Questions on Canadian citizen applying for US social security pension

[catmonk]

Hi,

I am Canadian citizen who have worked in US for 10+ years, first under TN, then later under Green card. I have now retired, and have given up on the Green card, so no longer eligible to live in US. Recently, I have applied online for social security benefits, and have a few questions to ask:

1) As I understand it, the Social Security Administration will send social security benefits to Canadian citizen, whether they live in Canada , or reside in many other countries of the world (except for a few restrictions such as N. Korea, Iraq etc.); i.e. Canadian citizen do not need to reside in US to receive social security benefits. Is that correct?

2) After completing the online form for applying social security benefits, it asks for the following documentation:
a) Original Birth Certificate or a Certified Copy of your birth certificate or other Proof of Birth.,
b) Citizenship/Naturalization (if other than your U.S. birth certificate).
I assume the above refer to US birth certificate, and US Citizenship/Naturalization, so I can ignore the request, as I am not
born in US, nor I am US citizen. Is that correct?
3) I am also not born in Canada, but in Hong Kong. Do I need to send my Hong Kong birth certificate, and Canadian citizenship paper
to the social security Administration office? SSA suggested I bring the documentation to their office for verification, and warns of
mailing in to avoid lost in the mail, but that is not possible since I am applying outside US.

Thanks,
catmonk

[nelsona]

1. Correct.

2. What they are asking for is normal. If you live near a border town, it would be wise to go to SSA office. Otherwise CALL the office that is responsible for your area:
https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/canada.htm

They will explain much clearer than online, and also advise you on submitting Cdn documentation for application of WEP.

[catmonk]

Thanks for the reply.

After my application for SS benefits online, this application has now progressed to the point when I received an email several days ago from SSA. This email asks me to call a certain number (+extension no.) in Baltimore, Maryland, so that the person in that office may discuss my case with me. But for the last 4 days, when I called that number in the email, I have not been able to connect either to a live person, or to the point where an automated system would ask me to input the extension number. Despite calling more than 100 times over 4 days, I just got a recording saying "all lines are currently busy, please call us back at a later time".

I am wondering if there are other Canadians recently (or within a year or two) that have applied for SS benefits when not residing in USA, who may have experienced similar situation of not being able to contact their SSA office for further discussion. I am supposed to initiate this discussion within 2 weeks of receiving the email, and for whatever reason, perhaps due to limitation of their telephone system, I am afraid I will miss the deadline.
I have called SSA main toll free line, but the operator of the call center was not able to help.

Any suggestions of how to make contact to the SSA office in Baltimore, or any other SSA office that may be able to facilitate my communication to that Baltimore office?

Thanks, catmonk