Hi
I’m currently leaving in U.S with a visiting visa, recently i decided to stay back and study. Please what are my chances of getting admission into college/university without social security number, the name of the possible college/university and also the cost of the school fees if possible? I presently stay in Houston. Thank
Social Security number isn’t the problem - the right visa is. You will either need to leave the US, go back to your home country and then apply for a student visa – or you will have to go to USCIS and try to change your status. (More info in the link below.)
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/applying-for-student-visa-while-on-tourist.html
https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/change-of-status
Use Google for a list of colleges/universities around Houston. Then go on each school’s website to check requirements and the costs. Everything you will need is listed online. You will be considered an out-of-state student.
Some private schools will accept undocumented outstanding students.
But being an undocumented student is a BAD, BAD ida.
You can’t just stay in US and study there. Once you do apply for colleges, you have to apply for visa first (F1 most likely).
Ditto katliamom. Most international applicants don’t have a social security number at the time of admission. Once you have your student visa, you become eligible to apply for a SSN if you want to work.
Be prepared to pay out-of-state tuition at public universities, and don’t expect to receive financial aid from public sources (e.g. FAFSA). Some colleges offer institutional scholarships that international students can be considered for.
I’m also having this issue. I am a Canadian citizen, so I am not required to have any visa status at all. (Reference: https://ca.usembassy.gov/visas/canadian-students/.)
I have been back-and-forth emailing with Program Directors of my area of interest, Allied Health, for over a month now. I recently got correspondence back that said I would need a Social Security number to apply to any program.
Obviously, when granted no visa status (since I am Canadian who does not require a F-1 visa) and am not intending to work, just study, I will not be granted a Social Security number.
In reading online, it seems that the colleges can give you an alternate student identification that will qualify as a Social Security number… but none of the schools have mentioned this to me. It’s very frustrating. I didn’t know it would be this hard to apply as a Canadian to a US College.
@springer070 I would make a separate thread. Anyway, to ansr your question , I never heard colleges give out an “alternative” to SSN.
I think what springer070 was getting at is that many organizations, including some colleges, use SSNs to identify individuals in their internal systems. SSNs have the advantage that they are unique, unlike names or DOBs, and that people remember theirs, unlike randomly assigned ID numbers.
However, since not everybody has a SSN, any such system needs to create an alternative identifier for people without a SSN. That’s standard too.
Of course such an internal ID number is not going to be useful outside of the organization.