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Comment by ashayh | Hacker News Reader

There are people who paid 10-15 years into SS and Fed taxes (sometimes more than 500K) yet have a long, long way to a Green card or citizenship.

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A friend of mine worked in the US for 17 years under various visas, but never managed to get her green card. She is facing retirement without the social security she was taxed to fund. She also won't get anything of usable value from the old-age pension program in her country of origin since she worked out of country for so many years. A real immigration trap.

When someone goes to the US to work, aren’t they doing it to be paid wages they wouldn’t be able to make in their home country? That in and of itself is a nice benefit.

I don't think everyone immigrating to the U.S. does so for 'jobs/money'. Plenty of people immigrate for family and relationship reasons, many from first-world countries.

I agree, and that’s why I said When someone goes to the US to work...

No. Even if it were true, how does that justify not getting the social security that was paid into? Costs are higher in the states too. Also, you have an odd assumption that people who move to the US for family or social reasons won’t be working. How do you think people support themselves?

> No. Even if it were true, how does that justify not getting the social security that was paid into?

Did the U.S. change the rules on her, or could she have seen this problem coming?

There are far too many variables for a normal person to comprehend. Her mistake was not hiring an immigration lawyer.

how does that justify not getting the social security that was paid into?

You come here, you work, and you pay social security. That’s how it works.

You have the odd assumption everyone is entitled to the social security they pay.

If people don’t like the rules they can find another country to work in.

What is her country of citizenship? There are different rules on eligibility for non-US citizens living abroad based on your other citizenship.

Canada. My understanding was that green card holders get social security, but non permanent residents don't, no matter how many years they've been working in the states. But if in fact the visa status at time of working or time of collection doesn't matter, then that would be welcome news indeed.

Also the Canadian version of SS is a sliding scale based on how many years you paid into it, I implicitly assumed it's the same for the US but only now realized that might not be the case.

It seems likely that she would be eligible for Canadian benefits.

https://www.ssa.gov/international/agreement_descriptions.htm...

Pretty sure that totalization covers this

The US and several other countries have reciprocal agreements with regards to payments into social security/retirement programs; did your friend neither save for retirement nor comes from a country with a reciprocal agreement?

From a quick google search, you don’t necessarily need to have a green card. Not sure what the requirements are though.

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