Decision 3 · Week 3 · Wed Nov 18
Does the US have a Social Security agreement with the country I'm moving to?
SHORT ANSWERThe US has Social Security agreements, called totalization agreements, with 31 countries. They prevent paying into two systems at once and can help fill gaps for people who worked in both countries.
The countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
An agreement also matters for family members who are not US citizens. In some countries it can exempt them from the rule that they must have lived in the US for five years to receive benefits on your record.
Moving to a country without an agreement does not stop your own retirement benefit. It mainly affects people who work there or have non-citizen family.
Week 3 checks how your income and your family's protection travel with you.
Sources
- U.S. International Social Security Agreements · Social Security Administration
- Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States (EN-05-10137) · Social Security Administration
Written and reviewed by Todd Allyn, Founding Director, Sovereo Intelligence
Facts checked Oct 6, 2026 · Next review by Apr 6, 2027
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