10 people who may not receive Social Security benefits in 2027

Turning 65 doesn’t automatically mean a Social Security check will start appearing in your bank account. And even people who qualify can run into rules that reduce, suspend or prevent certain payments.

Social Security actually includes several different programs, including retirement, disability, survivor and family benefits, while Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, operates under another set of rules. Eligibility can depend on your work history, age, disability status, marital history, earnings and even where you’re living.

Those distinctions matter even more when you’re planning a retirement budget around money you expect to receive.

For 2027, Social Security benefits are increasing 3.6% through the annual cost-of-living adjustment, bringing the estimated average retired-worker benefit to about $2,170 per month. But qualifying for that money in the first place isn’t as simple as reaching retirement age.

Here are 10 situations that can affect whether you qualify for Social Security, how much you receive or whether your payments continue.

Workers who haven’t earned enough Social Security credits

Paying Social Security taxes for a few years isn’t necessarily enough to qualify for retirement benefits.

Most workers need 40 Social Security credits over their working lives to become eligible for retirement benefits. Because you can earn no more than four credits per year, that generally translates to about 10 years of covered work.

The amount needed to earn each credit changes over time. According to the Social Security Administration’s 2027 figures, workers will earn one credit for every $1,970 in covered earnings in 2027, up from $1,890 in 2026. Earning $7,880 during the year would therefore produce the maximum four credits.

The good news is that those years don’t have to be consecutive. Someone who moves in and out of the workforce can accumulate credits over many years.

But if you reach retirement age without the required 40 credits, you generally won’t qualify for a retirement benefit on your own work record.

Related to Read: Before you claim Social Security, make sure you know these 12 rules

Older immigrants without enough U.S. work history

People who immigrate to the United States later in life can face the same credit problem.

Someone arriving at 60, for example, may simply not have enough time to accumulate 40 credits from U.S. covered employment before reaching a typical retirement age.

But this rule isn’t quite as simple as saying older immigrants can’t collect Social Security.

The United States has Social Security agreements with a number of other countries that can sometimes allow workers to combine periods of coverage from both countries to help qualify for benefits. A person may also potentially qualify for benefits based on a spouse’s record if the applicable requirements are met.

The important point is that age alone doesn’t create Social Security eligibility. Work history—or eligibility through another person’s earnings record—still matters.

Disability applicants earning above the 2027 limit

Social Security Disability Insurance is intended for people whose medical conditions significantly restrict their ability to work, so earnings can play an important role in determining eligibility.

For 2027, Social Security’s substantial gainful activity threshold is $1,770 per month for most non-blind applicants, up from $1,690 in 2026. The 2027 threshold for blind individuals is $2,950 per month.

But earning above the limit should not be described as automatically proving someone is “fully capable of working.”

Social Security has detailed rules governing disability, work attempts and earnings. Different rules can also apply after someone has already qualified for disability benefits, including trial work incentives designed to let beneficiaries test their ability to return to work.

The safest takeaway is straightforward: if you’re applying for disability while working, your earnings can directly affect whether Social Security considers you disabled under its rules.

People living in countries where Social Security cannot send payments

Dreaming about retiring abroad? Your destination matters.

Americans can generally receive Social Security while living in many countries outside the United States, but there are exceptions.

Federal restrictions currently prohibit Social Security from sending payments to beneficiaries residing in Cuba or North Korea. Social Security also has payment restrictions involving several other countries, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, although exceptions may apply in some circumstances.

For U.S. citizens in Cuba or North Korea, withheld benefits can generally be paid after they move to a country where Social Security is permitted to send payments. Rules for non-U.S. citizens can be different.

If retiring overseas is part of your plan, don’t assume your Social Security will simply follow you everywhere.

People incarcerated after a criminal conviction

Social Security retirement and disability payments generally stop when someone is convicted of a crime and confined in jail or prison for more than 30 continuous days.

That distinction matters. Simply being arrested or spending a short period in jail isn’t the same thing.

Benefits paid to an eligible spouse or children based on the incarcerated person’s record may continue even while that person’s own payments are suspended.

Supplemental Security Income follows different rules. SSI payments stop for people incarcerated for a full calendar month, and someone confined for 12 consecutive months or longer generally has to reapply after release.

Social Security benefits can potentially be restarted after release, but beneficiaries may need to provide documentation showing that they’re no longer incarcerated.

People whose benefits are being garnished for certain debts

Social Security enjoys substantial protection from ordinary creditors, but that doesn’t mean every dollar is untouchable.

