Sunny

Dear Netters, Ingo, Sylvia, Shelley, Dale Schwartz & Respected Immigration Gurus:

Greetings! I would sincerely appreciate if you could answer these 2 general queries
for the benefit of all the Netters with Elder Parents:

1) Do elder folks (senior citizens aged 60-65+) get any benefits like social
security and Medicare if they have a US Green Card ? Please note that they have
not served in the US before but got their GC based on sponsoring through their
Citizen Children. What kind of Social/Public benefits can they be eligible for in
their being permanent residency status?

2) In case this consideration for the above Social/Govt. benefits is only limited to
US Citizens then how long do they have to be in permanent residency status to
apply for Naturalization? (Is it 5 years or 3 years?)

Your prompt feedback would be gratefully acknowledged.

God Bless You All,

Thank you,

With Regards Sunny

Aftonokla

    >1) Do elder folks (senior citizens aged 60-65+) get any benefits like social
    > security and Medicare if they have a US Green Card ?

If they work in the united states for 40 quarters (10 years) they are entitled to
benefits. If not, their children that sponsored them are responsible for them.

    >) In case this consideration for the above Social/Govt. benefits is only limited to
    >US Citizens then how long do they have to be in permanent residency status to apply
    >for Naturalization? (Is it 5 years or 3 years?)

You do not need to be a usa citizen for SS and medicare. You just have to be here
legally and work for 10 years earning about 3400 a year minimum to qualify.

Liwen Liang

Don't think they will quality for either one of them (Social Security, Medicare.)
They would need to work for 10 years (or at least close to,) in the US, paying Social
Security Tax, and Medicare Tax, so that they can qualify (40 points, 4 points per
year, with each point equals to 3000+ dollars income they earn. you can probably get
all the details from Social security office?)

Becoming US citizens for them may not change the situation, since they haven't
"contributed" to the US yet. (You and your siblings' contribution doesn't make them
entitle to the benefit, as that is yours when you retire.)

They will need to have Green Card for 5 years, with half the time physically in the
US, and no trip outside the US for longer than 6 months before they can apply for
naturalization. If they have any trip outside US for longer than 6 months, the 5 year
"clock" reset after they come back from the trip.

[email protected] (Sunny) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Dear Netters, Ingo, Sylvia, Shelley, Dale Schwartz & Respected Immigration Gurus:
    >
    > Greetings! I would sincerely appreciate if you could answer these 2 general queries
    > for the benefit of all the Netters with Elder Parents:
    >
    > 1) Do elder folks (senior citizens aged 60-65+) get any benefits like social
    > security and Medicare if they have a US Green Card ? Please note that they have
    > not served in the US before but got their GC based on sponsoring through their
    > Citizen Children. What kind of Social/Public benefits can they be eligible for
    > in their being permanent residency status?
    >
    > 2) In case this consideration for the above Social/Govt. benefits is only limited
    > to US Citizens then how long do they have to be in permanent residency status to
    > apply for Naturalization? (Is it 5 years or 3 years?)
    >
    > Your prompt feedback would be gratefully acknowledged.
    >
    > God Bless You All,
    >
    > Thank you,
    >
    > With Regards Sunny

James Donovan

[email protected] (AftonOkla) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > >1) Do elder folks (senior citizens aged 60-65+) get any benefits like social
    > > security and Medicare if they have a US Green Card ?
    >
    > If they work in the united states for 40 quarters (10 years) they are entitled to
    > benefits. If not, their children that sponsored them are responsible for them.

They can get benefits also if they become US citizens, which also releases the
sponsors from the affidavit of support obligation.

Shelley

Social Security and Medicare are only available if you have worked for 40 quarters in
the US. If someone immigrated to the US at 60, they would have to work until they
were 70 before they could collect Social Security benefits - whether they became a US
citizen or not. To receive Medicaid - through Social Services (Welfare) one must be a
PR for at least 5 years. And once some becomes a US citizen then they would be
eligible for all Social Service benefits, if they meet the income requirements -
Medicaid, Food Stamps, Energy Assistance, etc. If the parents were sponsored by their
USC children, then the children must have signed the Affidavit of Support stating
that the parents would not become public charges and use means tested benefits. The
Affidavit is enforceable for 10 years or until the immigrants become US citizens.
Take Care. Shelley

"Sunny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Dear Netters, Ingo, Sylvia, Shelley, Dale Schwartz & Respected Immigration Gurus:
    >
    > Greetings! I would sincerely appreciate if you could answer these 2 general queries
    > for the benefit of all the Netters with Elder Parents:
    >
    > 1) Do elder folks (senior citizens aged 60-65+) get any benefits like social
    > security and Medicare if they have a US Green Card ? Please note that they have
    > not served in the US before but got their GC based on sponsoring through their
    > Citizen Children. What kind of Social/Public benefits can they be eligible for
    > in their being permanent residency
status?
    >
    > 2) In case this consideration for the above Social/Govt. benefits is only limited
    > to US Citizens then how long do they have to be in permanent
residency
    > status to apply for Naturalization? (Is it 5 years or 3 years?)
    >
    > Your prompt feedback would be gratefully acknowledged.
    >
    > God Bless You All,
    >
    > Thank you,
    >
    > With Regards Sunny

Stephen C. Gall

"Shelley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Social Security and Medicare are only available if you have worked for 40 quarters
    > in the US. If someone immigrated to the US at 60, they would
have
    > to work until they were 70 before they could collect Social Security benefits -
    > whether they became a US citizen or not.

Note that they may be able to qualify for Social Security with fewer than 40 quarters
of US contributions, if they have contributed to the social security systems of
another country with with the US has a totalization agreement.

In general, a totalization agreement allows you to combine your contributions to
systems outside the US, with US Social Security for the purposes of qualifying for a
benefit. The amount of your benefit is based solely on the amount of your US
contribution.

For example, a person who lived in Canada until age 60, and then who immigrated to
the US and worked there for five years (20 quarters) , would normally not qualify for
US Social Security since he would not have 40 quarters of US contributions. But since
the US has a totalization agreement with Canada, the fact that he has at least 20
quarters of contributions in Canada, means that he can combine them with the 20
quarters of contributions in the US to qualify for a US Social Security benefit. His
benefit would be based solely on the amount of his US contributions, and combining
credits from Canada, will not reduce his Canadian retirement benefit.

Each country's totalization agreement with the US is slightly different. You can find
out more about totalization agreements at
http://www.ssa.gov/international/int...nal_Agreements

Stephen Gallagher