Dear all,
I am a dual US citizen considering to renounce my citizenship. I worked for over a decade in US and have some retirement there (through my employer), but I also contributed to SS as everyone else. I had two questions regarding SS benefits:
1) Does one's citizenship status impact SS payment?
2) Even more basic, do I qualify for SS benefits even if I get retirement from my employees? What I mean to ask is whether one's income has to be lower than a certain threshold or everyone qualifies to receive these benefits regardless after a certain age?
Thank you!
Americans Abroad has a good primer on Soc Sec while living abroad:
https://www.americansabroad.org/info…cial-security/
That document sent me to this from Soc Sec, which deals with eligibility for non-citizens resident outside the US:
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf
Do, however, keep an eye on changes, especially as the republicans have already said that cuts/changes to Soc Sec (and Medicare!) are top of their to-do list when they retake congress.
While I doubt they will actually go through wiht the most draconian of their trial balloons, as older voters, reliably loyal to the GOP, would be among the hardest hit, risking future elections. However, if changes are coming I expect that recipients resident outside the US would be an attractive target for cuts, as that group has no political voice.
I worked in the US about 10 years and paid into social security during that time. Then I moved to Switzerland and have been working here ever since (30+ years). According to my social security statement which they send out every 5 years, I am entitled to a big fat zero because I didn't pay in long enough (I don't know what the cut-off is). As far as I know, your citizenship status is not relevant... many people who work in the US are foreigners and are entitled to the same ss benefits if they qualify. There is a US-Swiss agreement where you can transfer your AHV credits to US ss for claiming benefits from ss, but given the state of US ss, I wouldn't go there. The reverse is not valid: Swiss AHV does not give credit for US ss payments.
You need to accrue 40 credits to qualify for coverage. The credits do not determine how much you receive in benefits; they just get you into the system. You can only earn 4 credits per year. The bar for earning credits is pretty low, around $6,000 per year income, so most people earn 4 credits per year. So minimum of 10 years' work in order to get payout.