I found this at another site:

*Who is required to file?
All people receiving Social Security benefits, who have foreign addresses ed with the SSA. It does not matter if your check is deposited in the USA or to a foreign bank , because it’s all about the mailing address you have on file with the SSA.

*2022 Updates:
The SSA typically mails the forms out in May each year, with a 60 day due date for returning the form after the day your receive it … Yet the program was suspended due to COVID mailing problems, and this year, the notices were not sent out until June 2022. A follow up notice is sent in October and December if the completed questionnaire has not been received.

I first filed for my SS benefit when I turned 62 in the second half of 2020, so because of the COVID disruption, it is perhaps understandable that I had never heard of this requirement before. Still: there was no notice of the renewed requirement sent through the messages system of the My Social Security website (I double-checked this). No email from the FBU, at least not that I received, and they certainly have my email address.

If the paper notice and follow-ups were sent from the US to Mexican addresses, good luck. If the notice and follow-ups were sent from the FBU in Mexico to Mexican addresses…still, good luck. This does not seem to have been well-handled, but maybe I am missing something? (Well, my money.)

I would not be surprised if there were quite a number of people in this (my) boat.

Apparently the forms are bar-coded, so just printing one out from the website, filling it in, and returning it will have no effect whatsoever. Probably I really will need to have that appointment at the FBU.

In the Philippines Forum here, there has been discussion of this issue in two earlier threads, and it seems that the Philippines FBU was cooperative in immediately re-instating benefits in these situations. We will see if the Mexico FBU is so efficient.

 

That's quite unusual for any Filipino agency being expedient! The Philippines is normally so slow on everything it seems it's moving backwards.

 

UPDATE: I see at the My Social Security website that I was asked if I preferred paper or online notices, or both; and I specifically chose online messages through their My Social Security system in preference to paper notices, and received a message confirming my preference. As I have said, there were no messages, zero, with respect to this Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire that I received through that system (or through email from the FBU). Even if they had to send the bar-coded form by physical mail, then surely I should have received the notice of requirement, the follow-up reminder, and the eventual suspension notice electronically. I mean, they ASKED me if that’s what I wanted, and I told them. Shaking my head here.

 

I received an email from fbu rome telling me to fill up form SSA 7162 with the link form n send it back by mail . I did so on Tuesday by DHL I understood the Us embassy received how long will take to desuspand my benefit

 

I am a retiree in Kunming and I was surprised to find out that I have the same situation - no benefits payment in March - suspended when I check in My Social Security website with no messages to that effect there and no email warnings in the last year. Fortunately my FBU is in Manilla so perhaps they will be able to expidite a correction. Just to let you know you are not alone out there.

 

I am also a widower benifits pensioner me and my daughter under 18 we recieved 2 pension but fortunately they suspended I t 2022 the other one with no clear explanations how can I make an appt?

 

I am alarmed to discover my social security payment says "suspended" on my online . There is no explanation. I got no mail or email notifications. I did not get my deposit for March 3, 2023. I retired ten years ago. Address is Barbados. I never had to file any form before because of living overseas. Have to wait til Monday office hours to call. I need my money. This is very disturbing and Draconian.

 

I am alarmed to discover my social security payment says "suspended" on my online . There is no explanation. I got no mail or email notifications. I did not get my deposit for March 3, 2023. I retired ten years ago. Address is Barbados. I never had to file any form before because of living overseas. Have to wait til Monday office hours to call. I need my money. This is very disturbing and Draconian.

Are you going to call FBU Manila? Could you please let me know if and how you got your payment reinstated? [email protected] thanks in advance

 

Wow! Thanks for the responses, everyone. I am sorry that you are in the same boat. It appears that there might be many of us expats who are affected by this situation. No mail / no email / no My Social Security system notifications, appears to be a common element here. “Draconian” is an apt word.

I got an email about this from the Mexico City FBU Saturday morning, March 4, at 8:05 AM. Their office is not open on Saturdays, so I suspect there is some heat arising from the possibly hundreds of calls that the Social Security customer service unit received about this issue on Friday.

