I’m a Canadian citizen living in the US right now and I’ve been looking at internships/volunteer opportunities so I can beef up my resume but I can hardly do anything! I can understand not being able to work but even a hospital VOLUNTEER program wants my SSN which I don’t have and after I inquired they said they needed it for “audit reports”. How am I going to get any experience because I want to work in the healthcare field? This absolutely ridiculous and I hardly think colleges would cut me any slack because they know that I am unable to take any of these opportunities.
Do you have authorization to work in the US?
You can apply for and get a SS number. There are generally three classes you will fall under;
- Unrestricted work authorization
- Valid for work only with specific authorizations
- “not valid for employment”
You’d have to look into it more, but I suspect the “not valid for employment” might be the one you are after for hospital volunteering. International students here on student visas negotiate these issues routinely.
I talked with my parents and apparently since I’m on H4 visa they say I can’t get an SSN. Any other advice?