Social Security number and Establishing Credit

[aftermath]

Hello,

My wife is in the process of obtaining her green card, but in the meanwhile, the government has issued her a work permit. She took the work permit to the Social Security office and they issued her a Social Security number and card. On the card, it states "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION".

Could we use this social security number to start establishing her credit?

Also, when she becomes a permanent resident, will they keep this number and change the status of it? Or will they issue her a new number?

Thank you all.

[Anonymous]

I would say yes.  That is strange that they stamped that on her SS card. That must be something new. My wife is TPS from Nicaragua and she has a SS card with nothing on it.

[aftermath]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would say yes. That is strange that they stamped that on her SS card. That must be something new. My wife is TPS from Nicaragua and she has a SS card with nothing on it.

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Could I ask what TPS stands for?

From doing research on the Social Security website, there are 3 types of social security numbers/cards:

1. "Valid for work only with DHS authorization" (stamped on card)
2. "Valid for work only with INS authorization." (stamped on card)
3. And the regular one that everyone else has.

[Takunda1]

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aftermath wrote:
Hello,

My wife is in the process of obtaining her green card, but in the meanwhile, the government has issued her a work permit. She took the work permit to the Social Security office and they issued her a Social Security number and card. On the card, it states "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION".

Could we use this social security number to start establishing her credit?

Also, when she becomes a permanent resident, will they keep this number and change the status of it? Or will they issue her a new number?

Thank you all.

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When she gets her GC, she can go back to the SS office and they'll issue her an unstamped card. The number she has been assigned is not going to change.  This is how they do it now to differentiate between leagl workers from illegal workers. So to answer your q, yes she can use this number to begin establishing her credit.

Also INS falls DHS (Department of Homeland Security). TPS stands for temporarily protected status. This is a status for people seeking asylum  in the US or for people that are running away from persecution in their own country.

Message Edited by Takunda1 on 06-22-2008 08:53 PM

[aftermath]

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@Takunda1 wrote:

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@aftermath wrote:
Hello,

My wife is in the process of obtaining her green card, but in the meanwhile, the government has issued her a work permit. She took the work permit to the Social Security office and they issued her a Social Security number and card. On the card, it states "VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION".

Could we use this social security number to start establishing her credit?

Also, when she becomes a permanent resident, will they keep this number and change the status of it? Or will they issue her a new number?

Thank you all.

---

When she gets her GC, she can go back to the SS office and they'll issue her an unstamped card. The number she has been assigned is not going to change. This is how they do it now to differentiate between leagl workers from illegal workers. So to answer your q, yes she can use this number to begin establishing her credit.

Also INS falls DHS (Department of Homeland Security). TPS stands for temporarily protected status. This is a status for people seeking asylum in the US or for people that are running away from persecution in their own country.

Message Edited by Takunda1 on 06-22-2008 08:53 PM

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Wow, that's what I call "knowledge"!

Thank you very much for all the helpful information. My wife thanks you as well.

Do you work for the government?

Message Edited by aftermath on 06-22-2008 09:30 PM

[llecs]

I wear many hats at the office, but one of those is HR. We have several employees who immigrated from Central and South America. Each of these would start with a same card and number and in time they had established credit with CCs, cars, mortgages, and the like with that number.