dear Larry I live in turkey,non resident and72 years old.I used to live in usa for 13 years andI have 40 credits from ss.I went to LA GARDEN GROVE office and applied for retirement.the officer told me that I would get around 1200-1300 usd wth delayed retirement.but when I get my pay check it was 633 usd. than I called garden grove office they told me that I wasnot living in usa anymore.He told me that my actual benefit 920 usd without delayed reteriment.I get 359 usd from turkish ss as well.( 10 years working).can we fix this.

Hi. I don't have access to enough of the facts in your case to know what your benefit rate should amount to. You don't mention whether or not you receive any other pensions, but if you receive a pension based on earnings that you had that weren't subject to Social Security taxes then your U.S. Social Security retirement benefit would likely be subject to reduction due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf). Also, since you're not a U.S. citizen and if you're not living in the U.S. your U.S. Social Security benefits would likely be subject to an alien withholding tax that could reduce your payment amount by 25.5%.

I don't know whether or not WEP or the alien withholding tax might explain why you received a lower payment amount than you expected, but If you think that the amount that you're being paid is incorrect you can file a request for appeal with Social Security (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10041.pdf).

Best, Jerry