GarethB789

Hi everyone

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this. I have tried to work it out but still find the matter confusing. Basically I have been in the states for nearly 9 months now. I got a job at costco on a temporary contract but sadly this was not renewed.

I'm currently looking for a new job but I'm having trouble getting one.

Do I qualify for unemployment benefits even though I'm still a conditional resident? I read that as long as you've paid tax dollars you are entitled to some amount of benefit.

Thank you guys

Michael

As an LPR, you are eligible for unemployment benefits if you were not classified as an independent contract worker (FICA and income tax were withheld). Unemployment benefits are paid for by premiums by the employer and are not "means tested" and therefore LPRs are eligible.

Eligibility

Immigrant's Eligibility

Noorah101

Yes, you are eligible to APPLY for unemployment benefits. Whether you get the benefit or not is dependent on other things. Your conditional PR status is not a concern.

Rene

Pulaski

In at least some states claimants (anyone, including USCs born in the US) are only able to draw out in unemployment claims amounts that are a function of what they paid in, and there are quite strict rules about only be able to claim if you were made redundant or otherwise how you came to be unemployed.

SanDiegogirl

I understand that you are in California and Michael has put in a link to the Californian Dpt of Labor and eligibility.

It appears each state has its own rules for unemployment benefit - much of which depends on when and how much you have paid in.

Dark Chameleon

There is a reciprocity agreement between America and Britain which means if you are qualified for unemployment in Britain based on your work history coming to America then you should qualify here but it takes time, sometimes a lot of time, because they have to send off your application to Baltimore to assess international qualifications.

To get unemployment you have to have worked a combined 5 years between the two countries, as you were temporary then I cant see how you got your green card based on that.

When I came over I was asked on my visa form to make sure I had enough income to survive I believe 6 months of unemployment without asking for benefits, also when I applied for disability I was told id lose the first 6 months of the benefits.

Now for the bad news, I had been working in America for 2 1/2 years when I was made disabled at work, the process of getting my SSDI (social security disability) took me 6 years...yes you heard that right, 6 years...if I didn't have awife that worked id never have made it and the problem being the international office in Baltimore too more then one year to get information from England that took me 20 minutes but they wouldn't take it, they had to find it, in the end I contacted my local senator and congressman who then got on their case and in two weeks I had a court case and three weeks after that id won the case and been told of the benefits I was entitled to, so yes, you are entitled but the question then becomes can you survive while you wait what could be years to get your money...BTW I got 6 years of back pay from SSDI ....BUT....its taxable so the next year you get to lose potentially one third of it if you get a job after the benefits.

Hope that helps.

SanDiegogirl

I have heard of a reciprocal agreement between US and UK whereby payments into each others Social Security System can make one eligible for retirement, social security payments, survivor and disability payments but not unemployment payments.

International Programs - Totalization Agreement with the United Kingdom

As another as said it would appear to take many criteria to claim any of these benefit.

Simpler and quicker to get another job.

Pulaski

I am not sure how an international treaty would help when many states won't pay out unless you have paid in to the state's unemployment fund.

SanDiegogirl

Agree ....... I could just imagine what would be the scenario if one went to our local Social Security office with a copy of the "International Agreement" rules and regulations and claimed anything based on that.

Dark Chameleon

Its down to if youd paid into the system in Britain, it had to cover 5 years, mine was more then that but when I came to the U.S on a fiancé visa I couldn't work until I got a green card, that delayed my working by more then 10 months but my working history in England is what slowed the application down to a crawl, you are entitled to unemployment although the American system wishes you not to use it, you cant blame them but the reciprocity agreement allows for it, the same way as americans emigrating to the UK and then years later getting made unemployed (before the 5 years is up because if they have worked for 5 years then its all mute, youd be qualified as any American would)...also for SSDI the payments are based on what you paid in or earned(you cannot receive more then 70% of your former wage under SSDI, so if you receive money from an insurer of an accident takes place at work then they take that into account and you could end up getting nothing but most insurers know this and so don't pay you more then 70% and often less then that knowing that SSDI will make it up.

If you ever take a settlement from the insurers then they also take that into consideration too, the money you receive is based on a certain amount of years at a certain amount per month or week and your benefits changed accordingly.

one tip though, if your offered a settlement or asked by your lawyer about one, make damn well sure you know and have in print what your SSDI will grow to (never take someone's word for it, even your own lawyer, they make 20% of your settlement so are very motivated to get you to accept one even if its not in your best interest to), and be prepared to spend another while waiting for it to get sorted.

The system over here can be very very difficult to steer around, the unemployment and SSDI is automatically denied the second you apply, that's the course of things, you need a social security lawyer who also charges 20% of your 'back payments' when you win, imagine my amount after 6 years of waiting???.