I am going to print out and return the form to the Mexico City FBU immediately - they will have it by Tuesday. Then I will ask them how long it will take to have the benefits turned back “on”.

Please continue to post about your experiences here, I think this is a good place to keep each other updated. What a global boondoggle.

 

The same happened to me last year in Mexico where in the past I printed out form 7162 in May/June and mailed it back to an address in Pennsylvania. They always received in within 60 days of having "mailed" it to me at my Mexican address. The FBU never understood that it took 60 days for it to get to me - let alone mailing it back within 60 days. I only had to have my benefit cut off once to save the form (regardless of being barcoded - that was news to me), ed it, signed it and sent it back via Mexican snail mail to the Pennsylvania address. It was my own fault that I didn't send the form in 2022 - I had two back to back surgeries in April and another in June and completely forgot about it. This year the FBU notified me on January 28th. that my March 3rd payment would be cut off. After complaining bitterly that they had not given me any notice they acquiesced and allowed me to send it to the address in Ciudad Juarez via DHL. Unheard of in all my 13 years dealing with both FBU Guadalajara and FBU Ciudad Juarez! I mailed it on the 5th of February and Ciudad Juarez received it on the 8th. I included all the information I could on the return e-mail to them notifying them it had been sent. I received my March benefit on time.

 

I just found out that my March Social Security payment was suspended on this basis:

Your benefits have been suspended because we did not timely receive your Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire.
In order to reinstate the benefits you must take the following actions: Complete the SSA-7162 form (Pdf-59Kb) if: you receive payments in your own name.

Well now, this is the first I have heard about this. I did not receive any such form by mail (but we know what the MX mail is like), nor did I receive any email or telephone notification about this from the Federal Benefits Unit, or any message through the My Social Security .

If the FBU is relying on physical mail to inform people about this requirement, that seems a little primitive and unreliable to me.

Did any of you here in the Forum who receive your SS benefit by direct deposit into a Mexican bank know about this? Do any of you have experience with this sort of suspension?

Of course, I want to rectify the matter as soon as possible. So I sent an email to the FBU in Mexico City, AND also requested an appointment through their online appointments form. Although, if they prefer me to send the completed form, I will either send it by ed mail with proof of delivery, or by FedEx if they permit that. I only hope it doesn’t take weeks and weeks to get the benefit rolling again.

INSTANT UPDATE: I just had a nice chat with a Social Security agent in the US customer service unit who said that mine was the second call he had taken personally on exactly this issue. The other benefits recipient he spoke to was similarly blindsided, and the agent cannot detect any evidence that the FBU informed those of us who are affected by this suspension about the form requirement, the suspension itself, or anything at all. So the agent is going to elevate the matter to a supervisor.

C. Thomson in Prague

I am in the Czech Republic, Europe and my benefits were suspended under those same circumstances... no indication was given electronically or by mail at my US address or Czech. This forum helped me a lot to see that I wasn't alone. Will try to get the form filled out and mailed as soon as possible... have no idea when benefits will be reinstated,,, please keep me posted....

 

Well, this seems to be happening to people in a lot of countries! Major foul-up on all levels by Social Security. I will certainly keep posting updates here, and I hope that others will too.

What Social Security SHOULD do is to immediately reverse all the suspensions made on this basis, since the fault is clearly theirs. But I don’t trust them to do anything so correct and obvious.

 

It is at least good that you got the notification of suspension on January 28 and had a little time to deal with the issue. Many of us only found out about being suspended by not getting our benefit payment on March 3, so your FBU was moderately more courteous. It seems that on this SSA 7162 issue, a lot of people at FBUs around the globe AND at the central Social Security istration AND at the My Social Security website were completely asleep at the wheel, especially given that the form requirement had been suspended in 2020 and 2021. We are not mind-readers out here.

