# French Pension in US-PROBLEMS WITH BALTIMORE SSA



## tonykilleen (Apr 13, 2014)

My wife who is a French citizen and has a US green card and has been trying to get her French pension allowance processed through the SSA Baltimore office and she is already three months into the process.
The application was filed in December and she provided US and French SS numbers.
Calls to SSA indicated firstly that the office had standing instructions to delay the process as long as possible. A subsequent call advised that the file had been sent to CNAV in Paris. A follow up call to CNAV determined they had not received any documentation from SSA Baltimore
We sent a questioning letter to SSA Baltimore and received by return a new application form which we are currently filling. The form is a minefield and we expect to have more queries because of the information format.
Has anyone else had to go through this exercise recently and what has their experience been?

I have retired early and I am in receipt of a US SS pension.
My wife's application for a US pension seems to have been approved.
BTW the local office of the SS have been very professional and responsive during her application for Medicare benefits


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Why is she filing through the Baltimore office of the SSA (US Social Security, I'm assuming). I've never heard of the US SSA being involved in the process of filing for French (or any other foreign) retirement benefits.

Assuming she worked in the private sector while in France, I'd start here: Retraite - Service-public.fr Normally, you can apply online through the caisse de retraite that collected your contributions (ARRCO, AGIRC, RSI or whatever). Or try this site for an overview: GIP info retraite : Accueil
Cheers,
Bev


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## tonykilleen (Apr 13, 2014)

Bev
Thank you for the response and the link

Your are correct that for the Private Caisse de Retraits (Mutuels) she will do directly in France and has been working with those entities. Slow but progressing.
However the French CNAV administrators have told her she must do the request though Baltimore as she is living in US
Right now she does not have a bank account or agent in France.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

There's a spousal benefit attached to Tony's Social Security benefits at a minimum, so it makes some sense SSA would be involved.

If you don't think this is working as fast as it should then you can contact your local Congressperson. That's kind of a traditional constituent services role for most, to make an inquiry on your behalf with the SSA.


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## tonykilleen (Apr 13, 2014)

*French Pension in US problems with Baltimore SSA*

Thank you for the contribution.
We are caught in a one way flow because of SSA dual payments.
We found that previously for other issues contacting the Congressman was helpful
Thanks for the reminder and will action this when we hit next roadblock


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I'll just add that my husband (French) recently applied for his French pension - and the process takes some time. They recommend over here that you apply about 4 months before you want to retire, but processing took considerably longer than that for my husband. (And that was strictly from this side of the pond, with no "middleman.")

Your congressman may not be able to help if it's the French side that is taking so long. You'll know CNAV has your file when they start sending you requests for "just one more document." (Which they always seem to do.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## tonykilleen (Apr 13, 2014)

*French Pension Issues with Baltimore SSA*

Bev
Thank you for the input.
WE are aware that dealing with the CNAV will have its own set of issues when we get to that stage. However we can at least phone them.
Baltimore remains a lock out/block out entity as far as verbal communication goes
Keep you posted as to how it goes


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I'm really curious about this applying for a French pension through the US SSA thing. DH had more than enough problems doing it "the old fashioned way" from here in France. 

A few years back, CNAV got into a big thing about doing a pre-retirement estimate of your retraite entitlement - and in the process apparently sent out some sort of enquiry on my behalf to both the US SSA and the German retirement agency. Royally messed up the whole process, as the US SS office in Paris sent me back a bunch of information in French, explaining that I couldn't apply for US Social Security until I reached age 62 (which I already knew), and the Germans sent me a big package of forms to apply for "early retirement" which I didn't want to do. From what I could tell, CNAV must have sent letters to both retirement agencies, claiming to be me (which is disconcerting).

DH is just a little too old to have been part of the pre-retirement estimate business, so spent a couple of months filling in the holes in his employment records from the CNAV records - and then more time digging up identity documents and whatever for his kids, recreating his old livret de famille (which apparently you can do now) and otherwise verifying the information they had or didn't have on file for him. 

"Courage" as they say here!
Cheers,
Bev


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## tonykilleen (Apr 13, 2014)

*French Pension in US-Problems with Baltimore*

Sorry for delayed posting but we were on the road.

Even with Baltimore we have had to painstakingly fill in all employment details on their forms. WE chewed over the date format US or Euro and eventually used the US date format as the form was US form. Not sure how confused the Frenc CNAV will be when they see a month 15 or 31 but lets see.
Keep you posted


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