Retire Online: It's So Easy!

You can file online for retirement benefits if you:

• are at least 61 years and 9 months old;
• live in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa;
• are not currently receiving benefits on your own Social Security record; and
• have not already applied for retirement benefits.

Just click on "Retire Online."

You'll go through a series of screens that will ask you questions about yourself, your family and your work.

If you get stuck on a question, you can skip it and go back later. When you get to the end of the application, we'll let you know if there are any questions you still need to answer.

Once you've answered all of the questions, just click on "Sign Now" to send your application to Social Security.

Note: You may also have to mail or bring in some documents that we need to process your application.
 

Our online application has number of features:

• Our "Retirement Estimator" gives you a personal estimate of how much your retirement benefit will be at different ages and different "stop work" dates.

• You avoid trips to your Social Security office. That saves you time and money.

• You don't have to complete the application all in one sitting. If you need a break or you need to look something up, you can stop answering questions and come back later.

  You will be able to continue the application again without losing any of the information you entered.

• If you need more information about how to answer a question, just click on one of the [More Info] links you'll see as you go through the application.

• Before you finish your application, we'll give you a chance to go back and correct any information you've entered.

• You don't have to mail your application. Once you've answered all of the questions, just click on "Sign Now" to send your application to Social Security.

You'll get a receipt for your online application that you can print and keep for your records. We'll also give you a confirmation number. You can use your confirmation number to check the status of your application after you've applied.
 

For security reasons, there are time limits for viewing each page.

You will receive a warning after 25 minutes without doing anything, and you will be able to extend your time on the page. After the third warning, you must move to another page or your time will run out and your work on that page will be lost.

Note: If you turned JavaScript off in your browser, you will not receive these warnings. After you spend 30 minutes on a page, you must move to another page or you will be logged out.
 

Once we receive your application, we'll review it. After the review, we will contact you if we need more information or if we need to see your documents.

We'll also let you know if

• we think you may be able to receive benefits on another person's record, such as your spouse.
• other family members may be able to receive benefits on your work record.

When we have all of the necessary information and documents, we'll process your application and send you a letter about our decision in the mail.