Collecting Social Security While Living Abroad
Her friend Peregrine has lived in Oaxaca for six years, and he came to dinner with one question for her.
Picture a widow named Octavia, 69, who plans to move to Valencia in the spring. Her Social Security check is the largest part of her income. Her friend Peregrine has lived in Oaxaca for six years, and he came to dinner with one question for her.
"Have you asked where the check goes?"
Octavia had not. She had heard a neighbor say that Social Security stops after six months abroad, and she had spent two weeks not asking anyone.
Peregrine laughed kindly. "I heard that too. Then I read about it."
The six-month rule is for non-citizens
The Social Security Administration has a rule that stops payment to some non-citizens after six full calendar months outside the United States, unless an exception applies. Its staff manual states that the rule does not apply to US citizens. Octavia is a citizen. A non-citizen spouse or survivor in the family is different: that person could need to meet an exception, and the office could say which.
A short list of places where payment is limited
The list below comes from the staff manual, with the date of each entry.
| Place | What the manual says | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Cuba, North Korea | A US Treasury bar. For a US citizen, payments build up but are not sent while living there | 21 August 2026 |
| Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan | Restricted. Payment is possible only through a special procedure, with an in-person visit to a US consulate or Federal Benefits Unit every six months | 21 August 2026 |
| Vietnam | Restrictions lifted; US citizens are paid normally | May 2015 |
| Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Panama, Greece, Italy, Colombia, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Cyprus, Thailand | On the international direct deposit list | December 2025 |
Some articles online name more countries than this. The staff manual names only the nine above as barred or restricted. Sources differ, so a person with a particular country in mind could ask first.
How the money arrives
Payments through international direct deposit are generally in local currency and sent on the 3rd of the month, then credited one to three days later in some countries. Octavia's euro amount may therefore move a little with the exchange rate. A US bank account is also allowed, but the office must always be told the true address of residence.
The envelope in May
"Here is the part I almost missed," Peregrine said, and he put a thick envelope on the table. It was in Spanish and English.
Each year or every second year, in May or June, the office mails a questionnaire to people living abroad. It asks whether the person is alive, and whether anything has changed, such as marriage, divorce or citizenship. Spain is on a two-year cycle: people whose Social Security numbers end in 00 to 49 get it in even years, and 50 to 99 in odd years. Mexico is not on the two-year list, so Peregrine gets his every year.
"What happens if it goes missing?" Octavia asked.
"I looked for that," Peregrine said. "The manual pages I read did not say."
A late or lost questionnaire is a question for the office.
You could…
- Ask the Federal Benefits Unit at the US embassy or consulate, or Social Security, what to expect in the country you chose.
- Tell Social Security your true address when you move, and again if it changes.
- Put "May and June" on your calendar as the months to watch the mail.
Octavia wrote "May, June" on a card and propped it by the door. What did you find out about getting a check abroad, and where did you find it? Share it here, since a reader in another country may be reading the same pages.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Rules change, so each figure shows the year it applies to; ask the official office before you act.
Sources: Social Security Administration Program Operations Manual System, sections on payments to non-citizens, restricted countries (21 August 2026), international direct deposit and the foreign questionnaire program, at secure.ssa.gov. The public pages at ssa.gov could not be read, so everything here rests on the staff manual, which is written for office employees.
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