Adventures with the SSA

Even with many local schools 2 hours late because of yet another snowstorm (no such luck for Solveig and Jonah), we ventured out yesterday to Bemidji to the Social Security office to get Anju's SS number. With her Certificate of Citizenship application only 3 months into a 4-6 month processing time, and following the advice of our agency to go for the COC first to expedite the passport application process, we had no proof of Anju's citizenship. However, since you don't need to be a citizen to get a SS number, we decided that being able to claim Anju on our taxes was worth the later minor inconvenience of stopping back in and having her changed in the system from "resident alien" to "citizen".

So, we revved the car through the pile of snow leading to the poorly plowed driveway and entered the building. Since all the cars there (all 5 of them) were parked in a line away from the main door, I figured we were the only ones there, and we were. Once inside, the security guard had to show us how to use the touch-screen computer at the door to get a number printed out for us. Ha! So, we got our number and took a seat in the waiting room. By the time our behinds got on the chairs, a woman came to one of the windows and said, "You guys can come up here now." Good thing we had that number, as another group of people came in a half hour later and there might have been some confusion as to who was next!

We had our adoption decree, Anju's birth certificate, her Indian passport and her green card. When she asked if Anju was adopted from the US or another country, I told the lady right away we didn't yet have citizenship proof as it takes 4-6 months and she nodded her head and said, "Yep, it does. That's fine." The SS lady interviewed Shawn and filled out everything on her computer herself while we watched and read the posters on the wall showing us which languages you could get an interpreter for if you needed them. As I considered asking how many people come to Bemidji needing a Tagalog translator, and Shawn pointed out to me the differences between Biblical Greek and Modern Greek using said poster, Anju snacked on Goldfish crackers she dug out of my purse.

When all was said and done, she said they needed to verify the documents, and then it'd be about 2 weeks and we'd have her card in the mail. You never want your child to be "just a number", but a name AND a number will be quite valuable in 2 weeks at our tax appointment!