I moved to Germany when I was 40, having already worked a long time in the U.S. I then lived and worked in Germany for 25 years. When I applied there for a German state pension, I was told that there were three possibilities, and if I chose the so-called "long-term insured pension" that the WEP provision would not apply to me later in the U.S. when I applied for SSA benefits That because of a "Totalization Agreement" between Germany and the U.S., my application for my German would be coordinated with the Social Security Administration in the U.S. And that later, when I applied to receive my U.S. pension, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) would NOT apply to me nor my U.S. pension reduced. I have had a conversation with a local SSA clerk who begs to differ with me. I will soon be 70 and am preparing to apply for my SSA benefit, but I am nervous to have a local, possibly incompletely informed clerk handle my case and reduce my benefits. Do you have any experience with those like me, who worked 10-20 years in Germany (many in the opera theater) have a small German pension, and are now wanting to claim their U.S. pension? Thank you.

Hi. I'm not aware of any exception to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) based on a person collecting a "long-term insured pension" from Germany. I don't see anything in Social Security's operations manual that refers to a German pension with that particular title, nor any WEP exception based on receipt of such a pension (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0201707020). WEP normally applies as long as you are collecting both a pension based on your work and earnings that were exempt from Social Security taxes, and either Social Security disability or retirement benefits.

There is an exception to WEP when totalization benefits are involved, but a totalization benefit is one that's based on combined U.S. and foreign credits. For example, if you had fewer than 40 quarters of U.S. coverage but also had enough German credits to qualify you for a U.S. totalization benefit, then WEP would not apply. Or, vice versa.

Therefore, assuming that you had enough U.S. work credits and enough German work credits to meet the regular insured status requirements for benefits from those countries then neither benefit would be considered as a totalization benefit. And, in that case you wouldn't meet the WEP exception that applies to people receiving totalization benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

Best, Jerry