Collecting Social Security While Living Abroad: What American Expats Need to Know

There are only two countries on Earth where the U.S. Treasury will refuse to deliver your Social Security check: Cuba and North Korea ([SSA, *Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States*](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)). Everywhere else — from Portugal to Panama to Thailand — your retirement, survivors, or disability benefit can keep arriving after you move. But the moment you become an expat, the rules governing how much you receive, how it is taxed, and what you must do to keep the payments coming begin to shift. Get them wrong and you can lose months of benefits or hand over a quarter of your check in withholding you never saw coming.

This article walks through what actually changes when you collect Social Security from outside the United States — including a major 2025 law that may have already raised checks for people who worked overseas.

Your check follows you — with two hard exceptions

If you are a U.S. citizen, you can generally receive your full Social Security retirement, survivors, or disability payment in nearly any foreign country for as long as you remain eligible. SSA calls these Title II benefits, and citizenship lets them continue indefinitely while you live abroad ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

The two absolute exceptions are Cuba and North Korea. Under U.S. Treasury sanctions, SSA cannot send payments to anyone living in those two countries. If you are a U.S. citizen, the withheld payments are recoverable: once you relocate to a country where SSA can pay, you can collect everything that was held back. Non-citizens, by contrast, permanently forfeit any payment for the months they lived in Cuba or North Korea ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

A second tier of restrictions applies to seven countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. SSA can pay beneficiaries living there, but only under conditions — which can include agreeing to appear in person at a U.S. embassy or consulate and accepting limits on who can be paid ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

Before you move, run your situation through SSA's free [Payments Abroad Screening Tool](https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments_outsideUS.html), which tells you whether your payments will continue indefinitely, stop after six months, or hit a country-specific restriction.

Citizens vs. non-citizens: the six-month rule

Citizenship is the dividing line. If you are *not* a U.S. citizen, SSA generally cannot pay your benefits once you have been outside the United States for six consecutive calendar months. Payments stop in the seventh month and do not resume until you return to the U.S. for a full calendar month ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

Many non-citizens qualify for an exception that lets payments continue abroad without interruption. Common ones include being a citizen or resident of a country with a U.S. totalization agreement (covered below), or having earned 40 quarters of coverage — 10 years of work — or lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years ([SSA Payments Abroad Screening Tool](https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments_outsideUS.html)). If you are a green-card holder or a non-citizen spouse planning to retire overseas, confirm which exception applies *before* you leave. It is the difference between lifelong payments and a hard stop in month seven.

Taxes don't stop at the U.S. border

Living abroad does not exempt your Social Security from U.S. income tax. For U.S. citizens and resident aliens, up to 85% of benefits can be taxable depending on your "combined income." The thresholds, which have not been adjusted for inflation since they were enacted, are stark: for single filers, up to 50% of benefits become taxable above $25,000 of combined income and up to 85% above $34,000; for married couples filing jointly, those figures are $32,000 and $44,000 ([SSA, *Income Taxes and Your Social Security Benefit*](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html)).

Non-citizens face a different and often steeper rule. If the IRS treats you as a nonresident alien, SSA is required to withhold a flat 30% tax on 85% of your benefit — an effective withholding of 25.5% of every monthly payment — unless a tax treaty between the U.S. and your country of residence reduces or eliminates it ([SSA, *Nonresident Alien Tax Withholding*](https://www.ssa.gov/international/AlienTax.html)).

Then there is the other government. Many countries also tax U.S. Social Security income, though tax treaties and totalization agreements frequently decide which country has the right to tax it. SSA advises contacting the relevant country's embassy for its specific rules ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

Totalization agreements: credit where it's due

If you have worked in both the U.S. and abroad, totalization agreements are among the most valuable tools available. The U.S. has roughly 30 such agreements in force as of 2026, covering most of Western Europe plus countries including Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, and Chile ([SSA, *International Agreements Overview*](https://www.ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html)).

They do two things. First, they prevent double Social Security taxation, so you and your employer do not pay into both the U.S. and a foreign system on the same earnings. Second, they let you "totalize" — combine — your U.S. and foreign work credits to qualify for a benefit you could not claim under either country's rules alone. If you have, say, six years of U.S. credits (short of the 40 quarters normally required) plus several years of contributions in an agreement country, the agreement may let you combine them to qualify ([SSA, *International Agreements Overview*](https://www.ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html)).

