Q: I am a 63 and ready to retire. I am from Romania where I worked for 15 years and paid for the corresponding Romanian Social Security, so I got a small pension (about $250) from there. I moved to the U.S. in 1985 and became a U.S. citizen. I’ve worked here for 25 years and pay for U.S. Social Security. I never worked again in Romania after I came to the U.S. I applied for Social Security in the U.S. and it seems that my U.S. Social Security benefits will be reduced because I get a pension from Romania. Some of the Social Security employees are saying that the Windfall Elimination Provision applies to me, some are saying that it does not. My question is: Does the Windfall Elimination Provision apply to me?
A: Yes, it does.
