By: James Royal, Bankrate, featuring Vincent Birardi, CFP®, AIF®, Wealth Advisor at Halbert Hargrove
Retirement can be a great time to travel abroad, and some retirees even take the more adventurous step of moving overseas. If you’re thinking of taking this big step in a foreign country, you’ll want to double-check that you won’t have problems receiving your Social Security benefits.
What happens to your Social Security if you move abroad?
It can be valuable to work with a financial advisor before you move overseas to be sure that you’ll have no problems with your monthly Social Security checks.
1. Your Social Security remains just as it is
In general, Social Security doesn’t have a problem with paying your monthly benefit if you’re a U.S. citizen living abroad, though you must meet a few requirements, primarily relating to what country you’re living in (more below).
For Social Security purposes, a U.S. citizen is “out of the U.S.” if they were not living in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa for at least 30 days in a row. Social Security considers you outside the U.S. until you return and stay for 30 straight days. For non-citizens receiving benefits, you may have to prove you were in the U.S. for 30 days.
You’ll also have some choice in the financial institution that the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends your payment to.
“Your Social Security benefit payments can be deposited directly into your account at a U.S. financial institution,” says Vincent Birardi, wealth advisor at Halbert Hargrove. “Moreover, if you live outside the United States, the SSA can deposit your benefits into your account at a financial institution in any country that has an international direct deposit agreement with the U.S.”
It’s important to note that Social Security calculates benefits in U.S. dollars and will not just adjust your benefit if the exchange rate moves favorably or unfavorably.
2. Your benefits could be cut after six months
If you are not a U.S. citizen or you don’t meet a condition of eligibility to receive your Social Security abroad, the SSA will stop your benefit check after you’ve been outside the U.S. for six complete calendar months. You can restart payments, but it requires you to come back to the U.S.
The requirements to restart your benefit are strict. Once you’ve lost your benefit, you must return to the U.S. for a full calendar month. “You must be in the U.S. on the first minute of the first day of any month and stay through the last minute of the last day of that month,” according to the SSA.
3. You could potentially lose your Social Security benefit
Social Security will not pay benefits to people living in Cuba or North Korea, as part of the Treasury Department’s policy. U.S. citizens living in either country can receive withheld payments if they move to a country where the SSA can send payments. Non-U.S. citizens, however, can’t receive payments for the months they lived in Cuba or North Korea. Other Treasury Department rules may also restrict benefits of those living in other countries.
Those aren’t the only places where you may lose your benefit, though. The SSA can’t send benefits to those living in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan. If you’re otherwise eligible, however, you might be granted an exception if you agree to what the SSA calls “restricted payment conditions.” You’ll need to contact Social Security for further details on those conditions and how to qualify for an exception.
If you can’t qualify for an exception, your benefit will be withheld until you leave the restricted nation and go to a country where payments can be sent.
