Effective Dates: 10/03/2022 - Present Previous | Next

TN 3 (10-22)

GN 01755.120 U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Agreement with Hungary

Under the agreement, if a number holder (NH) has at least six U.S. quarters of coverage (QCs) but not enough to receive regular U.S. benefits, the United States can count the NH's QCs under the Hungarian social security system to permit the NH to qualify for U.S. Totalization benefits. If the NH has enough QCs under the U.S. system to receive regular U.S. benefits, the United States cannot count Hungarian credits.

A. Adjudicating claims under the Agreement

1. Field office responsibilities for claims processing under the Agreement

When a NH does not have enough U.S. coverage to meet fully insured status, but the NH has at least six QCs, field office (FO) technicians must take an initial claim to process the insured status denial. The initial denial automatically generates a notice to inform the applicant that the insured status requirement is not met based on U.S. coverage alone, and that we will request the applicant’s Hungarian earnings record.

For more information about processing Totalization insured status notices for claims for U.S. benefits, see GN 01702.315 through GN 01702.325.

2. Division of International Operations (DIO) responsibilities for claims processing under the Agreement

DIO requests and converts Hungarian periods of coverage on the Hungarian earnings record to U.S. QCs before adjudicating the claim.

B. Crediting Hungarian coverage under the Agreement

The Social Security Administration (SSA) credits one U.S. QC for every 90 days of coverage certified by the agency of Hungary. SSA does not provide credit for the following:

  • •

    Hungarian coverage credited for periods prior to 1937;

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    any month in the calendar quarter that is already credited as a U.S. QC;

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    more than four QCs for any calendar year; or

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    any period of coverage not based on contributions.

C. Computing benefits

When SSA establishes U.S. insured status based on combined U.S. and Hungarian coverage, we compute the amount of the U.S. Totalization benefit using the computation method as described in GN 01701.200.

D. References

GN 01702.315 Processing Totalization Insured-Status Notices in Claims for U.S. Benefits, through

GN 01702.325 Summary of Field Office Development and Processing of U.S. Totalization Claims and Foreign Claims (Regular and Totalization)

 

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0201755120
GN 01755.120 - U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Agreement with Hungary - 10/03/2022
Batch run: 10/03/2022
Rev:10/03/2022