USA SS Proof of life

@vehicross100

I remember my uncle had similar issue while staying outside his home country. Sometimes these government letters arrive late or not arrive at all because local mail system not very reliable.

From what I heard, some people receive the proof of life form every year and some after few years only. Maybe depends on account review or random verification from SS side.

Honestly better to keep checking your online SS account too if possible, because physical mail outside US can become stressful specially when important documents involved.

Hopefully somebody here who already living long-term in Philippines can share recent experience.

vehicross100 asked . . . .Seen this topic before but couldn’t locate it, so inquiring if anyone has any experience in receiving this notice. I am 1 month out from my first year on SS and just wondering what to look for when it’s time for this form to be sent to me considering how there actually is no real mail service here.
If I remember correctly some had posted they were receiving the letter annually, others intermittently, and one said never, so just wondering what is the experience of any reading this Topic who are receiving USA SS in regards to the “Proof of life” notice ?

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As far as US citizens on SS, my registered address is in the US. I've never received a proof of life since I moved here in 2018. If your registered address is in the Philippines, by the time PhilPost delivered the letter from the SS administration might consider you deceased. I imagine overseas addresses might get a proof of life letter.

Each year they send out an earning statement and notification of the COLA adjustment, so it's smart to use an US address, you will get any notification timely including proof of life if they should ask.

I use my re-mailers address as my own.

I applied while here in the Philippines using my Philippine address since this has been home for that last 10 years, so I just gotta deal with the Proof of life notice.

For now.

Questions I have, For example, how is it delivered ?

By who ?

And is it delivered the same time of year for everyone or different months throughout the year for benefit recipients ? To name a few…

During my next trip to the US I will call SS from there to see if I can change my address to the US while I am still permanently residing in the Philippines…

But in the meantime be nice to know the answers to some of the above questions.

@Enzyte Bob

I agree, but sadly it’s too late for me according to my Google AI.

Stating that I can change my mailing address but they still Require to know my physical address and if I don't it is considered Fraud and payments could be stopped etc etc…

Furthermore it appears that my 9 year old son who is also receiving benefits will have to annually submit his own PoL along with me.

So I guess I will just Download 2 forms around June/July and send them in every year instead of waiting to see if Philpost can deliver, lose, or deliver to wrong address.

@Enzyte Bob

I'm curious if anyone has sold their US home before moving to the Philippines and still use it as a physical address for financial institutions only?  I know this is technically not legal, but I'm not sure how they will find out as long as you have a virtual mailbox for your mailing address at said financial institutions.

mati_steve asked . . . .
I'm curious if anyone has sold their US home before moving to the Philippines and still use it as a physical address for financial institutions only? I know this is technically not legal, but I'm not sure how they will find out as long as you have a virtual mailbox for your mailing address at said financial institutions.

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Prior to moving to the Philippines I switch my address for all my banking, SS and other important things to my re-mailers address. One think I did for the address, I did not say box number but said apartment number.

I was not questioned by any of them and it's eight years now.

@Enzyte Bob

I tried to do that (online) but each of them would only prefill with the street address that they obviously looked up from a database somewhere.  If I tried to enter any additional info, like PMB, etc, it would not accept it.  It *might* work if I called instead, but I never tried.  I had already called each one and verified I could use my rental property as a physical address, if need be, since I have 100% ownership.

@vehicross100

You are talking about the FEQ, and that is Form SSA-7162.  My recommendation is to be proactive and download it from here: https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/ssa7162ocrsm.pdf

Make sure it is an editable PDF, fill it out, print/sign it, scan and save as a PDF, and submit it through your SSA account online.

Good Luck