Will I ever collect Social Security if I am on a visa?
See how many Social Security credits your U.S. work builds, whether a Social Security agreement with another country could help you reach the 40 you need, and what a benefit might be.
Where you would collect
Tax on benefits paid to a U.S. resident is not shown.
SOCIAL SECURITY CREDITSSHORT OF THE CREDITS
24credits
6 years of covered U.S. work earns 24 credits, 16 short of the 40 needed. 4 more years at this pay would reach 40. You chose a country with no U.S. agreement, so coverage earned abroad cannot be combined with your U.S. credits.
Credits
24 of 40
More years needed
4
Monthly benefit
—
After 25.5% withheld
—
UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT
LIBRARY CHAPTERSocial Security and Medicare: Who Pays and When It StartsLIBRARY CHAPTERTax Treaties and Social Security Agreements
Terms:Totalization agreement
Credits by years of covered U.S. work at this pay
Credits earned
A credit takes $1,890 of covered earnings in 2026, and no more than 4 can be earned in a year, so $7,560 of covered pay earns a full year. At your pay that is 4 credits a year, so 40 credits take 10 years of covered work. You have 6 years counted, or 24 credits.
Countries with a Social Security agreement with the U.S.
| Country | In force since |
|---|---|
| Italy | November 1978 |
| Germany | December 1979 |
| Switzerland | November 1980 |
| Belgium | July 1984 |
| Norway | July 1984 |
| Canada | August 1984 |
| United Kingdom | January 1985 |
| Sweden | January 1987 |
| Spain | April 1988 |
| France | July 1988 |
| Portugal | August 1989 |
| Netherlands | November 1990 |
| Austria | November 1991 |
| Finland | November 1992 |
| Ireland | September 1993 |
| Luxembourg | November 1993 |
| Greece | September 1994 |
| South Korea | April 2001 |
| Chile | December 2001 |
| Australia | October 2002 |
| Japan | October 2005 |
| Denmark | October 2008 |
| Czech Republic | January 2009 |
| Poland | March 2009 |
| Slovak Republic | May 2014 |
| Hungary | September 2016 |
| Brazil | October 2018 |
| Uruguay | November 2018 |
| Slovenia | February 2019 |
| Iceland | March 2019 |
| Romania | September 2026 |
SSA lists 31 agreements as of September 29, 2026. With one, SSA counts coverage you earned under that country's system toward the 40 credits, but only if you have at least 6 U.S. credits, and pays a partial benefit based on the share of your career spent in the U.S. Countries not on the list, including India, China and Mexico, have no agreement.
If you collect from outside the U.S.
| Question | What SSA says |
|---|---|
| Are payments made abroad? | For noncitizens, generally not after the sixth calendar month outside the U.S., unless an exception applies. SSA’s Payments Abroad Screening Tool tells you whether it does for you. |
| Is tax taken out? | Yes for a nonresident alien: a 30% flat tax on 85% of each payment, 25.5% in all, unless a tax treaty reduces it. |
| Can foreign work count? | Only with an agreement country, and only if you have at least 6 U.S. credits. |
| How much is a partial benefit? | Based on the share of your whole career completed in the country paying it. SSA computes it. |
These are SSA’s own rules and they can change. Whether you can be paid abroad depends on your citizenship and country, so check with SSA before you rely on a plan.
What moves the needle
Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.How it's computed
FORMULA
Credits = for each year of covered work, the smaller of 4 and ⌊covered pay ÷ $1,890⌋ (2026 amount); 40 credits are needed for a retirement benefit
Covered pay in a year is capped at the taxable maximum ($184,500 in 2026); earlier years are the recent pay reduced by 2% a year, SSA’s Quick Calculator default
Benefit at full retirement age = the primary insurance amount: 90% of the first $1,286 of average monthly earnings over the highest 35 years, 32% of the next $6,463, 15% above that
Withholding on a nonresident alien’s benefit = 30% × 85% = 25.5%
- Your pay stays in line with average wages, so the 2026 formula applies unchanged. You work 2 years before now and 4 years from now with Social Security tax taken, then stop; years without it, including most F-1 practical training, earn no credits.
- The benefit shown is the amount at full retirement age in today’s dollars, before tax and Medicare premiums, on U.S. work alone. Years under 35 count as zero, which lowers it a lot; spousal and survivor benefits are not shown.
- A benefit under an agreement is a partial benefit worked out by SSA from your whole career, so no amount is shown for it. SSA will only combine credits if you have at least 6 U.S. credits.
- For noncitizens, payments abroad generally stop after the sixth calendar month outside the U.S. unless an exception applies, and a nonresident alien’s benefit has 25.5% withheld unless a tax treaty reduces it. Both come from SSA’s pages listed below; check them for your case.
- The law can change, including the reduction the Trustees project when the trust fund reserves run out; scheduled benefits are shown.
WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS
Pay: $145,000 a year earns 4 credits a year; 6 years gives 24 credits, 16 short of 40. 4 more years would close the gap.
SOURCES
[1]U.S. International Social Security Agreements (countries and dates; how totalization works)Social Security Administration[2]Status of Totalization AgreementsSocial Security Administration[3]Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility (you earn credits when you work and pay Social Security taxes)Social Security Administration[4]Quarter of Coverage (2026: $1,890; at most 4 a year)Social Security Administration[5]Social Security Payments Outside the United StatesSocial Security Administration[6]Nonresident Alien Tax WithholdingSocial Security Administration[7]Foreign student liability for Social Security and Medicare taxesInternal Revenue ServiceHSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026
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Questions about this result
A retirement benefit needs 40 credits. You earn up to 4 a year, and one credit takes $1,890 of covered pay in 2026, so $7,560 of pay in a year earns all 4. That makes 10 years of covered work. On the example on this page, $145,000 of pay for 6 years earns 24 credits, 16 short, and 4 more years would reach 40.
It depends on your citizenship and country. SSA says it generally cannot pay retirement, survivors and disability benefits to noncitizens after their sixth calendar month outside the U.S., but you might qualify for an exception. SSA’s Payments Abroad Screening Tool answers it for your case. Tax is also taken out: for a nonresident alien, 25.5% of each payment unless a treaty reduces it.
A treaty-like agreement that lets SSA count your coverage in another country toward the 40 credits, and lets that country count your U.S. coverage. SSA does it only if you have at least 6 U.S. credits, and then pays a partial benefit based on the share of your career spent in the U.S. The U.S. has 31 of them, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Brazil. India, China and Mexico are not on the list.
Generally not. F-1 students in their first five calendar years are usually exempt from Social Security tax on practical training wages (IRS), and credits come from pay that Social Security tax is taken from. Count only years your pay statements show the tax withheld.
If you are a nonresident alien, SSA withholds a 30% flat tax on 85% of each payment, 25.5% of the payment, unless a tax treaty reduces it. On the example, a benefit of $1,844 a month would be $1,374 after the withholding.
The benefit averages your highest 35 years of earnings, and every year short of 35 counts as zero. With 10 years of work, 25 of the 35 are zero. The example of $145,000 for 10 years gives about $1,844 a month at full retirement age; the same 10 years at $30,000 a year would give about $639.
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