Repatriation: Yes, you can go home again!

[OnMyWay]

16 minutes ago, nor cal mike said:

Great information, thank you.  My situation is similar to yours in that we have 2 children and my wife will be 57 when the oldest turns 18. Do you happen to know if that 5 years has to be immediately preceding the claim? My wife has been here 18 years but will be living in PI when the time comes for her to file for benefits. I’m wondering if she will have to come back here for 5 years before she qualifies?

I think she is fine for the 5 year rule but I seem to remember some othet rules about spouses living outside the U.S.   SS website has a good search engine so check there.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

3 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, I have done the research for U.S. SS and in most cases the young wife will have to wait until she is old to collect on her older husband's account.

Without any children involved, first she has to live in the U.S. for 5 years.  Then she can collect on his account when she is 62.  If he is still alive, it would be about 50% of his.  If he is dead, it would be somewhat higher.  If she works and builds her own SS account, they will give her the higher of the two when she is 62.

In my case, adding my wife to SS does nothing because I have 2 kids collecting until they are 18 and we are at the family maximum.  When the first turns 18 she will be 57 and would still need to wait until she turns 62 to collect, if she meets other requirement.

I knew a guy that swore his wife would get his Social Security when he died - as survivors benefits. He was 70, she was 21, she had never been to the US.  I tried to tell him about the 5 year residency rule, and that she would still have to wait for her age to qualify.  He insisted she would just automatically continue getting money. He would not listen, and would not look at the SS website, where it is explained rather well.

Unfortunately he died the next year, and she was immediately penniless (and his kids froze his bank accounts to cut her off too).  It was unfortunate, but not surprising.  

Luckily my job has no age limit requirement, they just scale the pay according to the age of the beneficiary.  My wife has never been in the US and all I had to provide was a tax ID number for her.  When I die she will get 100% of the payment I receive. 

I am still 7 years from SS and not really concerned about the tiny check I will get from them - only $650 a month (my 15 year government job did not contribute so it cut my payout way back).

[Gary D]

Don't any of you guys pay into SSS for your wives, not exlensive and better than leaving them penniless.

[OnMyWay]

50 minutes ago, Gary D said:

Don't any of you guys pay into SSS for your wives, not exlensive and better than leaving them penniless.

Yes, we pay it.  I think my wife said she will get p3000 a month.  Almost penniless!

Hopefully if my planning is somewhat correct, she won't need it.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

I think she is fine for the 5 year rule but I seem to remember some othet rules about spouses living outside the U.S.   SS website has a good search engine so check there.

Home now so I could look that up.  If she is not a citizen there may be some issues with living full time outside of the country.  I don't really understand it so if your wife might be in that group, you should get more information.

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-0460.htm

 

 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Gary D said:

Don't any of you guys pay into SSS for your wives, not exlensive and better than leaving them penniless.

Talking only the UK situation, there is no mechanism to "buy" welfare benefits for a spouse who has not lived in the UK

[Arizona Kid]

On 2/13/2019 at 6:00 PM, OnMyWay said:

I'll probably start a new thread when I am ready with something I am working on related to this topic, and can share it.  I seriously need to weigh the pros and cons of moving back to the U.S., because of my kids.  My wife and I have discussed it before and decided not to pursue it, but I need to put more time into it to make sure it is not a viable option for us.  We are considering investing in another property here and before making that decision, we need to give the move back another look.

My curiosity was peaked by Mark's post here and I thank him for sharing, and it has opened up a great discussion.

Something strange happened today.  Last night, I was researching cities in the U.S. for Best Cities to Live, Lowest Crime Cities, Best Cities to Retire, Lowest Cost Cities, etc.  I have some family in Las Vegas and that popped up on a few of the lists, unfortunately, it was not very good on the crime list.

I had thought about Vegas a little bit but don't think I could live there.  Climate, scumbags, etc.  So this morning, my nephew, who lives in Vegas, posted this on FB:

"So today while I was out, my neighbor broke into my house. My other neighbor shot him, twice. Just another day in the wild Wild West!".

It actually was the neighbor's son who tried to break in to my nephew's place, breaking a window.  Another neighbor heard the noise, and called 911.  Then the other neighbor confronted the burglar, who then attacked with a knife.  The other neighbor shot him twice, non-lethally.  I guess the guy was a good shot and just winged him a bit!  My nephew say the neighbors are good folks, but their son is an addict.

For me, it was just a reminder that not all is rosy at home and you have to be careful all over the world.  As some mentioned, our home countries have often changed for the worse.

Maybe I'm just lucky. Never had my house broken into, here or there. Never been robbed, or held up. Unless you count having to pay a traffic enforcer P500 for "swerving" even though I didn't.

[sonjack2847]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, we pay it.  I think my wife said she will get p3000 a month.  Almost penniless!

Hopefully if my planning is somewhat correct, she won't need it.

I think my wife will get about the same.For some reason I thought it was 10k.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

6 hours ago, Gary D said:

Don't any of you guys pay into SSS for your wives, not exlensive and better than leaving them penniless.

You mean here in the PIs?  My wife looked into and you have to have a job to pay in - that is what the website, and the clerk said anyway.

[sonjack2847]

1 hour ago, Tukaram (Tim) said:

You mean here in the PIs?  My wife looked into and you have to have a job to pay in - that is what the website, and the clerk said anyway.

I just found this

.

An unemployed SSS member who has no previous SS record of coverage or contributions cannot just start paying contiributions as a Voluntary Member for the sole purpose of qualifying for an SS ID Card  or SSS benefits. Such contributions shall be deemed invalid and duly returned/refunded. Voluntary Membership is solely for previously employed/self-employed/OFW members.

A member who is separated from employment or ceased to be self-employed/overseas Filipino worker/non-working spouse may continue paying SSS contributions using the previously assigned SS number through Contributions Payment Return (SS Form RS-5) where he/she should put a check mark on the box for Voluntary (Separated) Member. Posting of said payment will change the membership status from covered employee, self-employed, OFW, or non-working spouse to a voluntary paying member.My wife was working and her employer paid some contributions then stopped,so she had an account.