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Can I Collect My US Social Security If I Live in Thailand?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Social Security. A question that comes up especially from new perspective expats out here, especially the ones looking to retire is: Can I retrieve my Social Security if I am in Thailand? 

I recently went to the AARP website that is aarp.org and I found this article titled: Can You Live Outside the US and Collect Social Security?  Quoting directly: "If you are a US citizen qualified for Social Security, you can receive payments while living in most other countries. Under Treasury Department sanctions, Social Security will not send money to anyone residing in Cuba or North Korea although affected US citizens can recoup payments once they move elsewhere. Americans living in nine other countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan can receive Social Security payments only under certain strict conditions one of which is agreeing to appear personally at a US Embassy or Consulate every 6 months. So what to take away from this? Thailand is on the list of countries you can collect Social Security from. It is possible to collect one's Social Security here in Thailand. In fact, it is my understanding it is possible to open a bank account and have Social Security directly deposited to that account here in the Kingdom. Now the issue with direct deposit bank accounts for Social Security in Thailand is that it is not the same type of bank account as just a regular savings account namely a Social Security receiving bank account requires "counter" pick up of the funds because the individual in question needs to present themselves with their ID when they come to pick up Social Security. This is basically an anti-fraud measure that has been implemented in order to keep people from fraudulently claiming a deceased person's Social Security outside of the United States.