Having been here for two months and still no sign of my social security number (SSN), action was needed.

When I originally applied for my visa, I had ticked a box requesting a number be automatically assigned to me and sent to my address. It was said to take around three weeks, but we figured as the SSN people would only have known about it after they had received the paperwork from the immigration people, it would be three weeks from then. The immigration service got my paperwork on July 23. So, three weeks from then took us to the middle of August.

Having heard nothing from them by then, I had tried calling the SS no-help line a few weeks back to find out how my application was coming along. It took me about 15 minutes to navigate the automated telephone system, during which time I was asked on a number of occasions to enter my social security number. Yes, quite.

Eventually I had spoken to a grumpy woman who told me she didn’t have any information and that I was to call the local office that would be handling my case. I was given a number to call. I was also advised that it was taking about six weeks for numbers to be allocated to new immigrants.

As we were still within that time frame, I decided more patience was in order. I put my faith in the system and sat back to wait….

… until I could wait no more. I tried calling the number I had been given only to find it not to be the SS office. So, last Monday we went down to the local social security office and took a ticket and waited. Mercifully it wasn’t a long wait, but those places are pretty grim. Everyone who works there seems a miserable bugger. Must be in the person spec for the jobs.

Anyway, when we finally spoke to someone and explained the situation, I soon was fuming. When I say fuming, in fact I was livid. Why? Because my application was not being processed. Oh, it had been started but the person doing it decided to not finish it. WTF?! Man, I was shaking with rage.

So, the lady asked me to fill out an application form and she did the necessary on the computer. I had waited over two months to get absolutely nowhere. I haven’t been able to get a driver’s license, start my business or get a store card or life insurance. All because some halfwit didn’t do their job properly.

I expect this sort of thing in the UK, but it seems I can’t escape it the other side of the Pond either.