Heads Up! Have you proved you are alive?

[OnMyWay]

It is that time of year.  For U.S. recipients of SS who are living in the Philippines, Form 7162 should have been mailed to you in June.  Then a back up sent in September.  As per instructions from SS at US Embassy in Manila, if you have not received it by November, you need to contact them.

Email fbu.manila.ssa.gov with your details and ask what to do.  If you know your case worker's e-mail, include them.  Correction.  The auto e-mail sent to me said do not include an employee's e-mail.

I dug a little, and although COVID totally messed up the snail mail, I do not see that they are extending any deadlines.  Contact them now to avoid delays of your benefits.

Did anyone get the 7162 this year?  My daughters and I have never received one, last year or this year.

Edited November 16, 2020 by OnMyWay

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

It is that time of year.  For U.S. recipients of SS who are living in the Philippines, Form 7162 should have been mailed to you in June.  Then a back up sent in September.  As per instructions from SS at US Embassy in Manila, if you have not received it by November, you need to contact them.

Email fbu.manila.ssa.gov with your details and ask what to do.  If you know your case worker's e-mail, include them.  Correction.  The auto e-mail sent to me said do not include an employee's e-mail.

I dug a little, and although COVID totally messed up the snail mail, I do not see that they are extending any deadlines.  Contact them now to avoid delays of your benefits.

Did anyone get the 7162 this year?  My daughters and I have never received one, last year or this year.

You would think in this day and age, even without Covid, systems would be in place to enable online or telephone verification of such things. 

[jimeve]

5 hours ago, hk blues said:

You would think in this day and age, even without Covid, systems would be in place to enable online or telephone verification of such things. 

They do in the UK. I phoned the UK DWP after I received a letter life certificate (snail mail) from them that took 8 months to get to me. Gladly they accept phone calls.

[scott h]

7 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Did anyone get the 7162 this year? 

Not I. This is only my 2nd year to get SS. Is this a yearly requirement or just sporadic?

[OnMyWay]

9 minutes ago, scott h said:

Not I. This is only my 2nd year to get SS. Is this a yearly requirement or just sporadic?

Yearly for the Philippines.  There are a few countries that are every other year.

https://ph.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/feq/

[graham59]

3 hours ago, jimeve said:

They do in the UK. I phoned the UK DWP after I received a letter life certificate (snail mail) from them that took 8 months to get to me. Gladly they accept phone calls.

I did the same, about a month ago. 

They also told me how the system works, and when to contact them again. (I don't even consider 'snail mail' any more. It was terrible in the Phils even BEFORE the internet.)  I phone them free, using Skype.  

[BC57]

17 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

It is that time of year.  For U.S. recipients of SS who are living in the Philippines, Form 7162 should have been mailed to you in June.  Then a back up sent in September.  As per instructions from SS at US Embassy in Manila, if you have not received it by November, you need to contact them.

Email fbu.manila.ssa.gov with your details and ask what to do.  If you know your case worker's e-mail, include them.  Correction.  The auto e-mail sent to me said do not include an employee's e-mail.

I dug a little, and although COVID totally messed up the snail mail, I do not see that they are extending any deadlines.  Contact them now to avoid delays of your benefits.

Did anyone get the 7162 this year?  My daughters and I have never received one, last year or this year.

If you asked the embassy about the 7162 form this is what you would have gotten back in their response (see below). I check the covid 19 updates page regularly and there hasn't been any updates for the 7162 form. 

Thank you for contacting the Social Security Administration's Federal Benefits Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

***********

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the annual mailing of reporting forms SSA-7162 and SSA-7161 has been delayed. The forms will be mailed out later this year so, at this time, no further action is needed. To stay updated about what SSA is doing during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may visit SSA’s COVID-19 Updates page.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, BC57 said:

If you asked the embassy about the 7162 form this is what you would have gotten back in their response (see below). I check the covid 19 updates page regularly and there hasn't been any updates for the 7162 form. 

Thank you for contacting the Social Security Administration's Federal Benefits Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

***********

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the annual mailing of reporting forms SSA-7162 and SSA-7161 has been delayed. The forms will be mailed out later this year so, at this time, no further action is needed. To stay updated about what SSA is doing during the COVID-19 pandemic, you may visit SSA’s COVID-19 Updates page.

That is strange.  Is this recent or from a while back?  I remember seeing that somewhere but I think it is outdated.  "Later this year" is now.

I sent an e-mail to fbu.manila.ssa.gov and my case worker yesterday.  In my case worker's auto-reply, it includes this:

Form SSA-7162 / SSA-7161 (Report to the United States Social Security Administration)

 Form SSA-7162 is sent from Wilkes-Barre, PA and must be completed by all beneficiaries according to the schedule below. If a beneficiary has a representative payee, Form SSA-7161 will be sent to the representative payee for completion.

 ·         Beneficiaries with addresses in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, and APO/FPO/DPO receive the form every two years.

·         Beneficiaries in countries not mentioned above receive the form every year.

 The form is mailed to beneficiaries in May and a follow-up letter is mailed in September. If the completed form is not received by the end of the year, benefits are suspended beginning with the February payment of the following year.

 To avoid the suspension of your benefits, please complete the form as soon as you receive it and mail it back using the enclosed business reply envelope. Do not submit the completed form to the Federal Benefits Unit in Manila or to a U.S. Embassy/Consulate.

 IMPORTANT: If you do not receive the form by November, contact us right away, preferably by e-mail.

 

[Heeb]

If you maintain a US address they wouldn't even know you were here correct?

 

[Jollygoodfellow]

3 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

In my case worker's auto-reply, it includes this:

Auto replies might not be updated either.