Scenario
I move back to my home country 30 years before retirement after accumulating 40 credits and never return to USA.

Can i still get ssa benefits once i turn 65 and living in my home country ?
or
Can my son ( who is a US citizen and currently less than 4 yrs old) avail the benefit later in his life ?

Hi,

In most cases as long as you have at least 40 quarters of U.S. Social Security coverage you can collect Social Security retirement benefits starting as early as age 62 regardless of your country of citizenship and residence, although there are some exceptions like Cuba and North Korea. You should refer to the following Social Security publication for more in information about your specific circumstances: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10137.pdf.

As a U.S. citizen your son could potentially collect benefits while living outside of the U.S., but not if he's living in Cuba or North Korea. However, in order for your son to be able to collect benefits on your work record you would have to either be deceased or drawing your benefits , and he would need to either be a) under age 18, b) age 18 to 19 and attending elementary or secondary/high school or c) disabled due to an impairment that began before age 22 (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0323.html).

Best, Jerry