Hi there,

Does anyone accept a social security cards with "for work purposes only" written on it? I think they are called foreign national cards. I was just wondering if others open accounts with this type of identification for non-citizens. Also, what about loans? I've seen others grant loans to these individuals and I was concerned about the fact that the individuals were not U.S. Citizens. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

All "for work purposes only" means is that the individual is not eligible to participate in Social Security. It does not limit your ability to accept the number or use the card as secondary identification.

There are several others here more capable of addressing the issues of lending to non citizens.

This may sound a bit confusing but:

We had always been under the impression that the card read "Valid for work only, with INS authorization".

We came to find out that the card actually reads "Valid for work, only with INS authorization".

It just depends on how you read the sentence (and where you place the imaginary comma). It is an actual Social Security number that can be used when opening a bank account.

Thanks so much for clarifying that one for me. Do you accept that identification for loan purposes as well? Just curious?