# Noncitizen receiving survivor benefits



## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

I would like my Mexian wife, (with passport), to receive survivor benefits after I die.
I have studied the subject but keep getting confused on the regs..
Any personal experiences? 
Yeah, I know not to ask someone after he/she died!
social security survivor benefits non-citizen widow - Google Search


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Call them up in DF Federal Benefits | Embassy of the United States Mexico City, Mexico


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

dongringo said:


> I would like my Mexian wife, (with passport), to receive survivor benefits after I die.
> I have studied the subject but keep getting confused on the regs..
> Any personal experiences?
> Yeah, I know not to ask someone after he/she died!
> social security survivor benefits non-citizen widow - Google Search


I researched it on the Gov´t Social Security website a long time ago and came to the conclusion she, a Mexican, would have to have a "green card" to collect anything permanently, even 50% and if not your exwife might get it if her´s is very low and you were married for over 10 years.


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> I researched it on the Gov´t Social Security website a long time ago and came to the conclusion she, a Mexican, would have to have a "green card" to collect anything permanently, even 50% and if not your exwife might get it if her´s is very low and you were married for over 10 years.


are you trying to depress me?


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> I researched it on the Gov´t Social Security website a long time ago and came to the conclusion she, a Mexican, would have to have a "green card" to collect anything permanently, even 50% and if not your exwife might get it if her´s is very low and you were married for over 10 years.



I tried that for a week of calls, and was relayed or recommended to another 3 phone numbers. 
The gist was something about having to be in the US 10 days per year. I know it sounds stupid.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

dongringo said:


> I tried that for a week of calls, and was relayed or recommended to another 3 phone numbers.
> The gist was something about having to be in the US 10 days per year. I know it sounds stupid.


Unless it has changed in the last 3 years I feel without a green card and residing in the US 6 months out of 12 she will not get a permanent check. If your exwife can she will get the 50% if her´s is much lower than yours or a part of 50% depending on her rate after retiring after 10 years of marriage if your Mexican wife doesn´t get 50% and then your exwife might still get some of it in either case.



I read there that a non immigrant status Mexican wife gets nothing. 

The Google search you posted, that I read just now, states she can possibly get 6 months only, probably at 50%.


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> Unless it has changed in the last 3 years I feel without a green card and residing in the US 6 months out of 12 she will not get a permanent check. If your exwife can she will get the 50% if her´s is much lower than yours or a part of 50% depending on her rate after retiring after 10 years of marriage if your Mexican wife doesn´t get 50% and then your exwife might still get some of it in either case.
> 
> My ex still lives and her ongoing income would put PEMEX to shame. So that would not be a concern.
> 
> ...


That is why I am fishing for real info. Are there no Mexican widows that hang out on message boards seeking the next one??,


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

dongringo said:


> That is why I am fishing for real info. Are there no Mexican widows that hang out on message boards seeking the next one??,


Your best bet is to read the Social Security website and all their cross references like I did. It took about 3 hours. For a small fee I could do it again.  :ranger:


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> Your best bet is to read the Social Security website and all their cross references like I did. It took about 3 hours. For a small fee I could do it again.  :ranger:


I already wasted more than 3 hours and several more on the phone.. And I am still dumb!


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

I was married for 15 years to my first husband. 

When I start to collect Social Security, he'll be eligible to collect some of it, based on our years of marriage, and what I earned then. However, since he's collecting a non-SS pension from the state fund, as he was a public employee, he has to choose between his (big) pension and the pittance he'd get from my years of working part-time as we grew the family to four little kids.

Whoever was married to you when you were earning that SS income is entitled to it upon your death.

Even if you and your current spouse lived in the US.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

mickisue1 said:


> I was married for 15 years to my first husband.
> 
> When I start to collect Social Security, he'll be eligible to collect some of it, based on our years of marriage, and what I earned then. However, since he's collecting a non-SS pension from the state fund, as he was a public employee, he has to choose between his (big) pension and the pittance he'd get from my years of working part-time as we grew the family to four little kids.
> 
> ...


