I'm a 67 years old man, I already retired but continue working, I applied for my wife retirement and was denied She is a 67 years old woman, never worked, she was a homemaker
she is not a citizen yet, she is a legal immigrant do
What we could do ?
Thanks

Hi. If your wife applied for spousal benefits and if her claim was disallowed, she can file an appeal. The instructions for filing an appeal are explained in the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10058.pdf. The form you use to file for the first step of appeal is an SSA-561 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-561-u2.pdf).

There isn't enough information in your question for me to know why your wife was denied benefits, but if it has to do with her immigration status then it could be that her claim was actually allowed but that she isn't eligible for actual payment of benefits. That could mean that she either doesn't meet the requirements or she hasn't submitted the required documentation. You can appeal that type of determination as well, using the same procedure mentioned above.

In general, a person must either be a U.S. citizen or a lawfully present alien to be able to collect Social Security benefits (https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300204010). The following section of Social Security's operations manual discusses evidence that must be submitted in order to prove that a non-U.S. citizen is lawfully present in the U.S.: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0300204020#c.

Best, Jerry