I was skimming through OW/OWH's divorce papers and realized something that seemed weird to me. Their SS# are only two digits apart. Their SSNs are exactly the same but the last two numbers.

Now, I know nothing about how immigrations stuff works, but this seemed odd to me. I don't believe that came to the US at the same time (if they did that would lead credence to the theory that they are not H and W but relatives of some sort).

It doesn't make any difference in the grand scheme of my marriage problem. It just leads to more lying and fraud. OW's name is spelled differently in the D papers than it is everywhere else. My WH has told me (pre-A days) that the Koreans that he works with often fill out all paperwork changing names and dates just slightly to avoid a paper trail.

Anybody know anything about immigrant SS numbers? I don't want to assume anything.

Jean,

My XW is an immigrant and I have dealt with some of the paperwork. Immigrants are not automatically issued SS numbers, but have to apply for them. The laws related to this have changed over the years. Depending on when they came (and in what visa status) and when they filed various papers, different things could happen.

One scenario (during one time period), was that a person here on a non-immigrant visa and who did not have work authorization could get a SS # only if they needed it for some other essential reason. A very common reason is that many states will not issue a driver's license without a SS #. So, if they both got driver's licenses at the same time - during that span of a couple of years, they would have gotten a paper from the DMV stating that a SS # was required, which they would take to the SS office and apply for a SS # - and would recieve a card which states on the face "not authorized to work".

Another scenario is that they both had work authorization (perhaps recieved at the same time) and with that in hand, applied for SSNs at the same time.

It's really not at all unusual - even for natural-born citizens. When a child is born, the parents have to apply for the SSN.

My brother, sister and I have sequential SSN's - and we are born two years apart. This happened because our mom applied for them on our behalf - and did them not at birth, but all at the same time.

I hope this helps.

-AD

Thanks AD.

In my 10 minutes of internet research <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />, I have learned a little about SSN. I never knew what the numbers meant. According to the SSN's in question, they were issued from my state in the year they were married.

It does make me wonder who has the number in between the husband and wife.

Quite possibly, the state would not issue a marriage license without SSN's, so they applied for them then.

-AD