<p>I hope you can give me some insight... I have been at my small, midwestern, liberal arts school for 3 semesters now. I am one of 2 internationals; one Canadian, and I'm European. The FA for international students is nonexistant. I'm on 51% with no option of receiving more no matter how often I ask for it. </p>
<p>I was not given campus employment, as internationals do not receive it here. A program started on campus this summer while I was living here. I was told I would receive money for working on it. I only took the job as they told me I was going to be cut a check by the department I was working for and I would need to worry about obtaining a SSN. </p>
<p>Basically, HR are refusing to pay me because I don't have a social security number. The Dean told me 2 months ago that he was getting the SSN for me so that I could get paid, but I don't think any other internationals I know from other schools have had to wait so long to get the number, and they are getting paid far more for campus employment than what I'm due to get in the check. The other student who worked on the program with me got paid 2 months ago. </p>
<p>Can anyone enlighten me about SSN's and international students? How long were you waiting to get your number and how long did it take you to get paid?</p>
Your dean cannot apply for a social security number for you, unless you happened to give him or her your original passport and permission to sign documents on your behalf…</p>
<p>Take it with your passport, your visa documents and <em>an employment offer letter</em> to a social security office of your choice. You will get the card in the mail 1-8 weeks later.</p>
<p>Thanks b@r!um! I explained all of this to him weeks ago, but he told me he needed to go through SEVIS and requested a copy of my passport. I never told him he could sign documents on my behalf. It’s officially 8 weeks today that I submitted all of this paperwork, so hopefully I’ll hear something ASAP.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would go apply for a SSN myself. The instructions for applying for a social security card that come along with the application form say in big bold letters:</p>
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<p>Unless your dean is best buddies with someone from the social security administration who is willing to bypass procedures on his behalf, he cannot get a social security card for you. Especially not with photocopied documents.</p>
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<p>Re photocopies: we had two people from the social security administration come to campus during our International Student Orientation this year. This allowed students to do all the paperwork on campus. We made photocopies of the passports and visa documents of every single student in advance, which the social security people could take back to the office with them. What I did not expect: the social security people spent several minutes per student comparing the original documents to the photocopies to make sure everything was accurate. Two students who forgot to bring their original documents (but did have photocopies) were not processed because they insisted on seeing the original documents.</p>
<p>Thanks b@r!um. I had no idea it was like that. I’m meeting with the president on Friday to discuss this and I’ll talk to another Dean tomorrow to let her know what’s going on. Thanks for replying.</p>