Re: Social Security Question (Really !)


"Thumper" <jaylsmith@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:asp7u3hu41toh0dc1bti10458ccj3nn8ur@xxxxxxxxxx

Here's the link http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/Benefits.html

You do need 40 Quarters to be eligible though.

Thumper

Except when you don't: a foreigner can qualify with as few as 6 quarters:

"To qualify for benefits under the U.S. Social Security program, a worker
must have earned enough work credits, called quarters of coverage, to meet
specified "insured status requirements." For example, a worker who attains
age 62 in 1991 or later generally needs 40 calendar quarters of coverage to
be insured for retirement benefits. Under a Totalization agreement, if a
worker has some U.S. coverage but not enough to qualify for benefits, SSA
will count periods of coverage that the worker has earned under the Social
Security program of an agreement country. In the same way, a country party
to an agreement with the United States will take into account a worker's
coverage under the U.S. program if it is needed to qualify for that
country's Social Security benefits. If the combined credits in the two
countries enable the worker to meet the eligibility requirements, a partial
benefit can then be paid, which is based on the proportion of the worker's
total career completed in the paying country.
The agreements allow SSA to totalize U.S. and foreign coverage credits only
if the worker has at least six quarters of U.S. coverage. Similarly, a
person may need a minimum amount of coverage under the foreign system in
order to have U.S. coverage counted toward meeting the foreign benefit
eligibility requirements."

http://www.ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html


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