Can I Combine Foreign and U.S. Work Credits to Qualify for Social Security?

If you worked in both the U.S. and a country with a totalization agreement, you can combine work credits from both systems to meet the minimum eligibility requirements for Social Security benefits. You need at least six U.S. credits (roughly 18 months of covered work) before foreign credits can be added (SSA: International Agreements).

How credit combining works:

Example: A U.S. citizen worked 7 years in the U.S. (28 credits) and 8 years in Germany. Without totalization, 28 credits fall short of the 40 needed. With the agreement, German credits fill the gap, and SSA pays a benefit proportional to U.S. earnings only.

Key rules:

• Six-credit minimum: you must have at least six genuine U.S. quarters of coverage before foreign credits count
• Pro-rata benefit: SSA calculates what your full benefit would be based on your entire career, then pays only the fraction earned in the U.S.
• Foreign benefit too: you may also qualify for a separate benefit from the foreign country using the same combined-credit approach
• No double counting: the same quarter cannot count in both systems
• Application: file SSA-2490 (Application for Benefits Under a U.S. International Social Security Agreement) at your local SSA office or U.S. Embassy

The 30 agreement countries include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and others.

For more, see our Totalization Agreements guide.