The Process

[Ivo Skoric]

How do I prove my employment eligibility now after being almost 13 
years in this country, after I have been employed many times, 
received unemployed benefits a couple of times, obtained a tax id 
as a sole proprietor of a business and for another one for a non-
profit corporation of which I am one of the founders?

I had a social security card since about three weeks after arriving 
to the U.S. However, it was in my backpack when it was stolen on 
July 9, 2002. I reported the crime to the police and filed the 
complaint #4881 at the 23rd precinct of NYPD. I've never received 
any progress on my case from the NYPD.

I called Social Security Administration in about a week after the 
crime and asked for a duplicate card. They said a form would be 
sent to me. But the for was never sent to me. Now, the form can 
also be printed out from the internet. But the form is not really 
relavant. What is relevant is possession of original documents.

For example - as a proof of identity one has to have a driver's 
license. But driver's license was ALSO stolen from me in that 
same backpack. What if DMV asks for original social security card 
as a requirement to issue a driver's license, and if SSA asks for the 
original driver's license to issue a social security card, and if both 
of them were stolen from you (like they were from me)? 

Shouldn't victims of the crime have some rights? Like, at least, a 
right not to be terrorized by bureaucracy? In another example - the 
Social Security Administration got my date of birth wrong when 
they gave me the card 13 years ago. I discovered that only when I 
filed taxes electronically - because the date of birth is used as a 
password for electronic filing. So, I lie there every year that I was 
born in 1966, while in fact I was born in 1964.

Why do I have to lie? Because the Social Security Administration 
cannot change the date just by receiving my birth certificate. They 
need to see original, and probably a certified translation (because 
the date is in Euro format), of my birth certificate as a proof of age; 
they also need to see an original proof of identity (such as drivers 
license); and - since I was born outside the U.S. - they also need 
to see a proof of my current immigration status, original, of course. 
On top of that, all this needs to be brought to the local office, wait 
there in an unending queue and than, perhaps, get sent back home 
for more documents.

And how exactly do I show the original INS document if I just sent 
it back in for renewal? I carry with me, usually, the I-571, the 
refugee travel document, which doubles in its purpose as a 
passport and employment authorization. But it is valid only for a 
year, and it costs $110 (presently) every year to renew it. What is 
more odious, than the price, is that it, in INS words, "usually takes 
140 to 170 days ... to process this type of case". How can a 
document renewal take 5 months with, supposedly, the most 
advanced government on the planet?

So, in every 17 months period, I walk around for 5 months without 
the proof of my INS status. Of course, I still have the A# and if 
anybody checks it in the computer, my legal status would be 
confirmed - but would prospective employers take the trouble of 
doing so, or would they just dismiss me as undocumented? And 
how do I get social security card, if I don't have my original I-571?

When you call 1-800-772-1213 number, after fighting your way 
through the elaborate 'press 1, press 2' voicemail system, the 
default impolite representative tells you to call your local office, 
because you have to go there anyway, and literally hangs up on 
you. At your local office (212-831-8960), of course, there is a 
straight-forward outgoing message that explicitly advises you to 
call the 1-800# as the best way to solve what you need, and, then, 
the system hangs up on you. When you finally cheat the system 
(by frantically pressing a lot of zeros on your telephone) and get 
through to a human at your local office, and ask her how long is the 
wait, she, with a refreshing honesty, tells you: "ooooh, sir, it's a 
long time, there's a lot of people." She did say, though, that she 
will process my application, as long as I show her the drivers 
license (which I got, because NYS DMV seems to have climbed 
into the 21st century, and I was able to order the duplicate over 
Internet) and the original I-94 that I got when my immigration status 
was adjusted, that shows my A#.

Still, I don't see why do I have to loose a day of my time waiting in 
a social security office, because somebody stole my social 
security card. This feels to me like adding an insult to the injury. I 
know that a theory of NYPD, SSA and INS conspiracy to make my 
life miserable is as plausible as the theory of Iraq, Iran and North 
Korea being the axis of evil, but, hey, since Bush can whine about 
his worries, so can I.

ivo