Yesterday I went to the social security office to apply for Ember's social security card. I had all of our paperwork there including her new birth certificate, our adoption decree, and her permanent resident card which we received shortly after we returned from Ethiopia. Everything was going fine until the lady looked at the permanent resident card and told me she couldn't process our application because the name on the permanent resident card doesn't match the name on the birth certificate.
Well, of course it doesn't! When we were in Ethiopia we were told what name to use for her: the Ethiopian given name + the adoptive father's full name which is not what we wanted to name her! Anyway, the social security office said that I'd have to go back to the immigration office and get her permanent resident card changed first.
I called them today and it's a long and complicated process involving forms and a written statement and 6 more months. What I don't understand is how confused everyone seems about it. Surely they've seen this before. Don't all families adopting from Ethiopia go through this? They must since the adoptive family really doesn't have a say in the immigration paperwork you fill out when you're there. Why didn't our agency tell us this would be an issue? For now I've written to our state immigration office and am waiting for a response.
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Not sure what stae you are in, but we applied for the certificate of citzenship first and then our daughter's social security card.
All we needed was the adoption decree, her birth certificate and the certificate of citizenship along with an insurance card or doctor stamped immunization record (not sure what that validates) and we were successful. We are in Washingotn state.
i had to get a new social security card and they didn't like that my driver's license had a different name - my maiden name and my married name - so i had to go get a new driver's license. the motor vehicles people didn't want to give me a new driver's license because my name didn't match my social security card - huh? it took some explaining, but they finally did it and then i went back to social security. i was able to do all this in one morning, unlike your 6 month wait. oh well, it's always something.
Michelle,
We also live in Washington - in Seattle, actually. I've never heard of the certificate of citizenship. Did you just get this in order to get the social security card? Or is this something we should be getting Ember as well? Once more, this seems like something our agency should have mentioned. Thanks for the info!
Hi Susan...it's Carrie...Sloane's (Sosina's) mom.
We've been told here in Utah that it's easier to get the Certificate of Citizenship before the SSN. The COC is what our agency is talking about when they say "take care of your child's citizenship paperwork" (yeah, you're supposed to magically know what that means). We have one year from when our babies came home to get them a COC. After a year their permanent residency status expires (why in the world do they call it permanent???). I've submitted the paperwork for Sloane's COC and I've been told it will take 4 months to process...yikes!!! And don't even get me started on her permanent resident card. I waited two months for that thing to come and it never did. So I made about 5 different phone calls to different USCIS and customs offices trying to find out what the problem was. I finally had to write a letter to our congressman, and one of his staff members made phone calls and found out her paperwork never got sent on from the Atlanta airport! Those guys told me on two different phone calls that they had proof they'd sent it on.
Anyway...I check in on your blog often...Ember and Sloane are right in stride with each other on development. I think the big differences are that Sloane got her first teeth right at 5 1/2 months, but she's just now getting a little bit of curly hair.
If you need help on applying for the COC drop me a line.
We JUST went through the same thing. This is our 4th International Adoption and each time we have encountered issues getting a social security card. I will be headed back with the US birth certificate because apparently the US adoption decree, immigrant visa, green card and Ethiopian documents are "not enough to obtain a social security card." Hang in there
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