U.S. Warden message re SSA Form 7162 ("Proof of Life")

[NewsLady]

Recently, in my role as a U.S. warden for Boquete, I sent the following email to the U.S. Embassy in Panama City:

 

I have been asked whether SSA Form 7162, commonly called the "proof of life" form, can be returned to the embassy rather than directly to the SSA.

 

Secondly, I have been asked (and wonder myself) if a downloaded form from the Internet can be completed in lieu of the bar coded form sent from the SSA?

 

The problem here relates to mail service. Most expats receive their mail through a mail forwarding company, which generally is a post office box address in the States. But the SSA demands a physical address. If the form arrives at a Panamanian post office (the expat's physical address in the absence of home delivery here), many expats will never see it because they do not look for their mail at the local post office. Similarly, they worry about returning this important form via the Panamanian mail system as they view it as unreliable.

 

Following is the response I received. (For those of you with short attention spans, I have highlighted the most important language.) 

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends the Report to the U.S. Social Security Administration form, which serves as their “Proof of Life” with a return envelope for the beneficiaries to return the form.    It is recommended that you make a copy for your records before mailing the form. 

   

In regards to completing a blank form rather than the preprinted form with the barcode that is sent from the SSA, it is not possible at this time since they require that the form they mailed out be returned to them.   The SSA will be mailing a second request in October to those beneficiaries that are required to complete the form and has not responded to the first request.

 

The SSA will let us know when we can start completing the blank forms, which is normally after they have processed the forms returned to them and prepares a report of beneficiaries that did not comply with this requirement.   At this point the beneficiary will be listed for suspension of their benefits which occurs in February/March of each year.

  

The SSA regulations requires that the beneficiaries that are living outside of the United States should have a foreign mailing address on their record.  The SSA should not be provided with a Miami address, since this could cause the SSA to suspend their benefits until the address is updated.    To avoid this from happening it is important that the beneficiaries maintain their mailing address updated on their SS record and also that they verify their post office regularly for any mail that is sent to them.

  

 To update the mailing address, the beneficiary should send us an e-mail requesting an appointment to do this.

 For information on when you are required to complete with the proof of life process, you may visit the following link: https://panama.usembassy.gov/ssai.html

 

 For your reference, below please find a message that was sent out in June on the proof of life process.

 

 

U.S. Embassy Panama

Consular Section

Federal Benefits Unit

As part of the Foreign Enforcement Program, the Social Security Administration (SSA)has started sending out their Report to the U.S. Social Security Administration form, which serves as their “Proof of Life” to the mailing addresses on record with SSA.

  

If you meet any of the conditions below, you are required to comply with this requirement this year:

       Beneficiary with a representative payee or

      Beneficiary aged 90 and over or

      The terminal digits of your SSN ends in 00 – 49

 

 If you have not yet received your form, we recommend that you continue checking at the Post Office.

 

 As soon as you receive the form, please answer the questions applicable to you and sign it.  Before mailing the form to the SSA, please make a copy for your records and mail the form with your original signature to the following address:

 

 Social Security Administration

Wilkes Barre Data Operations Center

1150 E. Mountain Dr.Room 341

Attention: FEQ Analyst, FEQ Forms 7161-7162

Wilkes Barre, PA 18702-7997

 

Please note that at this time you can only submit the original form with the bar code sent by the SSA.  It is not possible for you to request a blank form at the Federal Benefits Unit to comply with this process.

[Bonnie]

A couple of people have e-mailed me to say that their only address registered with SS is the address provided by their mail forwarder in Miami. Note that the above message says: The SSA regulations requires that the beneficiaries that are living outside of the United States should have a foreign mailing address on their record.  The SSA should not be provided with a Miami address, since this could cause the SSA to suspend their benefits until the address is updated. The foreign, physical address for expats living in and around Boquete is:

Entrega General
Boquete, Chiriqui
Republic of Panama
0413

It is up to you to check the local post office from time to time. The embassy website contains this additional information:  If you don’t receive your questionnaire by October of the year that you are required to complete it, please contact us since we could provide you with one to avoid your benefits from being suspended.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Bonnie

[Hil]

The form for change of address is on this page of the Embassy's website. 

I didn't have to make the trip to the Embassy to change the address. I think you can email it PDF to the embassy and they will take care of it for you or DHL. Just call them to make sure.

https://panama.usembassy.gov/ssae.html

 

[Bonnie]

The telephone number for Citizens' Services is 317-5030.