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Reporting Life Changes and Answering Social Security Questionnaires Abroad

This guide presents selected U.S. government consumer education from Social Security Administration. References to “we” or “us” in the source material refer to the issuing agency. Source dates and links appear below.

Things you must report

Below is a list of things you must report to us. You will find an explanation of each item after this list.

  • 1. Change of address
  • 2. Work outside the United States
  • 3. Improvement of disability, or your return to work, after qualifying for disability benefits
  • 4. Marriage
  • 5. Divorce or annulment
  • 6. Adoption of a child
  • 7. Child leaves the care of a spouse or surviving spouse
  • 8. Child nearing age 18 is a full-time student or has a disability
  • 9. Death
  • 10. Inability to manage funds
  • 11. Deportation or removal from the United States
  • 12. Changes in parental circumstances
  • 13. Eligibility for a pension from work not covered by Social Security

NOTE: Failure to report a change may result in an overpayment. We will recover any payments not due you. Also, if you fail to report changes timely or you intentionally make a false statement, we may stop your benefits.

  • 1. Change of address

You should tell us if your address changes. Reporting this change timely ensures that the payments and mail we send you will not be lost or delayed. Even if we are sending your payments to a bank or other financial institution, report any change of your home address.

When you write to Social Security about a change of address, please type or print your new address carefully. Be sure to include the country and ZIP or postal code. Also, list the names of all family members moving to the new address.

  • 2. Work outside the United States

If you work or own a business outside the United States and are younger than full retirement age, notify Social Security or your FBU. Contact information is in the last section of this publication. If you do not, we may charge a penalty. In addition, you may lose benefits under one of the work tests explained in this section.

Full retirement age is 65 for people born in 1937 or earlier. Beginning with people born in 1938, full retirement age increases gradually until it reaches age 67 for those born in 1960 or later. Working after full retirement age will not affect your benefit payments.

If you are under full retirement age, your work may affect the amount of your monthly benefit payment.

Report your work to Social Security even if you work part-time or you are self-employed. Some types of work you must report include work as an apprentice, farmer, sales representative, tutor, and writer. If you own a business, notify us even if you do not work in the business or make any income from it.

If a child beneficiary (regardless of age) begins an apprenticeship, notify Social Security or your FBU. We may consider an apprenticeship as work under the Social Security program.

We will consider your work outside the U.S. under either the foreign work test or the annual retirement test.

The foreign work test

If you are receiving Social Security benefits and are younger than full retirement age, we will withhold your benefits for each month you work more than 45 hours outside the United States and you are not subject to U.S. Social Security taxes. This applies even if you are exempt from U.S. Social Security taxes because of an international agreement. These countries are listed in this publication under the section “Countries that have social security agreements with the United States.”

It does not matter how much you earned or how many hours you worked each day. Under the foreign work test, we consider a person to be working any day they:

  • Work as an employee or are self-employed
  • Have an agreement to work even if the person does not actually work because of sickness, vacation, etc.
  • Are the owner or part owner of a trade or business, even if the person does not actually work in the trade or business, or the person does not make any income from it

If you are entitled to benefits as a dependent of someone whose benefits we must withhold because of the foreign work test, we will withhold your benefits for the same months. This applies even if you are not working.

The annual retirement test

Under certain conditions, Social Security covers work by U.S. citizens or residents outside the United States. If Social Security covers your work, the same annual retirement test that applies to people in the U.S. applies to you. Under the annual retirement test, you can still get all benefits due for the year if your earnings do not exceed the annual exempt amount. This limit changes each year. To find out the current limit, read How Work Affects Your Benefits (Publication No. 05-10069). You can also contact Social Security or your FBU. Contact information is in the last section of this publication.

If the annual retirement test applies to you, and your earnings exceed the annual exempt amount, we will reduce some or all your benefits by your earnings as follows:

  • If you are younger than full retirement age, we withhold $1 in benefits for each $2 in earnings above the limit
  • In the year you reach full retirement age, we will reduce your benefits by $1 for every $3 you earn above a different annual limit until the month you reach full retirement age
  • People who reach full retirement age can get all their benefits with no limit on earnings

Count your earnings for the whole year to figure your benefit amount due. For most people, this means earnings from January through December. To figure your total earnings for the year you first become entitled to benefits, count your earnings for the months before and after becoming entitled to benefits.

