If You Were Approved for Disability in One State Can You Move and still get benefits?

This is a legitimate concern for anyone who depends on Social Security disability income for their monthly support. However, there is no need for concern with regard to changing your residence from one state to another while receiving SSD or SSI disability benefits.

Why? The simple answer to this question is that Social Security disability programs are federal programs, therefore it does not matter what county or state you live in (unlike "aid programs" such as food stamps that are administered at the local county level). Social Security disability is not a Social Service program. That being said, you are allowed to move freely about the country and sometimes outside the country while receiving disability benefits from the Social Security administration.

Now, you may be wondering what are any potential exceptions to the above information. There are no exceptions to the ability to move from state to state within the United States for either Social Security disability or SSI disability. However, if you are planning to reside outside the United States, your benefits may or may not be affected.

For the most part, if you are a citizen of the United States you are able to receive your disability benefits if you are receiving Social Security disability and the country your relocating to is an allowed country for payment of Social Security benefits (check with your Social Security office to make sure the country you are locating to is allowed for payment receipt).

However, if you disability is based upon Supplemental Security income, a.ka. SSI disability, your payments will stop once you have been outside the United States for thirty days (this includes the commonwealth of Puerto Rico) and cannot be reinstated until you have been back in the United States for thirty days. Additionally, Supplemental Security Income disability has other notifications that must be made even if you move within the United States.

So what does all of this mean? You do have the freedom to move around the United States and sometimes even outside the United States and still receive your benefits if you are a United States citizen. If you are a legal resident of this country and not a citizen, your benefits may stop after six months or may continue indefinitely, depending on the country in which your citizenship is held. If you are not a citizen and need to find out what your specific situation might be, you would need to contact the Social Security Administration to ascertain your potential payment status should you decide to leave the United States.

Of course, if you are receiving Social Security disability benefits, you may have to return to this country for your social security disability review. These continuing disability reviews occur every three to seven years depending upon your disability review diary date. If you do not respond to or comply with Social Security requests (this might include a consultative examination, i.e. a medical exam conducted to learn more about whether your condition is disabling) you may have your Social Security disability benefits stopped. Your obligations to the rules and regulations of the Social Security disability program do not end should you decided to live outside the United States.










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Social Security Disability Secrets