Ed_The_Gypsy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
When I was home on leave recently, following my FRA, I tried to file-and-suspend on-line, like we are supposed to. I had some difficulty, because file-and-suspend does not seem to be a simple choice on-line. I tried it though.
I then went to the SS office to make sure everything was OK and they told me to check on-line for my status. They said, give us your local phone over there and 'the overseas department will call you'. They never did. Now that I am half-way around the world, I discover that they want my payments to start in Nov. I do not want them to.
I called WA DC ("The average wait time is one hour and fifteen minutes"--thank God of Skype! They got to me in only 20 minutes, though. Elevator music like an 8-track tape that had been playing continuously since 1963.). They told me that I had to file a Form SSA-795 by mail, fax or in person...in the US embassy in Athens. That is Greece, not GA. The Athens station is on the SS web site. The need for a SSA-795 was news to me. The very nice lady helped me with the wording to use.
Called Athens (open 3 days a week from 8:30 to 12:30 only). ("The average wait time is 15 minutes"--mine was 45 minutes. The elevator music was much better than DC's, however.) After having to explain file-and-suspend to a somewhat confused agent whose first language was not English, eager to help but not very knowledgeable, he tells me I may be able to scan and e-mail it to them, but maybe that won't be acceptable and I will have to go the the US embassy in Baku, give it to them and THEY will send it on. You have to make an appointment at this embassy.
Scanned and e-mailed the Form SSA-795 today. Will keep checking every day my e-mails and my account. They never get back to me, so it is up to me to find out.
I have discovered that there is an add-on 3rd-party package for Skype that makes it possible to fax things. I learned last year that many government agencies will not accept scanned and e-mailed forms, only faxed forms. I better do that.
If I want this to work, will I have to pay back any payments? Not a financial problem, but it would be another bureaucratic maze to navigate. I will try to deal with DC from now on. I think I have a better chance (but not 100%) of getting accurate direction there. I think the current rule is that I have a year to 'do it over'. Not looking forward to this.
Cheers from Baku
I then went to the SS office to make sure everything was OK and they told me to check on-line for my status. They said, give us your local phone over there and 'the overseas department will call you'. They never did. Now that I am half-way around the world, I discover that they want my payments to start in Nov. I do not want them to.
I called WA DC ("The average wait time is one hour and fifteen minutes"--thank God of Skype! They got to me in only 20 minutes, though. Elevator music like an 8-track tape that had been playing continuously since 1963.). They told me that I had to file a Form SSA-795 by mail, fax or in person...in the US embassy in Athens. That is Greece, not GA. The Athens station is on the SS web site. The need for a SSA-795 was news to me. The very nice lady helped me with the wording to use.
Called Athens (open 3 days a week from 8:30 to 12:30 only). ("The average wait time is 15 minutes"--mine was 45 minutes. The elevator music was much better than DC's, however.) After having to explain file-and-suspend to a somewhat confused agent whose first language was not English, eager to help but not very knowledgeable, he tells me I may be able to scan and e-mail it to them, but maybe that won't be acceptable and I will have to go the the US embassy in Baku, give it to them and THEY will send it on. You have to make an appointment at this embassy.
Scanned and e-mailed the Form SSA-795 today. Will keep checking every day my e-mails and my account. They never get back to me, so it is up to me to find out.
I have discovered that there is an add-on 3rd-party package for Skype that makes it possible to fax things. I learned last year that many government agencies will not accept scanned and e-mailed forms, only faxed forms. I better do that.
If I want this to work, will I have to pay back any payments? Not a financial problem, but it would be another bureaucratic maze to navigate. I will try to deal with DC from now on. I think I have a better chance (but not 100%) of getting accurate direction there. I think the current rule is that I have a year to 'do it over'. Not looking forward to this.
Cheers from Baku