SS# for British Spouse with Green Card

Hi all,

Hoping someone who has moved back to the US with a Brit spouse can answer this question.

My husband has his green card, we went back to the US to claim his residency in March. Thought we were going to move back at the end of July but have decided to stay in the UK for a bit longer. When we were back there in March, we went to the local SS office to apply for his SS#, they said he would receive it in a few weeks (it was being mailed to my parents address). While we received his green card at that address, we never received his SS#. I would like to obtain it now so I can put him on my US bank account and other financial things and also have him ready to work when we return.

Question, would the US Embassy in London have his SS info now since he has been processed or do I have to go through another channel like contacting the main SS office in the states.

Thanks!

Jules

Hi Jules,

I don't know, but hopefully somebody else will be able to give you an answer as to what channel you need to go through to chase this up.

My husband already had his SSN from the 90's when he was working here on a job transfer...

Hi Kelly!

Thanks for your message!  Hope to get this sorted before we move back.   

Jules

I don't know if the US EMbassy would have his number, but I suspect they'd be a pain in the butt to get in touch with, as they seem to be about everything else!

We had to contact our local SS office to get Davids SS number, there wasn't any mistakes or anything about it, it is just apparently one of those things that get lost in the cracks and you have to remind them about! 

I'd call a US office, probably the one near where you claimed residency, and while they may not be able to give it to you over the phone (?) they can certainly get it in the works to mail another card out to the US address.

My husband got his within 7 days of applying.  The only thing is he couldn't send it to my mom's.  He had to have an address with his name on it.  So he went to the post office and opened a PO Box.  Still got it in 7 days even with that hassle.  Now he has a Post Office box in Roanoke Virginia that we will never need or use!

Perhaps that is a state to state thing then, because my husband had his SS card sent to my mom's house with no problems. It was the same address we had listed on our visa application (not that they knew that) - but still, they didn't have any problem with it. Hmmm...

I don't mean to alarm you, but if they said they were going to mail it you need to check and see if they did indeed mail it.  If it was mailed and you never received it, that's bad.  When you find out what the number is, I would check the work history and credit to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands while it was lost in the mail. 

Perhaps that is a state to state thing then, because my husband had his SS card sent to my mom's house with no problems. It was the same address we had listed on our visa application (not that they knew that) - but still, they didn't have any problem with it. Hmmm...

You might be right...we used my mom's address (which is not in Virginia) for his visa application with no problem, but he applied for his SSN in Roanoke.  Probably a Virginia thing.

Thanks all for your replies! 

Looks like yet another fun thing to deal with when it comes to immigration!  I will give the local SS office a call.

Jules

Hi Jules,

Here is a link I found to the Federal Benefits Unit at the US Embassy -- you may find it useful (if you haven't already contacted the SSA office in the States):

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/acs/fbu/fbuindex.htm

Looks like they wouldn't be able to give you the SSN over the phone, but if you could go in person they might be able to help.

Hope this info helps 

Thanks so much Yankee Rose! I will definitely give it a try!

Jules