Les Bonnes Choses

It's no fun /
Bein' an illegal alien
     -"Illegal Alien", Genesis

In the paperwork that NU sent me back in July was a welcome letter that included the admonishment to check in with the International Office within the first thirty days of my arrival. I'm here on a J-1 visa with a DS-2019 form, and failure to check in wth the school will result in the expiry of my visa, and my becoming persona non-grata. Thirty days is a pretty big window of time, so checking in with them didn't seem too terribly urgent.

Except that it is.

You see, the Social Security Number is ubiquitous here, at least, for most things involving money: opening a bank account, getting on payroll, applying for a credit card, getting accounts with utilities and service providers -- all of these ask for a SSN. Some of these can be gotten without one, but only by jumping through hoops and often by also providing a security deposit. Others, such as the very important task of getting on payroll, cannot be done without a SSN. So immediately after checking in at the International Office last Thursday, I made my way to the Social Security office. It was a relatively pleasant experience, as, besides myself and the staff, the place was empty. I took a number ticket which, because the place was empty, was immediately called up, making the process of taking a number seem somewhat silly. I went up to the counter and the woman at the desk asked for my documentation. She started keying in the information but had to stop about two minutes into the process. Whatever happens by visiting the International Office was not yet reflected in the government system. Having to abort the application, the woman handed me back my documentation and SSN application and told me to ask back at the International Office how long it would be before the information would appear in the system so I would know when it would be safe to reapply. I wrote an email to the appropriate contact, explained the situation, asked about the expected delay, and also suggested that future revisions of the welcome letter explicity state that checking in with the International Office was a prerequisite for applying for a SSN.

Incidentally, I don't think the woman that I emailed actually knows how long it takes for information to percolate through "the system", as she told me to reapply after 10 days, which happens to be the minimum waiting period before one can apply for a SSN (and presumably enough time for the Social Security office to receive whatever it is they are waiting for). I intend to go in again on Monday, figuring that my information must have been put into some database or another, so this is now an IT issue. Putting on my IT cap for a minute, all the databases involved probably get updated daily at night, or at least over a weekend when the offices involved are otherwise closed. I hope I'm right. I kind of need to get paid this month.