If your camp requires international staff members to obtain social security cards during their stay in the United States, please carefully read this article.

You must validate your participants as having arrived at camp before they can be eligible for an interview or apply for a social security number. The best way to validate your staff is through Camp America Online:

• Log into your Camp America Online homepage
• Click the “SEVIS Validation” tab
• Check off the staff that have arrived
• Click “SAVE”

If you are unable to validate your staff online, you may also contact us through any of the methods listed below. Please be sure to include your name, your camp name, the participants’ names, and, if possible, the participants’ application numbers. Please clearly spell any difficult names.

Email: validations@aifs.com
Fax: (203) 399-5595
Telephone: (800) 727-8233, then your Account Representative’s extension

During orientation Camp America and SSA staff will guide participants through the application process and provide them with the actual application and a checklist to make sure that forms have been filled out correctly. However, they cannot actually apply before arriving at camp and being validated in the SEVIS system. In addition, for participants who have already been to the U.S. on a J-1 cultural exchange program, but are not sure if they have been assigned a social security number, it is very important that they tick "maybe" in item 10 of the application form.

Below are the steps for a J-1 Visa Cultural Exchange participant to apply for a social security number:

1. The participant must be validated by the camp in the SEVIS Exchange System upon arrival at camp grounds.
2. Wait at least 48 hours for the validation to be processed into the SEVIS system.
3. Fill out the SSA application forms, using the "cheat sheet" provided in the Camp America Welcome Packs to avoid common mistakes that can delay processing for up to eight weeks. (For example, entering the last name in the first name field, or entering the date of birth in the date/month/year format that is used in Europe but not in the United States)
4. Arrange for a face-to-face interview for the participant with an SSA official. If your camp has 20 or more international staff (regardless of which agency they came through), it is possible to arrange for an SSA agent to come to your camp to interview all participants at the same time. Otherwise, participants will need to go in person to the nearest Social Security Office. Offices can be located by zip code at http://www.ssa.gov/locator.
5. Providing there are no errors, the social security card is mailed to the camp approximately 2 to 4 weeks after the interview has taken place, assuming that the agency is not backlogged.

We realize that this can be a tedious process, and offer the following suggestions to avoid delays and minimize inconvenience:

• Be sure that participants are validated in SEVIS before inviting an SSA officer to your camp or visiting your local SSA office. Participants that have not been validated will be refused at the door.
• If your camp has 20 or more international staff, contact your local SSA office to arrange for an agent to come to your camp, and make sure to have a copy machine available.
• If your camp does not have 20 or more international staff, consider teaming up with nearby camps by sitting in on the day when an SSA agent visits their camp.
• Contact your local SSA office NOW and ask to speak to the manager to see if you can arrange for an agent to come to you, and clarify any remaining questions and concerns that you may have.
• During your orientation, reinforce the fact that obtaining a social security number does not make it legal for the applicant to work anywhere except their designated camp.
  

For further information, please contact the Social Security Administration at (800) 772-1213, M-F, 7 am to 7 PM, or on their website at www.ssa.gov.