Hi Lary, I am 67 years old and a US citizenship. my husband who I married for 9 years is resident here in the US also get his retirement in Germany
My husband now also get the SSA from my work ( more than 50% of my earning]...even he doesn’t work in US...
Please advise if I can get the retirement from Germany too?
And what can I receive from his retirement or pension if he passed away
look forward for your reply
thank you Larry
Annelie

Hi Annelie,

I'm sorry, but my only area of expertise is U.S. Social Security benefits, so I don't know if you could qualify for spousal or survivor benefits from Germany. I can only tell you that if you do qualify for a German spousal or survivor benefit based on your husband's work in that country, it would not reduce your U.S. Social Security benefit rate.

However, if you yourself worked in Germany and end up receiving a German pension based on your own earnings in that country, your German pension would likely cause your U.S. Social Security retirement benefit rate to be reduced. That's due to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP). However, WEP likely wouldn't cause your U.S. benefit rate to be reduced by any more than half of the amount of your German pension, so you still might be better off to claim your German pension if you're eligible (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

Best, Jerry