Social Security Payments Were Suspended for Some Americans Abroad. Here's What to Know

A mature couple sits closely on a wooden bench, showing concern as they look at a laptop, highlighting the reality of dealing with challenges together in an outdoor park setting. — (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Social Security Administration has temporarily suspended the benefits of some of the 700,000 retirees that live outside of the U.S. If you were impacted by the suspension, there are steps you can take to remedy the problem.

Most retirees living abroad can count on the timely deposit of their Social Security benefits. However, for those who have failed to reply to a key administrative form that is sent out every one or two years, benefits have been suspended.

In order to keep the money flowing, retirees whose benefits have been suspended will need to complete a Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire, SSA-7162 form that is sent by the Social Security Administration approximately every one to two years.

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As some retirees have discovered, failure to return the completed form will lead to the temporary suspension of your benefits. Retirees living outside the U.S. can get their benefits restarted by contacting their embassy's Federal Benefits Unit to clear up the situation.

Whose benefits were suspended?

U.S. Embassies in several countries have sent out notices about suspended Social Security payments. These notices were sent to around 59,000 retirees who live in Mexico and about 2,000 in Costa Rica and Haiti, according to Newsweek. Other Embassies that posted notices on their websites to inform retirees of possible benefit suspensions include Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Spain and Andorra.

Each year some beneficiaries are required to complete Form SSA-7162 (if you receive your payments directly) or SSA-7161 (if you have a representative payee) to keep receiving their social security benefits when living outside the U.S. The purpose of the form is to ensure the SSA has the correct address and phone number on file and that circumstances that may affect payment have been reported.

How to get your benefits restarted

The process to remove the suspension of your benefits is pretty straightforward.

To start the process of reinstating your benefits, you must contact the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) in the embassy of your host country by telephone or email. These are outposts located in U.S. embassies that provide services for the Social Security Administration. They are the primary point of contact for all Social Security related matters when you are abroad.

After the FBU receives your form or you have attested the form, benefits will be reinstated in approximately seven business days. If you contact the FBU by email, remember to include a telephone number where the FBU can contact you.

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Contact information for FBU in Costa Rica, Haiti and Mexico
Country	Phone number	Information to include in your email	Email address
Costa Rica	506-2519-2228	Include a telephone number where the FBU can contact you	FBU.CostaRica@ssa.gov.
Haiti	809-368-7011	Include a telephone number where the FBU can contact you.	FBU.Santo.Domingo@ssa.gov
Mexico	Contact your FBU via email	Include your name, Social Security Number, telephone number, and a brief explanation of your issue in your email.	For residents of Cd. de México, Edo. de Méx., Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Campeche, Querétaro, Veracruz, Guerrero, Tlaxcala, Michoacán, Morelos, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Yucatán, Puebla, Quintana Roo and Tabascoemail: FBU.Mexico.CITY@SSA.GOV
Row 3 - Cell 0	Row 3 - Cell 1	Row 3 - Cell 2	For residents of Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Sinaloa, Baja California Sur, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, please email: FBU.Guadalajara@ssa.gov
Row 4 - Cell 0	Row 4 - Cell 1	Row 4 - Cell 2	For residents of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Durango, please email: FBU.Ciudad.Juarez@ssa.gov

Questionnaire schedule for retirees

The SSA sends questionnaires to retirees and spouses receiving social security benefits outside the United States every year or every two years. If you do not receive your questionnaire when you are supposed to, you should contact the SSA or your FBU.

It is important that you or your representative payee complete, sign, date, and return the questionnaire to us in the envelope provided with the questionnaire as soon as possible. If you do not, your payments will stop.

How do you know when you are supposed to receive and remit the questionnaire? See the table below.

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Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire schedule
Who?	When	Header Cell - Column 2
Are age 90 or over	You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every year	Row 0 - Cell 2
Have a representative payee	You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every year	Row 1 - Cell 2
Are not receiving benefits as a spouse, surviving spouse, parent, special age 72 payments, or surviving spouse with a disability	You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every year	Row 2 - Cell 2
Are receiving benefits as a spouse, surviving spouse, parent, special age 72 payments	You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every 2 years	Row 3 - Cell 2
Live in one of the countries in the list to the right and you do not meet the conditions for an annual questionnaire	You will receive a questionnaire between May and June every 2 years	Argentina • Australia • Austria • Azores • Barbados • Belgium • Brazil • Canada • Chile • Colombia • Costa Rica • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Ecuador • El Salvador • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Guatemala • Honduras • Hong Kong • Hungary • Ireland • Israel • Italy • Japan • Macedonia • Malta • Mongolia • Nauru • Netherlands • New Zealand • Nicaragua • Norway • Panama • Poland • Portugal • San Marino • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • United Kingdom • Venezuela

For those who are supposed to receive a questionnaire every two years, your social security number determines which year you receive a form. If you are supposed to receive a questionnaire every 2 years, the SSA will mail your form in even numbered years if the last 2 numbers of your Social Security number are 00 through 49, or odd numbered years, if the last 2 digits of your Social Security number are 50 through 99.

Bottom line

If you live abroad or plan on joining the crowds of American expats in Costa Rica, Panama, Portugal or Mexico, you have to pay close attention to your U.S.-based benefits and the necessary forms you need to maintain access to those funds.

Don't forget about access to your other retirement accounts. Managing disbursements from retirement plans based in the U.S. isn't merely a matter of getting to the nearest ATM. Read How To Manage Retirement Savings When Living Abroad to learn more about fluctuating exchange rates, foreign tax systems, and managing your accounts across multiple countries.

Donna joined Kiplinger as a personal finance writer in 2023. She spent more than a decade as the contributing editor of J.K.Lasser's Your Income Tax Guide and edited state specific legal treatises at ALM Media. She has shared her expertise as a guest on Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, NPR, CNBC and many other media outlets around the nation. She is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and the University at Buffalo.