Re: Social Security Question (Really !)

Lee K wrote:
"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:

Lee, you're overstating it. It's not any foreigner who can qualify with as
few as 6 quarters, it one who's been a member of a comparable foreign
program (comparable to Social Security and as determined by us) and with
whom our country has a reciprocal agreement. Nobody, foreign or not, can
qualify for benefits with just 6 quarters of coverage in the SS
program....he'd need an additional 14 quarters of coverage in a foreign
program approved by our government and with whom we have a reciprocal
agreement.

It would work in reverse, too. If that country were the UK, for example,
and you wanted to retire in the UK and draw benefits in their system, you'd
need 6 quarters of coverage over there along with 14 quarters of coverage
under SS to be eligible in Britain.

"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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