Social Security

For information on Social Security, VA or Medicare benefits, to apply for Social Security or a Social Security number, or for assistance with continuing benefits from the Social Security Administration, Veterans Administration, Railroad Retirement Board, Department of Labor, and Office of Personnel Management such as reporting deaths, changes of address, missing payments, VA burial flags, etc., go to the London Embassy website. You may also phone them at 0207 499 9000 (select option 2, then option 6); they are available for phone calls from 8:30am to 1pm, Monday-Friday. Their fax number is 0207 495 7200, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Laws and regulations applying to Social Security payments to Americans outside the US are not the same as for US residents, particularly when a citizen elects a tax status as 'married filing separately' or when s/he has a non-citizen spouse or children. The negative impact on an old-age pension from Social Security can be appreciable and even cause hardship. Several organizations that campaign on behalf of US citizens overseas (American Citizens Abroad [ACA)], FAWCO, and AARO [Association of Americans Resident Overseas])have formed an organization called CARE (Coalition Assuring Retirement Equity) to lobby Washington for change. Information on the Social Security aspects of working abroad and ACA's paper recommending changes to Social Security legislation as it applies to overseas Americans may be found at: http://www.aca.ch. Click on Social Security under Issues.