Benefits can be withheld for certain legally enforceable obligations, including overdue federal taxes, child support, alimony, restitution and some delinquent debts owed to federal agencies.

For example, federal law allows the IRS to levy up to 15% of a Social Security payment for overdue federal tax debt.

That’s very different from saying anyone with debt can have Social Security taken away. Credit-card companies and other ordinary creditors generally don’t have the same power to intercept Social Security directly.

The distinction matters: owing money doesn’t necessarily make you ineligible for Social Security, but certain government and court-ordered debts can reduce the amount that reaches you.

Related to Read: Could these retirement money mistakes put your savings at risk?

Disability applicants who don’t follow prescribed treatment without good reason

Social Security disability rules can require applicants to follow treatment prescribed by a medical provider when that treatment is expected to restore their ability to work.

But this rule has an important qualification that often gets left out: Social Security recognizes legitimate reasons someone may not follow treatment.

Those can include an inability to afford treatment when affordable or free resources aren’t available, certain religious objections, unusually risky treatment, previous unsuccessful surgery and other circumstances.

So missing a doctor’s appointment or declining a particular medication does not automatically trigger an “immediate denial.”

The issue is whether someone fails without good cause to follow prescribed treatment that Social Security determines could restore the ability to work.

That’s a much narrower rule than simply requiring disability applicants to obey every medical recommendation they receive.

People whose disability isn’t expected to last long enough

Social Security disability isn’t designed to replace income during an ordinary short-term illness or injury.

To qualify under Social Security’s disability definition, a medical condition generally must prevent substantial work and have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 months—or be expected to result in death.

That means a serious broken leg, surgery or illness that keeps someone out of work for six months can create enormous financial hardship without necessarily qualifying that person for Social Security disability benefits.

Social Security does not provide a federal short-term or partial disability benefit.

This is one reason emergency savings, employer disability coverage and state programs can become so important. A condition can be genuinely disabling for months and still fail Social Security’s duration requirement.

Some government workers still may not qualify on their own work record—but an old penalty is gone

This section has changed dramatically in recent years.

Some state and local government employees, along with certain older federal employees, worked in jobs that did not participate in Social Security. If Social Security taxes weren’t withheld from those earnings, those particular years of work don’t generate Social Security credits.

However, a major change took effect with the Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January 2025.

The law eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, commonly called WEP and GPO. Those rules had previously reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for millions of people receiving pensions from jobs that weren’t covered by Social Security.

Beginning with benefits payable for January 2024 and later, receiving a pension from non-covered government employment no longer triggers those WEP or GPO reductions.

That doesn’t magically create Social Security credits for work on which you never paid Social Security taxes. But teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees should not rely on older retirement advice claiming their pension will automatically reduce Social Security benefits they otherwise earned.

Divorced people who remarry can lose certain benefits based on an ex

This rule is frequently oversimplified because divorced-spouse benefits and survivor benefits aren’t the same thing.

If your former spouse is alive and you’re receiving divorced-spouse benefits on that person’s earnings record, remarriage generally ends those benefits.

Survivor benefits have a different rule.

A surviving divorced spouse may potentially qualify for survivor benefits if the marriage to the deceased former spouse lasted at least 10 years and other eligibility requirements are met. Generally, remarrying before age 60 can prevent eligibility for survivor benefits on the deceased former spouse’s record.

But remarriage after age 60 generally does not prevent someone from qualifying for survivor benefits based on the prior deceased spouse.

There are additional exceptions, including different rules for certain people with disabilities.

For someone considering remarriage later in life, this is one Social Security rule worth checking before the wedding—not after it.

Related to Read: 12 insights into how many people actually save $1 million for retirement

The bottom line

Social Security isn’t one universal benefit that automatically arrives when everyone reaches the same age.

Retirement benefits depend heavily on your covered work history. Disability benefits have their own medical, earnings and duration requirements. Survivor and divorced-spouse benefits depend on marriage history and age. Incarceration and living in certain countries can suspend payments, while certain debts can reduce the check that ultimately reaches you.

There is some good news for 2027. Social Security’s 3.6% COLA will raise the estimated average retired-worker benefit from $2,095 to about $2,170 per month beginning in January.

But the most important number is still your own.

Before building a retirement budget around Social Security, check your earnings history, confirm that Social Security has correctly recorded your work, understand which type of benefit you’re actually eligible to claim and get an estimate of what that benefit will be.

The worst time to discover that a Social Security rule applies to you is after you’ve already planned your retirement around money you aren’t going to receive.