Hi Larry
I am a green card resident of over 30 years. I travelled to UK and Spain and went into lockdown and embassies wereclosed. I tried to return but I was two weeks over a year and they wouldn't let me on the plane.
I am on SSDI and can't live without that income.
It says on SSA that you can receive benefits abroad as a permanent resident. What happens if I can't get back to my SSDI? How and when will they stop it? What options do I have to replace it if they do with retirement? I am almost 62 and so is my spouse.

Thank you

Hi,

Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) is an earned benefit, meaning that in order to qualify for SSDI you must work and pay Social Security taxes for a sufficient amount of time to be insured. Therefore, as long as you're still disabled you can continue to be paid your SSDI benefits even if you are living outside of the U.S. and you aren't a U.S. citizen.

Your SSDI benefits will automatically convert to regular Social Security retirement benefits when you reach your full retirement age (FRA), and those benefits can continue for as long as you live even if you are a non U.S. citizen who's living outside of the U.S.

That said, though, there are a handful of countries whose citizens and/or residents can't be paid U.S. Social Security benefits. For more information on those countries, refer to the following Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf.

Best, Jerry