried on his own to get one and was turned down, was told a visitor is not elegible for a social security card. Is my belief in the right circumstances one would be granted. Would someone tell me what these right circumstances are?
Please send replies to [email protected]

Sincerely, Todd

Patrick

immigrant -> visitors visa ?

He is either an immigrant and allowed to get a SSN or here on a visitors visa and thus not allowed to get a SSN.

Only legal immigrants (whether they are perm or temp residents) are allowed to get a SSN, there is no reason for someone who is here on a visitiors visa to have a SSN!

Is this a wind up

Patrick

suebo

He would at least have to have a working visa, you can not get one on a visitors or dependants visa.

JerseyBoy

To get a SSN, he needs to take his work visa, along with a letter from his employer, to the nearest SS office, and in NJ, it takes about 2-3 weeks.

tony_2003

Man tell him to go through the proper channels! It took me a proverbial sh1tload of time, money and greif to become a permanent resident here.

NC Penguin

What makes your friend believe he is entitled to a SSN?

I would suggest you and/or your friend read posts on the US Immigration forum to get an idea about who's entitled to a SSN.



NC Penguin

Pulaski

There are plenty of people who are in the US legally, who "need" a social security number e.g. to get a drivers licence (some states won't issue a licence unless you have one), even they can't get one.

Your friend, the "immigrant" on a visitors visa, will be lucky if he doesn't get himself deported!

Yosser

Getting a SSN is not just a case of walking into a office and asking for one, there is alot more to it than that, I suggest if you are not a immigration lawyer (if you are, then you must be pretty piss poor one to ask, a bunch of half wits like us.) to leave it well alone, before you get into trouble yourself.

This isn't bloody England ya know, where you can walk off a bannana boat and ask for a bloody council house with all the trimmings, and a nice little dole check to boot

Vicky88

Have to agree that without the appropriate visa entitling your friend to work there isn't going to be any SS number issued.

Interested

He is isn't legally allowed to have an SSN.

However it is very easy to obtain one illegally and many other ID documents. Which is worrying!

Int.

Pulaski

They will work for employment purposes, or so I heard recently, as employers are not obligated to check IDs and credentials of prospective employees.

However I doubt that they would work for such things as getting a drivers licence as I am sure that government (including state government) will check their validity, at least since Virginia ****ed up and issued drivers licences without proper checks to several of the 9/11 hijackers.

JerseyBoy

I don't know about that. I have all the proper documents, and still have trouble getting anything!

I suppose it depends on the circles one mixes in

Vicky88

Jersey Boy

I think it is taking a bit longer to get a SS card than it used to because maybe they are checking things a bit more carefully.

When we got ours 5 years ago, cards arrived in the mail within a week. Friend has been waiting over 3 weeks now and nothing to date.

JerseyBoy

I'm sure you're right.

The employees for the company I came over here with used to get theirs on the spot in the SS office, but it took me 8 weeks when I came over in February.

You can imagine it's tough when you have a work visa, are doing the job, but can't get paid!

I understand that the delay now is while the INS process people's entry to the country, and wait until it flags on the SS computer.