 

Sigh. Last Sat. i visited the SS website and ... by chance ... saw that the payments had been suspended. EEEEKKKK! - lol.

i live on the border in Mexicali but the address they insisted on me giving them when i started receiving benefits was the Mexicali address. i've been getting the 7162s every year but this year it never arrived. Tried calling and finally got someone on the 1-800 number in the U.S. - it took over an hour for the call to be answered. The lady never could find the form and didn't know which one it was. Tried to find the local SSA's office number online and called - Disconnected. They had a fax number! Eureka!

Figured out which form it online was and began filling it out and went through who knows how many hoops to also d/l the form, print, sign, take a photo, to WhatsApp, d/l as a photo, open LibreOffice, import photo, name and save. Then locate a FreeFax website and was finally able to send to the El Centro, Ca. office. Also figured out the address of the SSA office where the actual form is mailed to each year in Penn. and located their fax number - faxed. i think i even ran across someone's email addy online - can you imagen! - and emailed the docs as well.

However it sounds like their might be a ¿¿FCU?? in Tijuana that i could . If not, could someone send the Mexico City's tel number?

Checked the SSA website again this A.M. and no change - patience little grasshopper.

Have a beautiful day and please stay safe!

P. S. - Found this online for - maybe it will be of help for someone... https://mx.usembassy.gov/fbu-inquiry-form/

 

Sigh. Last Sat. i visited the SS website and ... by chance ... saw that the payments had been suspended. EEEEKKKK! - lol.

i live on the border in Mexicali but the address they insisted on me giving them when i started receiving benefits was the Mexicali address. i've been getting the 7162s every year but this year it never arrived. Tried calling and finally got someone on the 1-800 number in the U.S. - it took over an hour for the call to be answered. The lady never could find the form and didn't know which one it was. Tried to find the local SSA's office number online and called - Disconnected. They had a fax number! Eureka!

Figured out which form it online was and began filling it out and went through who knows how many hoops to also d/l the form, print, sign, take a photo, to WhatsApp, d/l as a photo, open LibreOffice, import photo, name and save. Then locate a FreeFax website and was finally able to send to the El Centro, Ca. office. Also figured out the address of the SSA office where the actual form is mailed to each year in Penn. and located their fax number - faxed. i think i even ran across someone's email addy online - can you imagen! - and emailed the docs as well.

However it sounds like their might be a ¿¿FCU?? in Tijuana that i could . If not, could someone send the Mexico City's tel number?

Checked the SSA website again this A.M. and no change - patience little grasshopper.

Have a beautiful day and please stay safe!

P. S. - Found this online for - maybe it will be of help for someone... https://mx.usembassy.gov/fbu-inquiry-form/

Fred, you said you mailed your completed form to El Centro, California? By virtue of having an address in Mexico, you must fill out the form 7162 every year and mail it to the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania address. Because you live in Mexicali Baja California, you must deal with the Ciudad Juarez Office of fbu when it comes to other business, including appointments for phone conversations. The link you attached to your post is the form you fill out to start a conversation or "thread" with that office. It used to be that you could just give the office a jingle and they'd answer on the second ring and you'd be talking to a person you got to know on a first name basis. Those times have ed - unfortunately. Now you have to deal with the "inquiry form".
I've attached a copy of that address:

The American Consulate Ciudad Juarez FBU covers the states of Baja California Norte, Sonora, Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

• Visits to the FBU are by appointments only: Mon – Fri – from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm
• E-mail inquiries: [email protected]

We observe the Mission holiday schedule and are closed to the public the last workday of the month.

**You should also know that had they notified you they would have sent you the following lines:
We cannot accept your form electronically (via email) or via fax*

You need to send the original document with a valid pen and ink signature physically to the following address:

Social Security istration
P.O. Box 7162
Wilkes Barre, PA. 18767-7162
United States of America

This year however, they allowed me to send in my filled in copy of form 7162 along with a copy of my port ID to the Ciudad Juarez Office via DHL. That has never happened before. So, If you [email protected]. using the "inquiry form", I bet they let you send it to them that way so that it arrives in a timely manner - mainly because of all the complaints they've received.
The Ciudad Juarez address:

Consulado General Americano
Oficina de Beneficios Federales
Paseo de la Victoria 3650
Fracc Partido Senecu
32543 Cd Juarez Chih

I wish you the best of luck in getting this settled.

