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A reader from Michigan asks if dual citizenship will affect Social Security benefits.
"Can I continue to receive my Social Security retirement benefit if I have dual citizenship with Mexico?"
Yes, absolutely. You don't have to be a U.S. citizen to collect your retirement benefit as long as you meet specific criteria. It is allowable to be both a U.S. and Mexico citizen, which is the 'dual citizenship' you're talking about. You're still a U.S. citizen. I don't know if you started as a Mexican citizen and added U.S. citizenship or, as a U.S. citizen, you added Mexico. Either way, you're allowed to do that and still collect.
Payment of Social Security benefits is more a function of where you are and how you earned the benefit. I won't go into all the rules on international claiming and claiming by non-citizens. However, the initial requirement is that you have worked within the Social Security system: you were legally here and worked in a job where you qualified for Social Security retirement benefits. In that case, like anybody else, you have earned those benefits. There would be no limitations to collecting them if you were here.
Even if you move out of the United States, as a citizen or non-citizen, you can continue to collect your benefits as long as you are in a country with a treaty between the two countries that allows it – between the U.S. and whatever country you're in. That includes a pretty long list of countries, although not every country.
There can be time constraints on your eligibility in some countries. You might have specific limits on how long you can be outside of the United States before you must come back for a visit to continue your Social Security benefits. Also, although payments are sent nearly everywhere worldwide, absolute payment restrictions exist in some countries whether you are a U.S. citizen or not.
Here is a more extreme example: the U.S. Treasury Department prohibits making payments to people living in Cuba or North Korea. However, citizenship matters to the impact on you. If you're a U.S. citizen living in one of those countries, all the Social Security payments withheld while living there will be paid to you once you move to a country where they can be received. However, as a non-citizen of the U.S., despite your eligibility, you can't receive payments for the months you lived in Cuba or North Korea, even if you move to another country afterward and satisfy all other restrictions.
There is a list of seven countries, such as Belarus, where Social Security payments can't be sent, whether you're a U.S. citizen or not. However, exceptions can be made for certain eligible people in those countries. (You would have to contact Social Security to see if you qualify.) Again, if you have to forego payment of earned benefits while you are in one of those countries, when you move out, they might say, "Oh, here's all this money we've been holding for you," and pay it to you.
All these rules are quite complex when we get down to the specifics because of different agreements and treaties between countries. You can check by going to the Social Security Administration website and looking under "International Programs" or "SSA Payments Outside US." You'll start to get a sense of all the different rules that might apply to you. You can also get more information about specific countries using the Social Security "Payments Abroad Screening Tool."
Back to your more straightforward question about dual citizenship, it's very clear in your case. Being a dual citizen has no effect if you've earned a retirement benefit, and they'll send it to you while you're down in Mexico if you choose to live there. Or they'll send it to you when you're here.
It makes sense that there is no problem with Mexico and the U.S. Many retirees from the United States live in Mexico, and they all happily receive their Social Security payments down there because Mexico is not one of the countries on that list of "We won't send the payments there."
You should be fine.