The 2025 change that may have already raised your check

For decades, two rules — the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) — reduced Social Security benefits for people who also received a pension from work not covered by Social Security. That category quietly caught many expats and returning Americans who had earned a foreign government or employer pension.

That changed on January 5, 2025, when the Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law, repealing both WEP and GPO. December 2023 was the last month either rule applied; they no longer reduce benefits payable for January 2024 and later ([SSA, *Social Security Fairness Act*](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html)). SSA began adjusting monthly payments on February 25, 2025, and issuing retroactive lump sums back to January 2024. By July 2025, SSA reported it had sent more than 3.1 million payments totaling roughly $17 billion ([SSA, *Social Security Fairness Act*](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html)).

If your benefit was ever reduced because of a non-covered pension — including a foreign one — make sure SSA has your current mailing address and direct-deposit details so any adjustment actually reaches you.

Medicare won't travel with you

Social Security and Medicare are separate programs, and they behave very differently overseas. While your Social Security payment continues, Medicare almost never pays for care you receive outside the United States (U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam count as inside the U.S.) ([Medicare, *Medicare Coverage Outside the United States*](https://www.medicare.gov/publications/11037-medicare-coverage-outside-the-united-states.pdf)).

That forces a decision. You can keep paying the Part B premium while abroad and get essentially no coverage for it, or drop Part B — but if you later move back to the U.S. and re-enroll, you may face a permanent late-enrollment penalty that raises your premium for life. Many long-term expats instead carry international or local private health insurance and run the penalty math carefully before dropping Part B ([Medicare, *Medicare Coverage Outside the United States*](https://www.medicare.gov/publications/11037-medicare-coverage-outside-the-united-states.pdf)).

SSI is different — and it stops

Do not confuse Social Security with Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI, the needs-based program for low-income people who are aged, blind, or disabled, is not payable abroad. If you leave the U.S. for 30 or more consecutive days, SSI generally stops, and you must be back in the country for 30 consecutive days before it can resume ([SSA, *Understanding SSI Eligibility*](https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-eligibility-ussi.htm)). Retirement, survivors, and disability benefits do not work this way for citizens — but if SSI is part of your income, an overseas move can end it.

How to get paid and stay paid

• **Direct deposit:** SSA can deposit benefits electronically into banks in many countries through International Direct Deposit, or into a U.S. account you keep ([SSA, *Payments Outside the U.S.*](https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments.html)).
• **Report changes:** Tell SSA when you move, change bank accounts, marry, or when a beneficiary dies. Non-citizens leaving the U.S. for 30 or more days may need to file Form SSA-21 ([SSA Payments Abroad Screening Tool](https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments_outsideUS.html)).
• **Answer the questionnaire:** SSA periodically mails beneficiaries abroad a questionnaire to confirm continued eligibility. Failing to complete and return it can suspend your payments ([SSA EN-05-10137](https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf)).

Practical takeaways

• Run the SSA Payments Abroad Screening Tool before you commit to a destination.
• Rule out Cuba and North Korea as residences if you need uninterrupted payments, and read the conditions for the seven restricted countries carefully.
• If you are not a U.S. citizen, identify which exception keeps your benefit flowing past six months — before you go.
• Budget for taxes: up to 85% of benefits taxable for citizens, and an effective 25.5% withholding for nonresident aliens unless a treaty lowers it.
• Check whether your destination has a totalization agreement, especially if you have fewer than 40 U.S. credits.
• If a foreign or government pension ever reduced your benefit, confirm SSA has applied the WEP/GPO repeal and that your contact and banking details are current.
• Decide deliberately about Medicare Part B and arrange health coverage that works where you will actually live.
• Keep a U.S. mailing address and bank account, and respond promptly to SSA questionnaires.

Next steps

For most U.S. citizens, collecting Social Security abroad is straightforward — the check follows you nearly anywhere, and a 2025 law has erased a penalty that shrank benefits for many who worked overseas. The pitfalls are specific and avoidable: two off-limits countries, a six-month rule for non-citizens, extra withholding for nonresident aliens, and the gap left by Medicare. Start with three concrete steps. First, run SSA's Payments Abroad Screening Tool for your destination. Second, create or sign in to your *my Social Security* account at ssa.gov/myaccount to set up international direct deposit and verify your record. Third, contact SSA's Office of International Operations — or the Federal Benefits Unit at the nearest U.S. embassy — with questions specific to where you are moving. A short conversation before you leave is far cheaper than reclaiming suspended payments after.