I am American, 70 in January. I am in Paris separated from my (French) husband, but not legally for now. I have to apply for my SS retirement (it's barely 3 months in advance) but I will be relocating to the United States. I'm letting my carte de sejour to stay expire. I already have my U.S. address and will be living there. I would have left by now but making arrangements for my things etc. with current coronavirus restrictions is proving difficult - I can't go back/forth as I thought I could and need to apply now but am told not to go through the U.S. Consulate here because that will only complicate things, to apply online using my US address. Also the Consulate doesn't seem to be operative except for emergencies. What should I do? Signed On My Way Back to USA

Hi,

There's no real emergency in getting your claim filed, assuming that you want to claim your benefits effective with the month you reach age 70. You could actually file your application as late as in July 2021 and still be able to claim benefits starting with January 2021.

I would agree with the advice you were given about filing your application online at https://secure.ssa.gov/iClaim/rib. If that doesn't work for you for some reason, once you get to the U.S. you can call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to make an appointment to apply by phone. You may also want to consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully analyze the options available to you so that you can be sure to choose the best possible filing strategy.

Best, Jerry