If a beneficiary notifies SSA that he/she no longer considers himself/herself to be
residing outside the United States, the beneficiary is considered to have abandoned
his/her foreign residence as of the date of notification. It is immaterial whether
the beneficiary is inside or outside the United States when the statement is made.
Payments are suspended with the earlier of the following:
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•
the month after the month in which the beneficiary abandoned foreign residence; or
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•
the month after the first full calendar month the beneficiary remains in the United
States (i.e., the beneficiary decided to abandon his/her foreign residence and notified
SSA after being in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month).
Absent information to the contrary, SSA accepts at face value a beneficiary's statement
of future intent to abandon foreign residence, or that he/she previously decided to
give up foreign residence and when that decision was made.
If a beneficiary states that he/she intends to go to the United States to live and
not to return, for example to the Philippines, SSA assumes that his/her foreign residence
will be abandoned when he leaves the Philippines. However, a beneficiary who states
that he/she no longer wants to be considered a foreign resident is assumed to be giving
up his/her foreign residence when the statement is made and SVB payments are suspended
effective with the following month. For example, an SVB beneficiary comes to the United
States for a brief visit on May 5, 2001. On May 15, he visits an FO and states that
he has decided to stay in the United States and not return to his home abroad. SSA
assumes (absent information to the contrary) that he gave up his foreign residence
when that statement was made. His SVB payments are suspended effective with the June
2001 (i.e., the month after the month in which he gave up his foreign residence).
A beneficiary who states that the decision was made at some time on some past date
is assumed, absent evidence to the contrary, to have given up foreign residence on
that date.
A determination that an individual is not a foreign resident for SVB purposes IS NOT
a determination that the individual is a U.S. resident.
NOTE: The law provides that a qualified individual only has to meet the foreign residence
requirement on the first day of a month to receive an SVB payment for that month.
Thus, even though a determination is made that a beneficiary is no longer a foreign
resident on a certain day in a month, an SVB payment can still be made for that month
if the beneficiary was considered a foreign resident on the first day of that month.
If it comes to SSA's attention that a beneficiary came to the United States without
telling us and has been in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month,
we assume, absent information to the contrary, that he/she was no longer a foreign
resident beginning with the month after that full calendar month.