 

After reading through the posts on this thread, I started to worry that my March SS deposit had also been "suspended". Today I checked at my bank and was quite relieved to see that my deposit was made on March 3. I hope those of you who are still waiting for this problem to be fixed don't have to wait very long.

 

My FBU is in Dominican Republic. I emailed them late at night on a weekend, twice, and got exact replies to my questions within a few hours from a real person. I guess they must have had a lot of upset people. Bottom line is SSA-7162 must be printed, completed, signed, and mailed to your FBU address. I was told that payments will be restored 5 days after receipt of the form. This includes the missed back payments. I also called customer service in the US and they told me the same that the document must be sent by mail, FedEx or DHL. My FBU in the DR told me they had mailed a notice to me in August and October 2022, but I never got it and I got no email notifications. Don't delay; just send 7162 by courrier ASAP.

 

Agree with all of this, especially the part about “a lot of upset people”. I FedExed the form to the FBU in Mexico City on Tuesday, and received a nice reply today:

“We received your original SSA-7162 form. We are reinstating your benefits. You should receive your payment in 6 to 8 days. Please send us an email if you do not receive your payment. THANK YOU.”

I detect a note of urgency in my communications with FBU, which makes sense because I think this entire episode has probably created plenty of stress WITHIN Social Security.

Keep up the good fight, everyone!

 

I just found out that my March Social Security payment was suspended on this basis: Your benefits have been suspended because we did not timely receive your Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire. In order to reinstate the benefits you must take the following actions: Complete the SSA-7162 form (Pdf-59Kb) if: you receive payments in your own name. Well now, this is the first I have heard about this. I did not receive any such form by mail (but we know what the MX mail is like), nor did I receive any email or telephone notification about this from the Federal Benefits Unit, or any message through the My Social Security . If the FBU is relying on physical mail to inform people about this requirement, that seems a little primitive and unreliable to me. Did any of you here in the Forum who receive your SS benefit by direct deposit into a Mexican bank know about this? Do any of you have experience with this sort of suspension? Of course, I want to rectify the matter as soon as possible. So I sent an email to the FBU in Mexico City, AND also requested an appointment through their online appointments form. Although, if they prefer me to send the completed form, I will either send it by ed mail with proof of delivery, or by FedEx if they permit that. I only hope it doesn’t take weeks and weeks to get the benefit rolling again. INSTANT UPDATE: I just had a nice chat with a Social Security agent in the US customer service unit who said that mine was the second call he had taken personally on exactly this issue. The other benefits recipient he spoke to was similarly blindsided, and the agent cannot detect any evidence that the FBU informed those of us who are affected by this suspension about the form requirement, the suspension itself, or anything at all. So the agent is going to elevate the matter to a supervisor.

But

I just found out that my March Social Security payment was suspended on this basis: Your benefits have been suspended because we did not timely receive your Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire. In order to reinstate the benefits you must take the following actions: Complete the SSA-7162 form (Pdf-59Kb) if: you receive payments in your own name. Well now, this is the first I have heard about this. I did not receive any such form by mail (but we know what the MX mail is like), nor did I receive any email or telephone notification about this from the Federal Benefits Unit, or any message through the My Social Security . If the FBU is relying on physical mail to inform people about this requirement, that seems a little primitive and unreliable to me. Did any of you here in the Forum who receive your SS benefit by direct deposit into a Mexican bank know about this? Do any of you have experience with this sort of suspension? Of course, I want to rectify the matter as soon as possible. So I sent an email to the FBU in Mexico City, AND also requested an appointment through their online appointments form. Although, if they prefer me to send the completed form, I will either send it by ed mail with proof of delivery, or by FedEx if they permit that. I only hope it doesn’t take weeks and weeks to get the benefit rolling again. INSTANT UPDATE: I just had a nice chat with a Social Security agent in the US customer service unit who said that mine was the second call he had taken personally on exactly this issue. The other benefits recipient he spoke to was similarly blindsided, and the agent cannot detect any evidence that the FBU informed those of us who are affected by this suspension about the form requirement, the suspension itself, or anything at all. So the agent is going to elevate the matter to a supervisor.

