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Pension question, United States

Do years worked in other countries count towards US Social Security?

If you have at least six US credits, SSA can count your coverage in an agreement country toward the US threshold and pay a partial benefit sized to the share of your career completed in the United States. The route past that is a totalization agreement, and the United States has 31 of them.

  • Source: ssa.gov and irs.gov, read 3 October 2026

What to do next

  1. List every country you worked in, with dates and any insurance number.
  2. Ask each country for its own insurance record, so missing years show up early.
  3. Run our free check to see which of those countries may hold a pension in your name.

Check your own working life for free

Tell us where you worked. The free check shows which countries may hold a pension for you, and which can be ruled out and why. No sign in, no charge.

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Questions people also ask

Do people who are not US citizens face another rule abroad?

If you are not a US citizen there is a second clock: SSA generally cannot pay Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance benefits after your sixth calendar month outside the United States unless you fall within one of its specific exceptions, several of which turn on your exact nationality and country of residence.

  • Source: ssa.gov Handbook 1513, ssa.gov international payments, and SSA POMS, read 3 October 2026

Do you give advice on what to do?

No. We identify where a pension is likely held and the official route to it, and we name each source with the date we read it. We do not give financial, tax or legal advice.