If I knew about this before I came over and essentially that I was ricking my financial welfare for what could cross 5 years by working for an American company and some companies didn't even give you heath insurance for the first 6 months (considering you self employed while they found out what you could do) it might have swayed my decision to even move here and not convince my fiancé to move to England.

I'd say if you move here then look closely at your finances and make your lifestyle for those first 5 years to make sure you can survive without any financial help if you lose your job or get injured at work (the insurance companies can take months and years to get you enough of a sum to live on, I started out by them giving me as little as $100 a week while I dragged them through court which I won in court 6 times...6 TIMES !!!).

Don't go for that great big house until you know your going to have worked for 5 years, even recommend renting for that first 5 years...after 5 years then your in the same pool as Americans and hopefully understand the system more, which I recommend to everyone before you even get on the plane if you can...one second and youd be in my shoes and it doesn't matter if your earing $25,000 a year or $250,000 a year, they will deny, they will defend and they will take forever to pay you, don't think of it as England and 6 weeks to wait for things to be sorted out, 6 years.....6 YEARS and 6 court cases, before I settled...and it might be better to take the payments per month, also get your costs in order too...I ended up getting more then $3000 for just driving around to appointments and my medication costs.

Pulaski

If you need or expect to rely on benefits and handouts, the US probably isn't the country for you. I never claimed a day's unemployment in the UK, and haven't tried to in the US either. I can't imagine any circumstance happening under which I would need to.

Dark Chameleon

Also, please don't take this as hatred of America, I love it here and am about to move across the country to something warmer (I'm in Massachusetts and so freezing my butt off and have owned a snow blower with more horse power then my old motorbike in England used to have) ---- tip---- if you move to the north then go to your local hardware store and buy the meanest snowblower they sell, if you won your own home and have a drive way or land you will use it and it can make you and your kids some serious cash and benefits when you do someone else's driveway and walk way, I didn't have to buy myself a drink for over 5 years..lol.

Also get a roof scraper to get that snow off the roof or consider having these heated wires on the roof to stop accumulation, its not like England, I have had more then 7 feet of snow inside one month, get used to it..it sucks.

Also look for the fema flood map, if your home falls in it your insurance can jump up quickly and owning a house or renting with a pool can become silly for insurance even though in florida having yours cleaned only costs about $100 a month.

Dark Chameleon

Pulaski - I never intended to either, I was injured at work and who has a safe job for life?, it was a simple accident and I was made disabled for life, but its better to hope for the best but prepare for the worst...if you've lived in America for a while then things can get simpler without the need for the reciprocity agreement to come into play but the other deals of denial at first and always wait for lawyers to get involved and in my case I even had to contact my senator and local congress member to get involved to speed it up.
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I didn't claim unemployment, didn't need to, I went from a full time job in England to a full time job in America, but the unemployment and ssdi can become a nightmare in the unfortunate situation that you do need to use it, and I have to look forward to when im 62 and the ssdi becomes a pension and I then need to have it go through the ringer yet again...each time you take them on they 'forget' that they have already found you to be qualified and start the whole process again...because its in their interests to do it that way...if you could sue them for it then theyd be done in seconds via computer and not loaded paperwork like the VA office does.

I was also very healthy become I came over, getting the fiancé visa requires a medical in London when you go to the embassy to apply to make sure your not bringing any infections or an unhealthy drain on their economy (would be nice if England did that with their immigrants).

I would say to be prepared for a litigious society here, sometimes you have to sue to get things done or at least have lawyers help for some stuff, it can be benefits, it can be for medical costs, it can be for simply bumper to bumper slight accidents, things tend to be very litigious here, if you have good financial position its even advisable to have liability insurance cos one person falling on your garden from some gnome or some idiot jumping your fence then drowning themselves in your pool can bankrupt you, your kids having a party when your away on vacation can take every penny you have, even in some cases pensions.

Be prepared and not scared.

Dark Chameleon

I've lived here now for 12 years and considering becoming a citizen, I don't think ill ever want to move back to Britain so its not me trying to scare people off moving here but it would have been nice to have these tips or even people to tell you things that would normally cost you serious money and time here to figure out, even to having a person here you can call when things happen to let you know that if you do this or that it can seriously help you out, some of the federal and state offices can be a nightmare to navigate...not just for this but for a lot of things...thank god for expats and the like to help people out...believe me, it took me finding a social security lawyer to even find out about the reciprocity agreement...its not easily found out about let alone explained.

Dark Chameleon

But you can be sure America would spit the binky if one of their citizens went through the ringer in the UK the way UK citizens do here when it happens to them...try telling an American in London that they may have to wait 6 years to get any money, they'd be on the first plane to New York, disabled or not.