Effective Dates: 10/18/2022 - Present Previous | Next

TN 3 (10-22)

GN 01751.120 U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Polish Agreement

A. Policy — Insured status under the Polish agreement

Under the agreement, if a number holder (NH) has at least 6 U.S. quarters of coverage (QCs) but not enough to be insured for regular U.S. benefits, the NH's credits under the Polish Social Security system can be added to the NH's U.S. coverage to determine insured status.

B. Policy — Crediting Polish contributory coverage

Generally, SSA will credit one U.S. QCs for every 3 months of Polish coverage in a calendar year. However, no credit will be given for:

  • •

    any month in a calendar quarter that is already credited as a U.S. QC, or

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    more than 4 QCs for any calendar year.

C. Policy — Computing benefits on combined U.S. and Polish coverage

When U.S. insured status is established based on combined U.S. and Polish coverage, the amount of the U.S. Totalization benefit will be determined using the computation method described in GN 01701.200.

D. Policy — Adjudication responsibility under the Polish agreement

1. Field office responsibilities for claims under the Polish agreement

Claims Representatives (CRs) in the Field office (FO) are responsible for processing an initial insured-status denial when the NH has at least 6 QCs but is not insured based on U.S. coverage alone. (See GN 01702.315 for information about processing Totalization insured-status notices in claims for U.S. benefits.) This denial will produce a notice advising the applicant that insured status is not met based on U.S. coverage alone and that the foreign coverage record is being requested. The FO will route the claim for final adjudication to the following address:

Social Security Administration
OIO-Totalization
P.O. Box 17769
Baltimore, MD 21235-7769

2. Office of International Operations Responsibilities for claims under the Polish agreement

The Benefits Earnings Technician (BET) in the Office of International Operations (OIO) will request the Polish coverage record. When the record is received, the Claims Authorizer (CA) in OIO will convert the Polish coverage to QCs and finally determine insured status.

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0201751120
GN 01751.120 - U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Polish Agreement - 10/18/2022
Batch run: 10/18/2022
Rev:10/18/2022