Your benefits as a child stop at age 18, unless you are a full-time student in an elementary or secondary school, or you have a disability. We count your earnings for the entire year you reach age 18 to figure the amount of benefits due you for the year. We do this regardless of whether your payments continue or stop at age 18.

You may be entitled to benefits as a dependent of someone whose work is covered by Social Security. If so, we will include your benefits in the amount we must withhold due to the earnings above the limit in the annual earnings test.

  • 3. Improvement of disability, or your return to work, after qualifying for disability benefits

If you get payments because you have a disability, let us know right away if your condition improves and you go back to work. We will continue to send you payments for up to 9 months when you go back to work. This 9-month “trial work period” gives you a chance to test whether you can work without payments stopping. If, after 9 months, you continue working, we will continue to pay you for 3 more months.

If you can’t continue working after the trial work period, you will continue to get disability benefits.

  • 4. Marriage

Let us know if you get married or if someone receiving benefits based on your earnings gets married, or if someone in your care gets married. In some cases, Social Security payments stop after marriage. In other cases, the payment amount changes.

  • 5. Divorce or annulment

Notify us of your marriage annulment or divorce. Divorce or annulment doesn’t necessarily mean we will stop your

Social Security payments. If you are getting payments based on your own work record, divorce or annulment of your marriage will not affect your payments. Also, if you are a spouse age 62 or older and you were married to the worker for 10 years or more, we will continue your payments even if you divorce. Contact us if your name changes, so your new name will appear on your payments.

  • 6. Adoption of a child

When you adopt a child, tell us the child’s legal name, the adoption decree date, the country or U.S. state where the adoption took place, and the adopting parents’ names and addresses.

  • 7. Child leaves the care of a spouse or surviving spouse

You may be a spouse or a surviving spouse receiving benefits because you are caring for a child who is under age 16 or who has a qualifying disability that began before age 22. If so, notify us right away if the child leaves your care. If you do not, you could be penalized and lose additional benefits.

A temporary separation may not affect your benefits as long as you still have parental control over the child. Tell us if you or your child moves to another residence or if you no longer are responsible for the child. If the child returns to your care, tell us that as well.

  • 8. Child nearing age 18 is a full-time student or has a disability

We will stop payments to a child when the child reaches age 18, unless the child is unmarried and either has a disability or is a full-time student at an elementary or secondary school.

If a child age 18 or over gets payments as a student, notify us immediately if the student:

  • Drops out of school
  • Changes schools
  • Changes from full-time to part-time attendance
  • Gets suspended or expelled
  • Is paid by his or her employer for attending school
  • Marries
  • Begins working

If a child whose payments were stopped at age 18 has a disability that developed before age 22, or is unmarried and enters elementary or secondary school on a full-time basis before age 19, notify us. We will then resume payments to the child. Also, we can start payments again if a child who recovered from a disability develops a disability again within 7 years.

  • 9. Death

If a person who gets Social Security benefits dies, we do not pay benefits for the month of death. For example, if a beneficiary dies any time in June, someone must return the payment dated July (June payment) to Social Security.

  • 10. Inability to manage funds

Some people who get Social Security payments cannot manage their money. If that is the case, the beneficiary or beneficiary’s caretaker should let us know. We can arrange to send the payments to a relative or other person to act on behalf of the beneficiary. We call this person a “representative payee.”

We also offer the option to advance designate up to 3 people who could serve as payee for you if the need arises. For more information, read the section in this publication titled “Advance Designation of Representative Payee.”

  • 11. Deportation or removal from the United States

If you are deported or removed from the United States for certain reasons, we will stop your Social Security benefits. We cannot restart your payments unless you are lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence.

Even if you are deported or removed, your dependents can get any benefits for which they qualify if they are U.S. citizens. If not, we will continue to pay your dependents’ benefits if they stay in the U.S. for the entire month. However, we will not pay them benefits for any month if they spend any part of that month outside the U.S.

