We Almost Left Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Behind. A Casual Conversation Saved Us.

Sneha was out at dinner with a friend a few months ago. They were talking about the usual stuff. Work, kids, plans for the future. At some point, her friend mentioned something about Social Security. That H1B workers might actually be able to collect it, even after moving back to India.

Sneha couldn't believe it. Neither could I when she mentioned it later that evening. It wasn't even the main thing she wanted to tell me about. Just one of several things that came up over dinner. But it stuck.

I did what I always do. I started researching immediately. And honestly, I wasn't sure what to believe. There's so much conflicting information out there. Reddit threads contradicting each other, outdated blog posts, vague government pages. So I went straight to the source. I created an account on ssa.gov, pulled up my Social Security statement, and looked at my credits.

That's when it got real. The number wasn't zero. It wasn't even close to zero.

I've been checking regularly since then, tracking how close we are to the threshold that determines whether we walk away with this money or leave it all behind.

What most H1B workers believe

Here's what almost every Indian professional in the US assumes about Social Security:

"That's for citizens and green card holders. We're on visas. That money is gone."

I assumed this for years. Every paycheck, I watched 6.2% of my salary go to Social Security and 1.45% go to Medicare. Sneha's paychecks showed the same.

Do the math on your own situation. Take your annual salary, multiply by 6.2%, and multiply by the number of years you've worked in the US. For most H1B workers, that's somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000 in Social Security contributions over a decade. Money that left your paycheck and, you assumed, was never coming back.

Not once did anyone tell us we might actually be eligible to claim benefits. Not HR, not our tax accountant, not any of the immigration lawyers we've spoken to over the years. HR handles payroll, not retirement planning for people who might leave the country. Tax accountants file your returns, not your Social Security claims. And immigration lawyers are focused on keeping you in the US, not planning for when you leave.

So the information falls through the cracks. And most H1B workers walk away from what could be the largest unclaimed benefit of their American working lives.

The truth

This isn't some obscure workaround. It's how the system was designed.

If you've worked in the United States in a job that pays into Social Security (which is virtually every W-2 job), you've been earning "credits." You earn one credit for roughly every $1,810 in wages (2025 figure), up to a maximum of four credits per year. So one year of full-time work at any reasonable salary gives you four credits.

Once you hit 40 credits, roughly 10 years of work, you qualify for Social Security retirement benefits.

There is no citizenship requirement. No green card requirement. No requirement that you live in the US when you collect. The Social Security Administration's own rules are clear: non-citizens who have earned 40 credits can receive benefits while living abroad, including in India.

If you've worked in the US for 10 years on an H1B, or any combination of work visas, you're likely eligible for a monthly check for the rest of your life, starting as early as age 62.

How to check your number right now

This is the part that changed everything for us. It takes about 10 minutes.

Go to ssa.gov and create an account.

Yes, H1B visa holders can do this. You'll need your Social Security Number. The site will verify your identity. Sometimes through security questions based on your credit history, sometimes through ID.me where you upload a photo ID. It's a one-time process.

When we set up ours, the ID verification took a few extra minutes but was straightforward. Don't let that step stop you.

Once you're in, find your Social Security Statement.

This single document tells you everything. Look for two numbers:

Your credits earned. This is the number that determines everything. 40 means you qualify. Anything below 40 means you don't. Yet. The site shows a progress bar that fills up as you get closer to 40. You'll know instantly where you stand.

Your estimated monthly benefit. The statement shows three amounts: what you'd receive per month if you start claiming at age 62 (reduced), at your full retirement age of 66 or 67 (standard), and at age 70 (maximum). These estimates assume you keep working at your current salary until retirement age. If you plan to leave the US earlier, your actual benefit will be lower, but almost certainly not zero.

When my statement loaded, the number wasn't zero. It wasn't even close to zero. It was a meaningful monthly amount. Enough to fund a real part of our retirement in India.

When Sneha checked hers, the story was different. She hasn't hit 40 credits yet. Her statement showed what she'd get if she reaches the threshold, but that word "if" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

More on that in a moment.

What your number actually means

The exact amount varies based on how much you've earned and how long you've worked. But to give you a real sense of scale:

An H1B worker who earned $80,000-$100,000 per year over 10 years might see an estimated benefit of roughly $1,500-$2,500 per month at full retirement age.

At $100,000-$150,000 per year, that range moves to roughly $2,500-$4,000 per month.

Higher earnings and more years push the number up further, but Social Security has a cap. The maximum benefit in 2025 is around $4,018/month at full retirement age regardless of how much you earned.

These numbers might not look dramatic at first glance. But watch what happens when you multiply them out.

At $2,000/month: $2,000 × 12 × 20 years = $480,000 in lifetime benefits.

At $3,000/month: $3,000 × 12 × 20 years = $720,000.

At $4,000/month: $4,000 × 12 × 20 years = $960,000.

And these payments get adjusted for inflation every year. The actual lifetime value is likely higher.

In India, even $2,000 per month is over ₹1.6 lakh, a meaningful income stream that can cover a comfortable life in most Indian cities. At $3,000-$4,000 per month, you're looking at ₹2.5-3.3 lakh per month.

Here's what kept us up at night when we first understood this.

You've already paid for this. Every FICA deduction on every paycheck for every year you've worked. That money is credited to your Social Security number. If you leave the US before 40 credits, all of it stays in the system. You get nothing. Not a reduced amount, not a partial refund. Zero.

