Moving to the USA: SSN, Credit, Insurance and First Steps (2026)

America's arrival bureaucracy is thinner than Europe's — no Anmeldung, no residence registration office — but what replaces it is harsher: a credit-score system that treats you as a ghost, a healthcare market where one uninsured ambulance ride costs more than the flight over, and a nine-digit number without which almost nothing opens. The dependency chain, in the order that wastes the fewest weeks.

① The I-94: the document nobody prints and everybody needs

Air and sea arrivals no longer get paper: the I-94 record lives at CBP's site, and it — not the visa stamp — governs how long you may stay ("D/S" for students, a date for most others). Week-one duty: retrieve it, verify name, class of admission and admit-until date, and save the PDF. Errors (wrong class, wrong date) are fixable through CBP deferred-inspection channels while fresh and miserable to fix later — and every downstream office (SSA, DMV, USCIS filings) reads this record. Overstaying the I-94 date, not the visa's expiry, is what triggers unlawful presence and the 3/10-year bars.

② The SSN: nine digits before everything

• Who gets one: work-authorized statuses (H-1B, L, O, green card, F-1 with on-campus job or OPT/CPT authorization, J-1 with sponsor letter). Apply in person at an SSA field office: passport, visa, I-94, and for students the I-20 plus work evidence — or check the box on the DS-260/I-765 where the pathway offers SSN issuance;
• Timing: SSA verifies immigration records against DHS (delays happen when arrival data hasn't propagated — waiting ~10 days after arrival before visiting saves a wasted trip); the card lands in roughly two weeks;
• You can start work without the card — the number, once issued, back-fills payroll; employers use the I-9 process meanwhile;
• Non-working spouses (H-4 without EAD, O-3) generally can't get SSNs — the ITIN (IRS, via the tax return) covers tax filing, and banks accept passport + ITIN;
• Guard it: the SSN is the master key to American identity theft — give it to employers, banks, the DMV and the IRS, and treat everyone else's request as optional.

③–⑤ Money: banking day one, insurance before the gym, credit from zero

• Banking: major banks open accounts on passport + visa + US address evidence, no SSN required at several (bring the SSN later). Get the account before the first paycheck needs somewhere to land;
• Health insurance is not optional in practice: no public system waits behind it — an uninsured ER visit bills thousands, an admission tens of thousands. Employer coverage starts with the job (check the waiting period and COBRA rules); everyone else buys an ACA marketplace plan — moving to the US is a special-enrollment event, so the window opens with arrival. Deductibles, copays and network lists are the vocabulary to learn before choosing;
• The credit cold start — America's real registration system: foreign credit history counts for nothing, and without a score, apartments demand extra deposits, phone carriers want prepayment, car loans price brutally. The playbook: secured credit card (or a newcomer program card) in month one, utilization under ~30%, autopay in full, authorized-user status on a family member's seasoned card if available — first score in 3–6 months, respectable in a year. Every month without a credit-building card is a month donated to the deposit industry.

⑥ The DMV and ⑦ the 10-day rule

• Driver's license = the de facto national ID (with REAL ID rules governing domestic flights). Each state sets its own conversion window for foreign licenses — commonly 30–90 days of residence before you must hold the state license — and most non-treaty newcomers take both written and road tests. The DMV wants passport, I-94, SSN (or SSA denial letter), and address proofs; lawful-status verification runs through SAVE, so freshly-arrived records sometimes need a second visit;
• AR-11: nearly every non-citizen must report each change of address to USCIS varies (confirm the current timeline on the official source) of moving — online in minutes. It's the most-ignored federal duty in immigrant America and the cheapest to comply with; pending-case mail going to an old address is how approvals get missed and RFEs expire;
• State residency has teeth: your state decides income tax (Texas/Florida zero, California's 13%+ top rate), in-state tuition clocks, and insurance pricing — worth knowing before the lease is signed, not after.

The tax clock started at the airport

The substantial presence test (183 days weighted over three years) converts most arrivals into resident aliens for tax purposes — taxed on worldwide income, with FBAR/FATCA reporting on foreign accounts above thresholds. F-1 students hold "exempt individual" years (typically five) before the clock counts; treaty tie-breakers exist for dual-resident years. The practical arrival duties: give the employer a correct W-4, keep foreign-account statements, and book one session with a cross-border tax preparer before the first April — the foreign-account penalty regime punishes ignorance expensively.

FAQ

Verified as of 22 July 2026 against SSA, CBP, USCIS, IRS and Healthcare.gov guidance; state DMV windows and tax rates vary by state. General information, not legal or tax advice.

Sources (official only)

• CBP — I-94 Official Website (arrival/departure record)
• SSA — Social Security Number & Card
• USCIS — Form AR-11, Change of Address (10-day rule)
• Healthcare.gov — ACA Marketplace
• IRS — Taxation of Nonresident Aliens (substantial presence)