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Because of policy changes stemming from national-security concerns, foreign students who show up at American colleges this fall will confront a new procedural hurdle to getting Social Security numbers that could prevent them from working on campuses for as long as three months.

To try to tighten national security, the Social Security Administration announced a new policy in June that will require the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to review the passports and other immigration documents of any individual coming from another country who applies for a Social Security number, which foreign workers typically need before they can be paid by employers. The immigration agency, which initially decides whether to authorize a foreigner to work in the United States, would have to verify that the person's paperwork was in order before the Social Security Administration could process his or her application for a number.

Federal law does not require that people have a Social Security number before they start working, but individuals do need the number to be able to file tax forms related to wages that they earn. Many colleges therefore will not pay individuals before they have a Social Security number, and if they cannot pay them, they cannot hire them.

Social Security officials acknowledged that the new procedure, which is being phased in across the country through September, could extend the application process for "weeks." College officials reported that they had been told delays could be anywhere from 2 to 12 weeks. Foreign individuals cannot apply for a Social Security number until they are physically in the United States.

Higher-education lobbyists and college officials said last week that they were worried that the new Social Security policy could financially strap foreign graduate students who were expecting to earn money as teaching assistants or researchers, or through other part-time jobs. It also could cause headaches for institutions that had been counting on foreign students to teach classes, lead discussion sessions, or fill other key positions, they said.

"This potentially is a significant disruption for hundreds of institutions of higher education and others," said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education.

He and other lobbyists emphasized that they strongly support efforts by the Social Security Administration to tighten procedures for reviewing applicants for Social Security numbers, but that they believe this policy is poorly timed and will cause unnecessary problems.

Mr. Hartle and others noted that the change in procedures is occurring just weeks before foreign students begin showing up on many campuses. In addition, lobbyists argued that the change should have been made after the INS and colleges get the new database for tracking foreign students fully up and running. The Justice Department has proposed a January 30 deadline for all colleges to be using the system, known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. That database will allow INS officials to verify the information of individuals with student visas much more quickly than the agency can review the paperwork now, Mr. Hartle and others argued.

At Bradley University, a private institution in Peoria, Ill., Janet M. Lange, executive director of graduate enrollment management, said officials were scrambling to try to figure out how they might be able to help the 300 foreign students who will be arriving there in mid-August. She said officials at Bradley and at other institutions she has heard from are worried and confused about how the new policy will play out. Bradley officials learned of the policy only last week, after the director of campus security heard rumors of changes at Social Security and invited agency officials for a visit to fill university officials in.

Before the policy change, Bradley had allowed foreign students to begin working as soon as they got to the campus, because their applications for Social Security numbers typically took no more than two weeks to be processed, Ms. Lange said. University officials felt confident that those students would have the numbers in hand before the first payroll cycle came around.

Now, she said, university business officials don't think they can allow foreign students to work until they have their Social Security numbers, because they are not sure how long their applications might be delayed or what new kinds of problems might arise.

"It's a very difficult thing to explain to international students that you are entitled to work, we want you to work, but we have one more process to go through," she said.

Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said Friday that agency officials are listening to the concerns being raised about the new policy and are talking with INS officials about ways to avoid unnecessary delays in reviewing applicants for Social Security numbers. But Mr. Hinkle added that Social Security officials stand firmly behind the new policy and continue to believe it is needed now.

"We need to make sure people are who they say they are," Mr. Hinkle said. "This is a means to protect homeland security."