You did not work long enough
To be fully insured and eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, you need at least 40 quarters of coverage (credits). This amounts to working at least 10 years with sufficiently high earned income and paying contributions on it under a legal Social Security number. In 2026 you must earn at least $1,890 (in 2027 – $1,970) to get one credit, or $7,560 (in 2027 – $7,880) to be credited with a year of coverage. Wages from employment or self-employment income count. Social Security and Medicare contributions of 15.3% are split half and half between employee and employer. Self-employed people pay them on their own.
Note: Social Security contributions are not paid on passive income, such as bank interest, dividends, capital gains, rent from an apartment building and so on. This kind of income is not taken into account when calculating Social Security benefits.
Important: If you worked at least 6 quarters in the U.S. and at least 10 years in Poland and the U.S. combined, then beginning March 1, 2009, you can get a small so-called proportional pension (totalized benefits), calculated on the basis of your combined periods of work in the U.S. and in Poland. I explain this in detail in the book “Emerytura polska i amerykańska, ich łączenie i skutki Umowy o zabezpieczeniu społecznym” (“Polish and American Pensions: How They Combine and the Effects of the Social Security Agreement”).
You die before reaching retirement age
You can start collecting retirement benefits at age 62 at the earliest. Someone who does not live that long will get nothing, but that does not mean his or her contributions are lost, because the worker’s widowers, widows and orphans, as well as a father or mother caring for the worker’s children, may be entitled to benefits. Widows can start collecting benefits as of their 60th birthday, and children until age 18 or 19.
People who are seriously ill or disabled can apply for disability benefits regardless of age.
You divorce too soon
Stay-at-home wives (and stay-at-home husbands) are guaranteed Social Security spousal benefits even if they divorce, but the condition is that the marriage lasted at least 10 years. Time spent living apart, and even a formal separation, counts as marriage.
A divorced wife (or husband) will receive spousal benefits if all of the following conditions are met:
- she has reached retirement age – at least 62 (full retirement age is 67 for people born in 1960 or later),
- she has not remarried,
- the marriage to the worker lasted at least 10 years,
- the former spouse (the worker) is entitled to Social Security retirement benefits (is 62 or older) or disability benefits. If the ex-spouse is 62 or older but not retired, benefits can be received only 2 years after the divorce.
Spousal benefits paid to a divorced wife do not reduce the worker’s retirement benefit or the benefit of his second wife.
No legal status, a bad SSN
A person without legal status in the United States can be awarded a U.S. retirement benefit if he or she filed taxes under a genuine Social Security number issued before 2004 or a genuine work-authorized number issued after January 1, 2004. The benefit can be collected only after returning to Poland.
If someone paid Social Security contributions under a taxpayer identification number (ITIN) or under someone else’s or a fake Social Security number, he or she will not get a retirement benefit unless he or she legalizes his or her immigration status, gets a valid SSN and has the contributions paid so far transferred to it. More on this in the book “Życie od nowa. Jak uporządkować problemy w urzędach” (“Life Anew: How to Sort Out Problems with Government Offices”).
You are deported
Immigration authorities report the names of deported people and the reason for deportation to the Social Security Administration, and the SSA can then refuse to award benefits to the deportee or suspend them.
Deportation on criminal grounds or for illegally crossing the border causes benefit payments to be suspended until the person is lawfully admitted to the U.S. again as a permanent resident. Immigration authorities do not report to the SSA people who were granted suspension of deportation.
Dependents of a deported worker who are U.S. citizens can continue to receive the family benefits previously awarded to them. If the worker’s dependent family members are not U.S. citizens, they will get their benefits for each full month they spent in the United States, but not for months spent outside the U.S.
You go to prison
Prisoners convicted of a crime do not receive Social Security benefits for any month spent in prison. Benefits are also not paid for months in which someone is on parole or probation and has violated the conditions of release.
You work for the government
Some government employees do not participate in the Social Security system but in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which provides its own retirement, disability and survivor benefits. Since they do not pay Social Security contributions, they are owed nothing by the SSA for that work.
Some government employees may be entitled to Social Security benefits through a spouse or from other work covered by Social Security. In the past, these benefits could be reduced under the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, but both provisions were repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025. The change applies to benefits payable for January 2024 and later.
Employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), which replaced CSRS, are covered by Social Security.
If you cheated the taxman
Employers automatically withhold their employees’ income taxes and Social Security contributions. Self-employed people must do this themselves, which creates an opportunity to hide income.
If you did not report your income and did not pay taxes or Social Security contributions, you did not participate in the insurance system, so you will not be entitled to any benefits. Your savings will have to provide for your old age, or only spousal benefits, if you are lucky enough to be married to someone who worked legally.
Updated October 2026.
