Social Security Number

Social Security Number

If you will be earning money in the U.S. and have authorization to work on campus or off-campus (including graduate assistantships), you must apply for a Social Security number in order to be paid. When applying for a Social Security number, individuals holding an F-1 or J-1 visitor category student visa will need to present the following documents to the Social Security Administration Office at 4212 Park Place Court, Suite B in Glen Allen, Virginia. To download these instructions in pdf, click here.

• All I-20s or DS-2019s
• Passport, visa and I-94 card
• Offer of Employment letter: must come from the employing college department on letterhead and must include the following: 
  • Student's full name.
  • When the employment will begin.
  • The nature of the employment.
  • Where the work will be performed.
  • Number of hours per week the student will work.
  • R-MC's EIN (Employer Identification Number): 54-0505940
  • Employer contact information, including telephone number and the name of the student's immediate supervisor.

  This will prove that the student has obtained work or is employed.

• Authorization to work letter: The OIE is the ONLY office authorized to issued this letter. We will need the Offer of Employment letter in order to prepare the authorization letter.

• Once you apply in person with the Social Security Administration Office, you should receive your SSN within two weeks. If you or the department hiring you has any questions, please contact the Office of International Education or visit the Social Security Administration's section for foreign students: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10181.html
  

• Sample offer letter:

  (Please submit on departmental letterhead)

  January 26, 2010

  Social Security Administration Office
  4212 Park Place Court, Suite B
  Glen Allen, Virginia 23060

  To whom it may concern:

  XXXXXX XXXXXXX is an international student at Randolph-Macon College. She (will begin working on XXXXX/on XXXXXX) in the XXXXXX office/department, and will work XXX (hours/ week). Her basic duties will be… (indicate the field of work and basic tasks, but no need to include too many details). The college’s EIN is 54-0505940.

  Please assist her in obtaining a Social Security number and, if any further paperwork is needed, contact the undersigned at (phone/e-mail).
  

  Thank you,
  
  

  XXXXX XXXXXXXXX
  (Title)