I live in a 55 and older condo complex in San Diego and this is a hot topic amongst the seniors in the gazebo outside and decades of some of them collecting SS. It all depends on the ex spouse´s SS amount when retiring and the larger of the 2 is fomulated to give the lower SS recepicant a certain amount and in many cases equals nothing or very little subtracted from the current spouses death benefits and even that is calculated on the surviving spouses SS amount when retiring.

The surviving spouse can get up to 50% if the current surviving spouse´s SS payments are extremely low or almost nothing if the deceased spouses payments where very low and the surviving spouse´s payments are high. They have a definate formula where it almost equals half of what you as a couple were recieving before the one departed this life. 

Disclaimer: This is all second and third hand understandings from some older seniors who have at times been known to be full of it. :doh:


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

dongringo said:


> I already wasted more than 3 hours and several more on the phone.. And I am still dumb!


We went to an immigration lawyer in San Diego a couple of years ago when I married my Mexican National wife. Here is what she told us. To have my wife recieve a Permanent Resident visa I had to show a yearly income of $22,000 US to sponsor her because we where married less than 2 years. If she got the visa she would be able to renew it for a non expiring Permant Resident visa after 2 years of marriage to me. The turn around time to get the first visa at that time was 3 months.

If my yearly income was less than $22,000 US then a bank savings account with $19,000 US for a year or whatever adds up to 2X $14,000, the proverty level per year as at the time I only had savings and was taking $1,000 per month from my IRA account = $12,000 per year steady income. $22,000 - $12,000 equals $10,000 short. The $19,000 savings was because of that. 

If she lived 6 months out of 12 months in the US with me her Permanent Resident visa would remain valid and after 2 years of marriage [we now have almost 3 years of marriage so this won´t be the case] would be renewed and still she would need to reside in the US for the 6 out of 12 months or it could be cancelled and she would have to start over again but could apply for a 1 year to 1 1/2 years out of the country permit to work or take care of a parent etc., but these are granted under strict scrutiny. 

So to collect death benefits from SS she would need to do this first as I understand it and if, by some chance, outlives you to get 50% permanently from your SS benefits she would have to reside in the US 6 out of 12 months or become a US citizen. Alan


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

Thanks Alan . but nothing applies. 
My wife has a Mexican passport and US Visa, and never earned a dime in the USA.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

dongringo said:


> Thanks Alan . but nothing applies.
> My wife has a Mexican passport and US Visa, and never earned a dime in the USA.


Actually my wife has a Mexican passport and the attached inside of it the USA 10 year visitors visa also. She has had these 10 year "Border Crossing" visas for decades. So it is the same situation as your wife. My wife works full time here in San Luis Potosi. Alan


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

dongringo said:


> Thanks Alan . but nothing applies.
> My wife has a Mexican passport and US Visa, and never earned a dime in the USA.


DG, were you married in the past to someone who lives in the US?

As noted above, the first wife will be entitled to claim the survivor benefits, unless she has remarried and wants to do so for survivor benefits from her current spouse. Even then, assuming that you die before he does, she can still claim them.

All this assumes that she'd be better off getting survivor benefits from you, than primary benefits from herself.


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

mickisue1 said:


> DG, were you married in the past to someone who lives in the US?
> 
> As noted above, the first wife will be entitled to claim the survivor benefits, unless she has remarried and wants to do so for survivor benefits from her current spouse. Even then, assuming that you die before he does, she can still claim them.
> 
> All this assumes that she'd be better off getting survivor benefits from you, than primary benefits from herself.


Mick - unfortunately yes, and no she never remarried, and she needs SS about as much as Bill Gates


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## dongringo (Dec 13, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> Actually my wife has a Mexican passport and the attached inside of it the USA 10 year visitors visa also. She has had these 10 year "Border Crossing" visas for decades. So it is the same situation as your wife. My wife works full time here in San Luis Potosi. Alan


Yeah, Alan, but you are not dead! (and I hope you stay that way!)


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