The difference between leaving at credit 39 and credit 40 could be half a million dollars or more over your lifetime.

Why this changed our return date

Here's where it gets personal for us.

When Sneha and I started planning our return, we had a rough timeline. Our parents are getting older. We've started a family. The immigration situation weighs on us. We were ready to go.

Then I ran the numbers on Social Security.

I've crossed 40 credits. That benefit is locked in. But Sneha hasn't, and this is where the math gets personal.

Here's the fact that makes this so high-stakes for Indian H1B workers specifically:

There is no US-India Totalization Agreement.

The US has agreements with 30 countries like Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, and others, that let workers combine Social Security credits earned in both countries. A Canadian who worked 7 years in the US and 5 years in Canada can add those together to meet the 40-credit threshold.

India is not on that list.

Despite Indian officials pushing for an agreement since 2007. Despite the US collecting an estimated $4 billion per year in Social Security and Medicare taxes from Indian nationals, the vast majority of whom will never qualify to claim. There is no deal. The US has resisted because those unclaimed billions benefit the American system.

For every Indian H1B worker, this means: it's 40 US credits or nothing. You can't add your Indian EPF years. You can't get partial credit for 38 or 39 credits. The threshold is binary.

So yes, Social Security credits are now a factor in our return timing. Not the only factor. Our parents' health, our kids, the immigration landscape. Those still matter. But we'd be making a bad financial decision if we ignored this. If either of us had left a year or two before hitting 40 credits, it would have meant forfeiting a benefit worth lakhs per month for the rest of our retirement.

We're planning around it. And if you're in a similar situation, we think you should too.

Where do you stand?

If you have 40 credits or more: You've cleared the threshold. Your benefit is locked in, even if you leave the US tomorrow. In our next article, we'll cover exactly how to claim it from India: the bank account you'll need, how the US-India tax treaty affects your payments, and the step-by-step process.

If you're at 30-39 credits: You're in the critical window. Every quarter you work adds one credit, up to four per year. Count carefully. If you're at 36 credits, that's one more year of work to hit 40. Map your exit timing around this number. It might be the most valuable year you ever work.

If you're under 30 credits: You'd need 3+ more years to qualify. That might not fit your life plans, and that's a real trade-off. But at least now you can make that decision with full information instead of assuming the money was gone.

If you've already left without 40 credits: There may still be options. We'll explore those in a future article.

For dual-income couples like us, check both accounts separately. You may each qualify independently, doubling the lifetime benefit. Or, like us, one of you may be over the line while the other isn't. That's important planning information.

What to do in the next 10 minutes

We spent a long time figuring this out. Your next step is much simpler.

1. Go to ssa.gov and create your account, or log into your existing one
2. Check your credits earned. This is the number that decides everything.
3. Look at your estimated benefit. Even adjusted downward, it's almost certainly not zero.
4. Count your remaining quarters. If you're planning to return, map exactly when you'll hit 40.
5. Check your spouse's account too. You each qualify independently.

Then come back. In our next article, we'll cover the part nobody else has written clearly: exactly how Social Security payments work when you're living in India, what happens with taxes, and the recent law change that means your Indian retirement benefits won't reduce your American ones.

If this article surprised you, it would have surprised us too, not long ago. Share it with someone who needs to see it.

— Rohan

Common questions

Can H1B workers collect Social Security from India? Yes. If you've earned 40 credits (roughly 10 years of US work), you qualify for Social Security retirement benefits starting at age 62. No citizenship or green card required. You can receive payments while living in India.

How do I check my Social Security credits? Create an account at ssa.gov. Your Social Security Statement shows your credits earned and estimated monthly benefit at ages 62, 67, and 70. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.

Is there a US-India Social Security totalization agreement? No. Unlike 30 other countries (Canada, UK, Germany, etc.), India has no totalization agreement with the US. You cannot combine Indian work years with US credits. It's 40 US credits or nothing.

How much Social Security would I get? It depends on your earnings and years worked. For H1B workers earning $100k-$150k over 10+ years, estimated benefits are roughly $2,500-$4,000 per month at full retirement age. Over 20 years that's $600,000 to $960,000.

Do both spouses qualify separately? Yes. Each person's Social Security credits and benefits are calculated independently. If both of you worked in the US, check both accounts.

Sneha's note: Honestly, I almost didn't bring this up to Rohan. My friend mentioned it at dinner and I remember thinking "that can't be right." There's always a catch with visa stuff, so I figured this was no different. But it kept bugging me, so I mentioned it when I got home. Not even as a big thing. Just "hey, did you know this might be a thing?" Rohan being Rohan, he was on his laptop researching it within minutes. By the time I woke up the next morning he had an SSA account set up and real numbers on the screen. If you're reading this and thinking there's no way this applies to you, I get it. I was you. Go check. It takes 10 minutes and you might have a very different conversation with your partner that evening.

Sources

• Social Security Administration — Payments Abroad: ssa.gov/international
• SSA — International Agreements Overview: ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html
• SSA — Create Your Account: ssa.gov/myaccount
• IRS — Aliens Employed in the US, Social Security Taxes: irs.gov
• US-India Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), Article 20

Up next: "You qualify for Social Security. Here's exactly how to collect it from India."