Effective Dates: 01/10/2019 - Present Previous | Next

Basic (01-19)

GN 01760.120 U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Agreement with Uruguay

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 Uruguayan 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 Uruguayan 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. This will automatically generate a denial notice to inform the applicant that he or she does not meet the insured status requirement based on U.S. coverage alone, and that we will request the applicant's Uruguayan 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 Uruguayan periods of coverage on the Uruguayan earnings record to U.S. QCs before adjudicating the claim.

B. Crediting Uruguayan 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 Uruguay. SSA does not provide credit for the following:

  • •

    Uruguayan coverage credited for periods prior to 1937;

  • •

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

  • •

    more than four QCs for any calendar year; or

  • •

    any period of coverage not based on contributions.

C. Computing benefits

When SSA establishes U.S. insured status based on combined U.S. and Uruguayan coverage, SSA computes 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/0201760120
GN 01760.120 - U.S. Totalization Benefits under the Agreement with Uruguay - 01/10/2019
Batch run: 03/03/2025
Rev:01/10/2019