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@nicholsharvey

International tracking for me has always been a crap shoot. It usually stops working once it leaves the country. In any event I do not have any experience sending docs to FBU Lisbon but, there website says you can email them or call with questions about 7162. From their site:

—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”-

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Foreign Enforcement Questionnaires

If you did not receive your monthly Social Security payment this month, your benefits have likely been suspended because we did not receive the annual questionnaire form that was mailed to you.

To reinstate your benefit payments, you will need to print and complete one of the forms listed below.

    •    If you are a Social Security beneficiary, please complete Form SSA-7162

    •    If you are the Representative Payee for a beneficiary, please complete Form SSA-7161

When completing the form, please ensure that you include your complete name, address, contact number, SSN and sign the form. Once signed, mail the completed form to:

American Embassy Lisbon
Federal Benefits Unit
Apartado 43033
1601-301 LISBOA
Portugal

Once we receive the completed form, we will take immediate action to reinstate benefits. Any past due benefits will be directly deposited into your bank account, usually within 7-10 business days. Thank you.

To contact us, send an email to fbu.lisbon@ssa.gov. Please include your telephone number, name and date of birth, the last four digits of your Social Security number, and the purpose of your inquiry. We typically will respond within five business days or as soon as possible. Please do not send multiple emails, as this may cause further delays.

You can call our office between 1:30 p.m. – 16:00 p.m. (local time) on Wednesdays by dialing +351 217 273 300.

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There site:

Social Security - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Portugal

• Good Luck with the process…

   02/09/24 Has social security recipient ever had to mail form SSA-7162 to the FBU.LISBON? How long did it take to Mail from Rio De Janeiro Brazil to Lisbon Portugal via correio service. It's been 10 days since I mailed it with tracking included and it has not arrived yet. FBU.LISBON said they do not excepcional DHL or FedEx.   

    -@nicholsharvey

I hope that this doesn't add confusion, but this was my experience:

I received my form 7162 (dated June 02, 2023)  from the SSA office in Wilkes-Barre PA in the normal Correios delivery at my home on  07/16/23.  I immediately contacted FBU-Lisbon to ask them how to return it, and they responded NOT to send it to them, but to send it back to Wilkes-Barre in the return envelope provided using regular mail, not registered.  I sent it back as instructed on 07/20/23 from the Correios office near my home.  I kept copies of everything and the mailing receipt in case it got lost, but I haven't experienced a break in payments, so I assume that it arrived prior to the due date, 60 days after the date on the form.

No, very helpful response. Since I got suspended, I had to go through FBU.LISBON.  FBU.LISBON told me to Mail it to them via regular/registered mail. Not DHL or FedEx. But the funny thing is, I just notified FBU.LISBON on December 4th of my new Brazil address from Mexico and they updated my Social Security account with my new Brazil address.  This was completed on 12/4/23. So if I notified Social Security of my new address, why would I still have to submit the SSA-7172 form? They never answered that question, nonetheless I have to submitt the SSA-7172.  It has been 11 days now that I mailed it to FBU.LISBON from Brazil, and they still have not received it yet. The tracking says "still in transport". Unbelievable too long.

Just want to add my $0.02 here.... There really should be an easier way to do this in today's modern world. I understand WHY they send you a piece of regular mail - to verify your address but an online response would be so much more appropriate to today's normal business procedures.

My wife just got her 7162 in the mail (dated June 06, rcvd July 06). It was wet from the heavy rains we had that day. She didn't open it until the next day and in the drying process the SSA provided envelope (with its sticky sealant) had sealed. Poor thing was anxious over opening the envelope and then having to reseal it with tape.

She WAS thrilled that a copy of the instructions in Portuguese accompanied the item.

Off to the P.O.!

mberigan

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I agree with you, Matt. Coding an electronic form is trivial.

But what are the requirements? A simple response indicating proof of life and change in circumstances? Address verification? Full employment?

How is a paper system secure? Isn't it expensive?

I don't understand. 🤔

@alan279

OK - I don't know about costs of paper vs. online solutions to interactions with the SSA BUT, for instance, I can login to SSA via id.me and interact with SSA quickly and securely. To verify, I j-u-s-t went there and downloaded a verification of income statement from the SSA. It took a few moments of bouncing around id.me to SSA, back to id.me and then back to SSA - but I got there.

So what I would do if I were responsible for assuring "proof of life" issues with the SSA is 1) verify with the IRS that the client is filing taxes annually and then 2) provide a secure form via ID.ME accessed SSA services.

There are a lot of us overseas. This is what Gemini says:

"The exact number of American expats living abroad is difficult to pinpoint due to the challenges of tracking them. Here's a breakdown of some estimations from various sources:

U.S. Department of State: Their most recent estimate puts the figure at around 9 million, though this might include temporary residents as well.

Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO): They estimate at least 5.4 million Americans live abroad, excluding military and government personnel."

Wondering when and how all of the people living abroad might get better representation over common issues of this sort.....

mberigan

07/08/24    Just want to add my $0.02 here.... There really should be an easier way to do this in today's modern world. I understand WHY they send you a piece of regular mail - to verify your address but an online response would be so much more appropriate to today's normal business procedures.

    -@mberigan

Agreed.  I was surprised that even e-mailing a pdf of the signed form to either the FBU in Lisbon or the office in Wilkes-Barre was a no-go.

@mberigan

Paper and postage and labor always cost much more than an electronic form.

@mberigan

I downloaded a verification of income from SSA.gov last year. It was relatively easy.

@mberigan

5 million Americans living in other countries? How many dependent on Social Security and  biannual 7162s?

Just thinking...

07/08/24 5 million Americans living in other countries? How many dependent on Social Security and  biannual 7162s?
Just thinking...
   

    -@alan279

Over 500,000 as of 2021:

Five million letters and maybe five million responses via multiple international postal systems?

How do you assure quality of service?