The Social Security Administration has confirmed that immigrants may be able to get Social Security benefits if they have lived in the United States for seven years. The Social Security Administration (SSA) gives millions of dollars every month to people who take part in the program.
Most of them are retired workers or people who get Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
No matter what age, people over 65 and some disabled people who do not have much money or resources are in the second group. However, immigrants can also get the same benefits. This information is very important for people who are currently immigrants and want to know if they can get Social Security benefits in the United States.
Immigrants in the US could be eligible to receive Social Security benefits.
Since the government pays for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), people who want to get money from it can do so even if they have not worked or paid into Social Security.
The SSA says that people who are not citizens may be able to get SSI benefits under the well-known “7-year rule.” But beneficiaries and people who want to run for office in the future might not know how this process works. Because of the seven-year rule, immigrants can get Social Security and even SSI payments during that time.
Still, people who are interested should know that these benefits are only available for up to seven years, depending on the person’s immigration status. SSA paperwork says the immigrant must fit into one of the following Department of Homeland Security (DHS) categories in order to be eligible for payments:
- Was properly permitted to permanent residence
- granted conditional entrance or asylum.
- Is on parole in the United States?
- Admitted as a refugee.
- Are you an alien whose removal is being withheld?
- Are you an entrant from Cuba or Haiti?
- Admitted as an American immigrant.
- Admitted as an Afghan or Iraqi special immigrant.
- Was admitted as an Afghan humanitarian temporary stay permit holder or an Afghan non-special immigrant parolee.
- Was admitted as an individual with a Ukrainian humanitarian temporary stay permit.
Also, immigrants must meet one of the following requirements in order to get benefits:
- They should have been legally present in the United States on August 22, 1996, and be blind or have a developmental handicap.
- They must be receiving SSI payments on August 22, 1996, and dwell in the United States legally.
- They must be lawfully admitted for permanent residency and have a total of 40 U.S. labor credits.
- They were either veterans or active duty members of the United States armed services, or the spouse or dependent of a veteran or active duty member of the United States military.
- Be a Native American born in Canada.
- Become a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe as a non-citizen
- Be a victim of serious human trafficking.
SSI recipients currently get an average monthly benefit of $1,415 for couples and $943 for singles. However, if a person or couple meets the essential person (EP) criteria, they can get an extra $472 per month. After being accepted, people will get a letter from Social Security at the end of seven years that tells them exactly when their benefit will end. On top of that, you can get limited SSI benefits in the ways below:
- Quickly process your pending application for a change of status (Form I-485) or naturalization petition (Form N-400).
- Forego the costs related to submitting these applications.
When do beneficiaries from the SSI program receive their Social Security paychecks?
Following the annual announcement of the Social Security payment schedule, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients usually receive their payments on the first of the month, unless it falls on a holiday or weekend.
If this happens, the SSA will reschedule that payment to make sure that people who are supposed to get it will get it in time to meet their needs. Here is a list of all the confirmed payment dates for the next year:
SSI payments | SSI payments date | Advanced payment |
January | December 31st | January 31st (February 1st) |
February | – | February 28th (March 1st) |
March | – | – |
April | April 1st | – |
May | May 1st | May 30th (June 1st) |
June | – | – |
July | July 1st | – |
August | August 1st | August 29th (September 1st) |
September | – | – |
October | October 1st | October 31st (November 1st) |
November | – | – |
December | December 1st | December 31st (January 1st) |