When you are close to 62 years old, it is time to start thinking about the age to retire. Social Security allows workers to file at 62, but they can also delay filing until they are 70 to boost their monthly payment in the United States. However, once you are in retirement you may need to move overseas, or sometimes you have no other option for personal reasons.
For your information, if you are a United States citizen, you may go on receiving Social Security payments while outside the United States. Of course, you must first be eligible for payments, and you must be living in a country where the Administration can send payments. Not all countries are eligible for receiving retirement benefits there.
Social Security: What being outside the U.S. is
According to the Agency, if you are not a United States citizen, you will have to meet one of the following requirements. Do not forget that “outside of the U.S.” means you are not in:
- any of the 50 States
- the District of Columbia
- Puerto Rico
- the U.S. Virgin Islands
- Guam
- the Northern Mariana Islands
- American Samoa
Also, “outside of the U.S.” means you are not in one of these States or territories for a minimum of 30 days in a row. The SSA will consider you to be “outside the U.S.” unless you return and stay in the USA for 30 consecutive days. Do not forget that those who are not U.S. citizens will have to prove they were legally present in the USA for 30 days in a row.
Conditions for Social Security outside the U.S.
As it was previously mentioned, if you are not a United States citizen, you must meet the necessary conditions to continue receiving Social Security payments while you are abroad.
Remaining eligible is also another condition apart from being in an eligible country. SSA will continue to pay Social Security benefits if you were eligible for monthly SSA benefits for December 1956. The worker on whose record you are receiving benefits passed away while in the U.S. military service, due to a service-connected disability and he or she was not dishonorably discharged.
Secondly, SSA may also continue delivering benefits outside the U.S. if you are getting benefits on your record and you meet an additional condition:
- “The worker on whose record your Social Security benefits are based had railroad work that the SSA program treated as covered employment.”
- “You are in the active military or naval service of the U.S.”
The easiest way to know if you are eligible or not is to use the Payments Abroad Screening Tool. Once you use it, you will be able to determine whether you meet all the conditions or not. All you have to do is use this tool at: https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments_outsideUS.html
