How Green Card holders accidentally shrink their Social Security checks

Immigrants who obtain a Green Card to legally reside and work in the United States have the additional benefit of being able to apply for Social Security benefits, that is if they meet all the eligibility requirements. This includes Supplemental Security Income (SSI), however, the rules for this program are different.

For anyone to claim Social Security retirement benefits they must first earn 40 Social Security credits. The Social Security Administration calculates the amount of benefit that a person receives based on their work history, using the average of an individual's 35 top-earning years.

How Green Card holders accidentally shrink their Social Security checks

The way the SSA calculates a person’s benefit amount can work two ways for Green Card holders if they’ve worked and contributed for less than 35 years in the U.S. That’s because only income earned in the U.S. through legally authorized work and on which Social Security taxes were paid counts toward what your benefit will be at retirement.

Every year that a Green Card holder wasn’t earning income in the U.S. counts as $0, which can draw down the average income over the 35-year period, reducing what an individual will receive each month from the SSA. However, on the other hand, the formula the SSA uses is weighted to favor lower-wage workers, which could result in a proportionally higher return on contributions compared to other workers.

Caution for non-citizens who claim Social Security and reside outside the U.S.

If a non-citizen doesn’t get naturalized and chooses to move to another country once they begin receiving Social Security benefits they must meet certain criteria in order to avoid benefit payments from ending. The SSA cannot disburse payments to a non-citizen beneficiary once they have been absent from the U.S. for six consecutive months.

The person can begin receiving benefits again, but they must return and remain lawfully present for the entire calendar month, meaning “physically present for every hour of every day of any month of the year.”

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