Almost the exact same thing, only here in . Besides talking with SSA in the US I also talked with them in Frankfurt, and I want to say nobody gets along with those representing SSA there. And the phone number given by the US, after talking to Frankfurt is not good. But shortly printed and sent to the US a form.

 

Same here. Except I notified them in June a couple times by email of my address change and they would ask for old address etc but never did they say anything about mailing a form. I don’t think calling or emailing anymore will help and I’m not allowed to work for money in this country nor do I have any money to pay for visas etc. Once I received the email on the same day they sent it, I mailed the form back but they still suspended the benefits a couple days after receiving form and if I can’t pay rent to live at this address it makes the form useless. I’ll see if the landlord will let me slide by for awhile but I don’t know how long I can do that. It’s sad they are treating people like this. As human beings we should be more humane to one another.

 

My payment arrived in my today, 13 days late but of course it could have been worse. I hope that everyone else is having success resolving their situations!

 

 

Deborah here in Turkey. I am experiencing the same problem. I knew nothing about these letters being sent and never received a letter or other form of notification. Figured it out by searching online after my money hadn’t arrived on March 3rd. I started benefits spring of 2020 just as the pandemic hit here. I’m dealing with FBU in Athens. They emailed the form to me March 8th. I mailed back by courier March 9th. Courier confirmed it was delivered March 13th. I emailed asking them to confirm receipt. They said they cannot due to very high mail volume and I should just wait 7-10 business for reinstatement of benefits. Today is 8 days. Will keep you all posted..

 

Unbelievable, my forms just got delivered to PN and Manilla and I realize I may have signed the form in the Witness box.

 

Unbelievable, my forms just got delivered to PN and Manilla and I realize I may have signed the form in the Witness box.
Sorry, PA.

 

Hi all…
Just wanted to let everyone know that my benefits were reinstated and my $ was finally deposited today, March 24th! Yippee!

 

Good for you! Must be a great relief.

 

I see a pending deposit in my bank today, April 1 from the SSA. So relieved. I sent the form in on Mar 17, got a deposit from the SSA on Mar 27, and it showed up as a pending deposit on April 1. Thank God - we were hurting. It may not be totally over yet as My Social Security still shows "not receiving benefits" but at least Suspended was changed to Active and the history showed a one time deposit. So hoping everything will be straightened out on April 3rd.Best of luck to others having SSA-7162 form issues.

 

May I know if you printed the SSA 7162 form? And where did you send it? At the FBU in Manila or in Pennsylvania? Thank you in advance

 

I received my March payment but not my April one. I called the US FBU in London and they said the forms were posted last autumn. Apparently many weren't received because Royal Mail was on strike. Sadly they didn't anyone despite having all our details. Why can't the SSA use email or online systems? Even the British government does this!

 

I just found out that my March Social Security payment was suspended on this basis:

Your benefits have been suspended because we did not timely receive your Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire.
In order to reinstate the benefits you must take the following actions: Complete the SSA-7162 form (Pdf-59Kb) if: you receive payments in your own name.

Well now, this is the first I have heard about this. I did not receive any such form by mail (but we know what the MX mail is like), nor did I receive any email or telephone notification about this from the Federal Benefits Unit, or any message through the My Social Security .

If the FBU is relying on physical mail to inform people about this requirement, that seems a little primitive and unreliable to me.

Did any of you here in the Forum who receive your SS benefit by direct deposit into a Mexican bank know about this? Do any of you have experience with this sort of suspension?

Of course, I want to rectify the matter as soon as possible. So I sent an email to the FBU in Mexico City, AND also requested an appointment through their online appointments form. Although, if they prefer me to send the completed form, I will either send it by ed mail with proof of delivery, or by FedEx if they permit that. I only hope it doesn’t take weeks and weeks to get the benefit rolling again.

