SSN, short for Social Security Number; that’s the magic number in the US. You get your SSN printed on a Social Security Card. This card is not an ID card though, because Americans are independent and the government is not supposed to clearly identify its citizens. So instead you get a card that just happens to have a unique number on it to clearly identify the person it belongs to, without being an ID card. Do you see the difference between the two? No? Me neither. Either way you need one in order to be able to work. This post describes how to get one.
Opening a Bank Account
I was in the US in December for two weeks to meet with my colleagues and to set up some things in advance before my relocation early January so that the first couple of weeks wouldn’t get too stressful.
One of the things I wanted to set up in advance was a bank account. It takes time for your debit and credit card to arrive and it also makes sense to start building a credit history as early as possible, as this is quite important in the US.