And to expand on my previous response, if you get stuck at Stage 2 review and you need to call SSA, there will be questions at that time to verify you. Basic stuff like place and date of birth, mother and father's names, mother's maiden name. They might require you to produce documents in person. Last year during my wife's application for Medicare we were both given an appointment at the local SSA office to show our passports or naturalization certificates in person. So when we applied for Social Security they already had copies of those on file so no office visit was necessary.

I would go ahead and make the application online, you can always cancel or delay the start date. When you make the online application it will tell you what other documents if any you need. For example we needed to provide proof of citizenship including our US passport and Naturalization certificate.

OK - "Job Done"! I visited ssa.gov, clicked on the 'apply now' button, logged in using my existing 'login.gov' account, and stepped through the entire process in about 30 minutes. No request for additional documents, no mention of any 'Step 2' or 'stage 2 review'. The 30 minutes included taking screen shots and creating a 'word' document of the entire process, in case of issues. I did get an annoying 'time-out' during the process, and it wouldn't let me resume the first time, but I waited 5 minutes and tried again, and completed the process. Early in the process you get a 're-entry' number, which you need in order to resume an incomplete session - make sure you note it down! I needed my citizenship date, and my bank account details; other than that, nothing - wasn't even asked for passport or drivers license info.

My process ended with this screen:

No mention of 'next steps, step 2, stage 2, phase 2, etc.

How did your 'step 2' issues arise - during the initial application process, or at some later date?

So - the big recommendation would seem to be - make sure you set up a login.gov account asap, because that's where the complications lie.

Do you (or did you) already have a login.gov (or id.me) account? And - to address an issue raised by others - since you now reside in the UK, are you able to login using the login.gov (or id.me) account from UK; do you encounter any 2-factor issues?

Do you know what qualifying resident aliens have to do? Will OH be stuck visiting the US Embassy in London?
I took US citizenship, but he did not.

I have an Id.me account, and there are multiple 2f options, but they can use the more basic text a code to a phone method, and UK phone numbers work fine.

I don't think a non-citizen can apply to start the payments online though, although you can verify for your account from the UK (just haven't done that for OH yet).

You will likely get an email saying that your application has been accepted. My confirmation email actually gave a specific SSA office and its phone number. Log in to your SSA account once a week. It should show a progress bar for your application with 3 steps. It should get to Step 2 pretty quickly and will likely say there is a 30 day processing time from there. This is where mine got stuck (and my wife's SS and Medicare applications too). After 60 days with no further progress I called. On the national 800 number the callback feature typically tells you the wait time (2-3 hours seems typical). I called the local office number from my earlier email. They had a callback too, but with no indication how long. In fact they called back a whole day later when I wasn't expecting it so I had to go through the process a second time, with another 24 hour turnaround.

While living in the UK both myself and my wife created our id.me accounts to access our SS online accounts from the UK. It required for the last step a video appointment to answer some questions and hold up our US passports and SS cards.

We did not need an in-person appointment to validate our citizenship. We sent in our Naturalization Certificates and US passports to the FBU in the London Embassy and received them back within a few days.

It would have been a real pain to have to attend in person given how far from London we live. Once the FBU reviewed the applications they were then sent back to the USA and could be seen online as being in step 2 of 3 waiting for review by an agent in Baltimore. In both cases the application stayed in step 2 for several months and we had to call Baltimore and speak to an agent to complete the application.

I did get the confirmation email that my application was accepted. However, NO SSA Office or phone number! That may be due to recent changes. The email simply says: I logged in and see that I'm at step 1 ...


I will check back often!

I originally created an id.me account, and used it for access to Social Security website, 'a long time ago' (whenever they started requiring it for SS login). But I have a note that says I needed to create a new 'login.gov' account, and that's what I'm using now for SS login. But I see now that the SS login page supports both - so I don't know why I bothered with the login.gov account. Of interest also, the IRS do NOT support Login.gov; they only support id.me! This article discusses why the IRS (a government entity) won't use login.gov (another government entity) as it does not trust it! https://www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...hanges/391033/ (note this is a 2023 article so things could have changed).

Quick question (apologies if answered elsewhere): Mrs CKUSA is currently in the US (Resident Alien with GC) and should be able to claim SS. Moving back permanently to the UK later in the year - should she start the process now while in the US, or wait until in the UK?
(Since I'm still working it's probably not worth claiming yet (due to the $1 reduction for each $2 earnt in income) - but probable same question applies).

Probably easier to apply, dot the i’s, cross the t’s and resolve any issues while in the US, but I don’t know that for a fact. If you are at full retirement age, you could look at filing before you leave and then immediately suspend your SS. That would get the process started while here but enable you to defer benefits until you are ready to take them. The best of both worlds.

"File and suspend" is no-longer an option. That was eliminated about a decade ago. You file when you are ready to claim benefits. But yes, the OP should get setup with login.gov or ID.me access their SSA account.

If moving back permanently to the UK and you are over 65, make sure that SS does not withhold Medicare premiums from your SS payments whenever you claim. And keep in mind you need to be absolutely sure it is a permanent move. If you come back and decide to get Medicare after your normal signup date, you will face a permanent 10% hike in Medicare premiums for every year you were late signing up.

If you are at full retirement age when you apply you can still suspend your benefits. https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirem...ent%20to%20you.

It's been several years since I set up my account (and I haven't applied for SS yet), but surely you have to go through the verification process just to get access to your Social Security statement. Or am I mis-remembering?

From yesterday’s Letter from an American

https://heathercoxrichardson.substac.../march-28-2025