The process
Get a job offer, request the support letter from the international office, wait until you've been in the US about 10 days and your record shows active, then apply in person at the local Social Security office. The number arrives by mail.
What it's for
Payroll and tax reporting. It is not an ID card, not proof of work authorization on its own, and not required to open most student bank accounts or sign a lease — businesses that insist on one for those can usually take a passport instead. Guard the card; you rarely need to carry it.
In and around Porter Falls
For a campus this size Porter both sends and receives a steady stream of students internationally. The Global Education Office in Founders Union runs the advising, the risk review and the arrival and re-entry programming.
The practical details
Need first: A job offer on campus (or CPT/OPT authorization) — you can't apply just for having a number. Bring to the SSA: Passport, I-94, I-20, the job offer letter, and the international office's support letter. Timeline: About two weeks after the in-person appointment; you can start work while it's pending. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Global Education Office (Founders Union, Room 240). Call (715) 555–0220 or email global@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.