INSTANT UPDATE: I just had a nice chat with a Social Security agent in the US customer service unit who said that mine was the second call he had taken personally on exactly this issue. The other benefits recipient he spoke to was similarly blindsided, and the agent cannot detect any evidence that the FBU informed those of us who are affected by this suspension about the form requirement, the suspension itself, or anything at all. So the agent is going to elevate the matter to a supervisor.

I am in the same situation. The form and letter they say they sent in July have not yet arrived. Last year's form arrived a couple of months ago with "Misdirected to Guyana" stamped on the outside. On the phone I was told to the form, but at the link provided by the SSA agent the form was not available. A second call produced the information that the form is available at a google site that I can't locate at the moment. I have saved the link to the SSA page provided here by someone. FedEx and DHL do not deliver to PO boxes, so I sent it to a mail forwarding agent in the US, which sent it by postal mail to SSA. I was told that sending it to FBU in Mexico City would take longer, but according to information here FBU in Mexico City can do the process and reinstate the . Besides the lack of notice about sending the form, there is the problem of misinformation by SSA Wilkes-Barre. According to USPS tracking, my form was picked up from the PO Box, but after waiting on line for more than an hour two weeks ago the agent could not tell me whether it is in process. It had not yet been scanned into the system. I was not aware that one could communicate by email. Could someone provide the email address? Next time I will just deal with the online form and FBU Mexico City. Tomorrow I'll call Wilkes-Barre again and try insisting on speaking with a supervisor.

 

In August I used a DHL office in Mexico City to mail the form to the Wilkes-Barre office PO box. I sure hope it gets there safely!

 

If there has been a change in policy that's good news. Last year a DHL office in Puebla said they couldn't send to that address, so this year I didn't even try that. The Mexico City FBU is very communicative by email, and I have sent a duplicate form there, hoping they can find out the status of my and process the form if necessary. That sending to Wilkes-Barre is faster seems to be misinformation, and it's probably better just to use the CDMX office.

 

Hello and good day

I am a daughter of an expat and I lived in another place for a few months since I am working

My father's caretaker who was my uncle unfortunately was busy taking care of him had no time checking the PO BOX,, when he was able to obtain the mails of course he did not open them for privacy reasons

Lo and behold there are two mails from SSA

However here in the Philippines today is a non working holiday so most likely my father's SSA 7162 will be sent tomorrow on the 27th via postal maill

I understand it is our fault that we are not able to send back the questionnaire within the 45 days

Is there a possibility that my father's SSA will be cut off?

If so how will we able to remedy it?


Thank you for the help

 

Mine suspended February 24th n no clue why n never received a letter i live in Beirut Lebanon n called the SSI over 2 hours on hold n no answer n i wrote to FBU replies in 5 to 10 days. Help

 

@claudewaked2017 -- I recommend just waiting for a response to your email. I've dealt with quite a few SSA offices and the FBU in Paris and even though I was anxious, they provided me a remedy in about two weeks.

Cheers, 255

 

Thanks

 

Thanks i will because i call from lebanon n stay on line for long time n no response

 

@claudewaked2017 -- As I mentioned before, you probably should just wait a little longer for a response from the Rome FBU, if you need to someone. However, the gist of this thread is the failure of U.S. Social Security Retirement recipients not filing SSA form 7162. This link was posted in the OP's first post in this thread: https://cr.usembassy.gov/wp-content/s/sites/248/ssa7162ocrsm.pdf . This is an annual requirement, much like filing your federal income taxes. There is no requirement for the SSA to notify anyone of the requirement (even if they have in some cases.) The requirement is not new, but it was suspended during COVID.

You should know if you filed the form. If you didn't, I'd complete the form, sign it and either send the hard copy to the FBU in Rome or the SSA in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Other posters have stated that it took 5 days to 2 weeks to process and then they got their past payment and everything was fine thereafter. If you already filed the form, you probably do need to correspond to the Rome FBU and if you hadn't heard anything in about 3 weeks, I'd resend your email. Cheers, 255