Many people who come to the United States of America want to find their American dream. I did not have a dream when I moved to America last summer, but certainly had unexpected adventures.

Last year, my husband Ren accepted a new job at the World Bank and I moved to Washington, DC with him. Before the move, we started browsing the net for a temporary residence. We contacted a fairly well known real-estate company who was warm and promised to do everything to help us find an apartment. But as soon as they came to know that we did not have a US social security number (SSN), they immediately refused to help any further. The agent sent us an email telling us why it would be impossible for us to live, to move around or to get any thing done in the US if we do not have a Social Security Number. My adventure began with two urgent tasks—to find an apartment without a Social Security Number and to get a SSN for both of us.

Luckily, The World Bank had a Housing Advisor, Ms. Ginger Reich under the HR Department, who was a life saver for us and helped us find an apartment in no time and provided a guarantee on the lease, so that we could sign the lease without SSN.

Knowing the importance of the SSN, my husband and I went to the Social Security Office on K Street to apply for our SSN in the second week after our arrival. It turned out that, although Ren was eligible for a SSN, his I-94 information had not come to the SSN computer system. Ren had already submitted the application form ahead of the I-94 information, so now the Social Security Office needed to take an extra two months to process the application. If he had submitted his application after the I-94 information had been in the system, it would have taken only 2 weeks for us to get our SSN. In the meantime, I was told that I was not eligible for an SSN since I did not have a job.

The next important thing for us was to buy a car. But how could we do it without our SSN? We were told by a number of car dealers that we were in a catch 22 situation—we needed to have SSN to buy auto insurance, and auto insurance in order to buy a car. Geico’s TV commercials attracted us, and we decided to meet them, sadly we were rejected right away. What were we to do? Ren and I were driving around in our rental car and were worried sick until we spotted a State Farm insurance office. We decided to just walk in and try our luck. Ren used to have car insurance with the State Farm some 20 years earlier when he was a doctorate student at Virginia Tech. After we explained our position, the manager of the office told us that he could help us. We felt extremely relieved, and the insurance paper was prepared within an hour. Then, we went to the auto dealer and proudly showed him our auto insurance paper. We bought a new SUV and returned the rental car while it had almost run out of the last drop of gasoline in the tank. Just to add to the adventure, I dented the brand new SUV on the way to the rental car return!

Back at the HR Department, Housing Advisor Ginger quickly introduced us to a very experienced realtor, who assisted us in buying the house of our liking in two months. We then went back to the State Farm office, and got our home insurance also done through them; this actually helped us to get a substantial discount on our auto insurance policy. The Housing Advisor and State Farm were probably the two life savers in the first two months of my adventure in America.

When we were ready to move into our new home, we decided to do two things. First, to rent a carpet vacuum cleaner to clean the carpet in the apartment we rented. Secondly, to rent a truck from U-Haul to move our household stuff to the new home. When we went to a grocery shop nearby, we were told that they could not lend the vacuum to us because we did not have a local driver’s license. Ren patiently displayed all the ID’s he had, including the passport with a G4 visa, the UN passport, his Chinese diver license, etc. Sadly, none of these was acceptable! Already experienced with trying a different company for our auto insurance, we went to another grocery shop which accepted Ren’s UN passport as a proof.

The experience with U-Haul was much more frustrating. We confirmed a van through the internet. When we showed up at the U-Haul store at the time of the appointment for picking up the truck, we were told that they could not let us drive away the van without a local driver’s license. We spent nearly one hour trying to persuade the store manager but failed. Even the UN passport did not work this time! We ended up moving the stuff in our SUV, making several trips to our new home, instead of one trip with a truck.

Now, let me take you through the next part of my adventure—where getting a local driver’s license is just as important and as difficult as getting a social security number. Getting a driver’s license requires a lot more patience! During our first visit to the DMV, we found out that a letter from the Department of State is required for G-4 visa holders to obtain a driver’s license. Ren applied for such letter through the World Bank, and the letter arrived a month later. We went to DMV again with the letter, and were told that we still could not apply for a driver license until we could provide a “second proof of identity”. One day at the DMV I went over their instruction document again and again, and realized that there was really no way for someone in my situation with only a G-4 visa to have such a “second proof”. I went back to the receptionist after waiting in the line for nearly two hours, and asked her how I could get a second document. She replied that all she knew was that I could not apply for a driver’s license without second proof of identity.

I did not want give up, and waited outside the DMV office, until another lady came to the reception desk, this lady seemed nicer and more willing to help. I stood in the line again. This time, the lady explained to me that a foreigner with G4 visa like me will never ever get a second document. She suggested that I just talk to the manager directly, and request for an “approval letter” as a second document. I did! The manager put in a request for such an approval letter in his computer system. After two weeks we received the letter from the State DMV. The letter worked when we went back to the local DMV and were allowed to take the written test for driver’s license. Funny as it might seem, we had to go to another DMV office after passing the written test for the road skills test, as the one where we passed the written test did not offer road tests! I finally got my local driver’s license four months after arriving in the States.

My adventure now moves on to applying for a work permit. When I applied for a work permit, I was told that I must have a “PID number”. I am sure that like me, many World Bank spouses would have no idea about this. PID or personal ID number is not your passport or any ID you have from your own country, the PID number is issued by the State Department but it can only be obtained through the Bank visa services. It took me another two months to get a PID number through the Visa Office of the World Bank.

Now, I submitted my work permit application. Luckily this time I only had to wait for a little over two months before the permit was approved. Ren brought it to me last Valentine’s Day. I went back to the local Social Security Office with the work permit immediately, and got my SSN in one week!

Finally, I have all the ID’s I need to stay and work in America. I have started looking for a job, hopefully to be a Chinese instructor. I know there is a long way to go, with more adventures on my journey. But I am sure with all the experiences I have had, I will be ready to deal with them.

Sarah Xiajio Fang