Social security cards in the US.?

when a recalcitrant f-1 student here in the US is working with his /her social security card issued to him by the SS office,do the IRS who take taxes from the social know the differences in the types of social security numbers issued(like socials for immigrant workers,students etc) and the details on the social security number? 2.Will the IRS tax the fellow as an immigrant social security number? 3.I have this f-1 friends in school and they recently had their socials issued to them by the social security office.I was sooo surprised when the had the inscription like the **this number is established for brian thomas** as like the normal **work with DHS authorization only ** that normally appears on non-permanent residents socials.How were they able to get a **permanent resident type** of social scurity number and card?Or do f-1s qualify for such social security cards and numbers?What processes did they follow?