As a matter of fact, the United States Government claims that most U.S. citizens can receive Social Security retirement benefits outside the USA. It is possible in most case if you visit that country or you live there.
However, not all Americans may qualify. That is why it is important to know more about the topic. In this way, you can decide whether to visit, move there or just stay in the United States.
| Important links |
|---|
| More News |
| PAYMENTS |
| stimulus checks |
| Social Security COLA |
HOW TO APPLY FOR SOCIAL SECURITY WHILE OUTSIDE THE U.S.
Before you can apply, you need to know if you have earned enough work credits to get retirement benefits. Social Security will make sure you have earned at least 40 work credits, which is about 10 years of work.
It is true that once you qualify for retirement benefits, you could receive payments in most foreign countries. All you have to do is visit the list of countries where you can receive payments.
Social Security’s Payments Abroad Screening Tool will help you find it out. Visit SSA’s website at https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments_outsideUS.html, click on “Continue”, choose your nationality, say whether you are on benefits or not, and finally select the country you are traveling or moving to.
SOCIAL SECURITY ALLOWS FOREIGN WORK CREDITS
Some workers may have lived in another country and worked there for many years. That may have prevented them from working for at least ten years in the United States. However, Social Security may take into account work credits from another country.
Thanks to many U.S. International Social Security Agreements, workers can apply for retirement or disability benefits if eligible, even if they worked in the U.S. and abroad. For example, the first country to sign this agreement was Italy in 1978.
The last country to reach this sort of bilateral agreement was Iceland on March 1, 2019. Currently, there are many countries like Spain, Germany, the UK, Canada, Sweden, France, South Korea, Brazil among many others.