  • 12. Changes in parental circumstances

We may stop or start payments to a child who is not a U.S. citizen when certain changes occur. Let us know when the child’s natural parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent dies, marries, or gets divorced (or has an annulment). Let us know even if that person doesn’t receive Social Security payments.

  • 13. Eligibility for a pension from work not covered by Social Security

For benefits payable prior to January 2024, we may reduce your U.S. Social Security benefit if you become entitled to both a U.S. Social Security retirement or disability benefit and a retirement or disability pension. This may include foreign social security or a private pension, based, in whole or in part, on work not covered by U.S. Social Security. When this is the case, we may use a different formula to figure your U.S. Social Security benefit. You should tell us if you received a retirement or disability pension before January 2024 for work not covered by U.S. Social Security.

For more information, visit our website, www.ssa.gov, and read the publication, Windfall Elimination Provision (Publication No. 05-10045), or contact any U.S. Social Security office or FBU. Contact information is in the last section of this publication.

By answering a few questions in the WEP Screening Tool for foreign pensions, you can learn if the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduces your U.S. Social Security benefit. The WEP Screening Tool for foreign pensions is on our website at: www.ssa.gov/international/ wep_intro.html.

How to report

You can report by contacting us in person, by mail, or by phone. For information about how to contact us, see the last section in this publication.” When you contact us, include:

  • The name of the person or persons about whom the report is made
  • What is being reported and the date it happened
  • The Beneficiary Notice Control # that appears on letters or other correspondence we send you

Questionnaires

We send questionnaires to persons receiving social security benefits (or their representative payees) outside the United States every year or every 2 years. Your answers will help us determine if you are still eligible for benefits. This section will explain when you should receive a questionnaire. If you do not receive your questionnaire when you are supposed to, you should contact Social Security or your FBU. Contact information is in the last section of this publication.

It is important that you (or your representative payee) complete, sign, date, and return the questionnaire to us in the envelope provided with the questionnaire as soon as possible. If you do not, your payments will stop. If you fail to report or deliberately make a false statement, you could be penalized by a fine or imprisonment. You also may lose some of your payments if you do not report changes promptly.

You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every year if you:

  • Are age 90 or over
  • Have a representative payee
  • Are not receiving benefits as a spouse, surviving spouse, parent, special age 72 payments, or surviving spouse with a disability

You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every 2 years if you:

  • Are receiving benefits as a spouse, surviving spouse, parent, special age 72 payments, or surviving spouse with a disability
  • Live in one of the countries in the list below and you do not meet the conditions for an annual questionnaire

Countries where we mail questionnaires every 2 years: Argentina Ireland Australia Israel Austria Italy Azores Japan Barbados Macedonia Belgium Malta Brazil Mongolia Canada Nauru Chile Netherlands Colombia New Zealand Costa Rica Nicaragua Croatia Norway Cyprus Panama Czech Republic Poland Denmark Portugal Ecuador San Marino El Salvador Serbia Finland Slovakia France Slovenia Germany Spain Greece Sweden Guatemala Switzerland Honduras United Kingdom Hong Kong Venezuela Hungary

If you are supposed to receive a questionnaire every 2 years, we will mail your questionnaire in even numbered years if the last 2 numbers of your Social Security number are 00 through

  • 49. We will mail your questionnaire in odd numbered years, if the last 2 digits of your Social Security number are 50 through 99.

Advance Designation of Representative Payee

Advance Designation is available to capable adult and emancipated minor applicants and beneficiaries of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Special Veterans Benefits. It allows beneficiaries to designate up to 3 people who could potentially serve as their representative payee in the future, if the need arises.

By selecting a representative payee in advance, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that someone you trust may be appointed to manage your benefits if needed.

For more information, contact Social Security or your Federal Benefits Unit (FBU). Contact information is in the last section of this publication.

Sources and publication details

The federal agency source text is U.S. government work in the public domain. Fynoptic selected, adapted, and formatted it for this guide. No agency endorsement is implied. Follow the linked sources for current program details and the rules applicable to your circumstances.

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