Social Security for Illegals? - Yep!

[Woodsman]

snopes.com: Social Security for Illegal Aliens

Apologies for jumping on to this too quickly.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

snopes.com: Social Security for Illegal Aliens

Apologies for jumping on to this too quickly.

I don't know how true the article you were looking at was, but I do know that when I was working for a helicopter company in Texas in the early 80s, the Director of Training was a 70ish pilot, a friend of the owner, who had been a pilot in WWII. After the war, he moved to Mexico and had worked there ever since. When he was ready to retire, he moved back to Texas and got a job. He had to hold it for five years before he could collect Social Security.

 

[Woodsman]

I don't know how true the article you were looking at was, but I do know that when I was working for a helicopter company in Texas in the early 80s, the Director of Training was a 70ish pilot, a friend of the owner, who had been a pilot in WWII. After the war, he moved to Mexico and had worked there ever since. When he was ready to retire, he moved back to Texas and got a job. He had to hold it for five years before he could collect Social Security.

Well, like most of these stories you can get spun up very quickly and over-react, which is what I think I did so I sit here hidden behind a monitor. The part that does bother me though is how that guy you mentioned stayed in Mexico and then come back and file for Social Security after all of that time? If he paid into, then fine. But if he didn't and then simply came back to collect a pension, I'd have to question that too. For a WWII vet, I would bend some rules for sure. But....

 

[jedi]

Well, like most of these stories you can get spun up very quickly and over-react, which is what I think I did so I sit here hidden behind a monitor. The part that does bother me though is how that guy you mentioned stayed in Mexico and then come back and file for Social Security after all of that time? If he paid into, then fine. But if he didn't and then simply came back to collect a pension, I'd have to question that too. For a WWII vet, I would bend some rules for sure. But....

This is not an uncommon thing. I don't know the guy's (WW2 vets) case personally but there are US Citizens that have done this.

1) Worked in the US at some point and paid into SS
2) Leave the country and work abroad [NO SS taken out]
3) Return to the states to file for SS

If they have enough credits (ie worked long enough to collect) then they can collect SS. The amount of SS they get depends on how much they "put in" per say.

Say you have Joe who worked all his life at McD's at MIN WAGE and then retires. He will get "x" amount.

Say you have Jane who worked only a few years (like the vet) but max a million in wages each of those years. She wil get "y" amount which will probably be higher than Joe's since he put in less.

Some countries have agreements with the US so that if say you left like teh vet & went to Canada. Canada would be taking out money from your check for their "SS" so when it goes time for you to file in the US then an exchange is done and the money that Canada took is given as credit to you on your SS record. Note the US does not have this agreement with all countries.

Here is the current list of countries that the US has agreements with.
U.S. International Social Security Agreements

Mexico is NOT one of them BTW.

 

[Woodsman]

...

If they have enough credits (ie worked long enough to collect) then they can collect SS. The amount of SS they get depends on how much they "put in" per say.

Say you have Joe who worked all his life at McD's at MIN WAGE and then retires. He will get "x" amount.

Say you have Jane who worked only a few years (like the vet) but max a million in wages each of those years. She wil get "y" amount which will probably be higher than Joe's since he put in less.

...

I agree and consider that fair. That was what I tried to imply. What got me spun-up was the position of people gaming the system.

 

[jedi]

I agree and consider that fair. That was what I tried to imply. What got me spun-up was the position of people gaming the system.

Not this was not always the case in terms of how much you put in you get back. 97% of all SS payments going out now are based on the new laws (ie formulas) that were put in place back in the 80s. Most people on benefits get $3k or less. Many are in the $1k range. However back in the 60s when the forumulas were changed the payments going out were still small but the forumula gave more the longer you stayed on. In some cases some people have collected more than they ever put in and have some big check $4K+ going out to them. Note these people are typically 97+ years old and we have few of them left.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Not this was not always the case in terms of how much you put in you get back. 97% of all SS payments going out now are based on the new laws (ie formulas) that were put in place back in the 80s. Most people on benefits get $3k or less. Many are in the $1k range. However back in the 60s when the forumulas were changed the payments going out were still small but the forumula gave more the longer you stayed on. In some cases some people have collected more than they ever put in and have some big check $4K+ going out to them. Note these people are typically 97+ years old and we have few of them left.

Since my acquaintance was in his mid-70s and somewhat frail of health, I suspect he didn't live long enough to collect a lot of SS benefits, but at the time, and not considering his prospects of mortality, I was a bit annoyed.