20 C.F.R. Subpart D—Evidence Requirements
Title 20 - Employees' Benefits
Authority: Secs. 702(a)(5), 806, and 810 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5), 1006, and 1010); sec. 251, Pub. L. 106–169, 113 Stat. 1844.
We cannot determine your entitlement to SVB based solely on your statements about your qualification for benefits or other facts concerning payments to you. We will ask you for specific evidence or additional information. We may verify the evidence you give us with other sources to ensure that it is correct. This subpart contains our rules about the evidence you need to give us when you claim SVB. When you apply for SVB, we will ask you for any evidence we need to make sure that you meet the SVB qualification and entitlement requirements. After you begin receiving SVB, we may ask you for evidence showing whether your SVB payments should be reduced or stopped. We will help you get any documents you need but do not have. If your evidence is a foreign-language record or document, we can have it translated for you. The evidence you give us will be kept confidential and not disclosed to anyone but you except under the rules set out in part 401 of this chapter. You should also be aware that section 811 of the Act provides criminal penalties for misrepresenting the facts or for making false statements to obtain SVB payments for yourself or someone else, or to continue entitlement to benefits. You should give your evidence to the people at a Social Security Administration office. In the Philippines, you should give your evidence to the people at the Veterans Affairs Regional Office. Elsewhere outside the United States, you should give your evidence to the people at the nearest U.S. Social Security office or a United States Foreign Service Office. (a) You have not yet qualified for SVB. Generally, we will ask you to give us specific evidence or information by a certain date to prove that you qualify for SVB or to prove your foreign residence. If we do not receive the evidence or information by that date, we may decide that you do not qualify for SVB or may not receive SVB and deny your claim. (b) You have qualified for or become entitled to SVB. If you have already qualified for or become entitled to SVB, we may ask you to give us information by a specific date to decide whether you should receive benefits or, if you are already receiving benefits, whether your benefits should be stopped or reduced. If you do not give us the requested evidence or information by the date given, we may decide that you are no longer entitled to benefits or that your benefits should be stopped or reduced. (c) If you need more time. You should let us know if you are unable to give us the evidence or information within the specified time and explain why there will be a delay. If this delay is due to illness, failure to receive timely evidence you have asked for from another source, or a similar circumstance, we will give you additional time to give us the evidence. (a) General rule. To prove your qualification for or continuing entitlement to SVB, you may be asked to show us an original document or record. These original documents or records will be returned to you after we have photocopied them. We will also accept copies of original records that are properly certified and some uncertified birth certifications. These types of records are described in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. (b) Certified copies of original records. You may give us copies of original records or extracts from records if they are certified as true and exact copies by: (1) The official custodian of the record; (2) A Social Security Administration employee authorized to certify copies; (3) A Veterans Affairs employee if the evidence was given to that agency to obtain veteran's benefits; (4) An employee of the Veterans Affairs Regional Office, Manila, Philippines who is authorized to certify copies; or (5) A U.S. Consular Officer or employee of the Department of State authorized to certify evidence received outside the United States. (c) Uncertified copies of original birth records. You may give us an uncertified photocopy of a birth registration notification as evidence of age where it is the practice of the local birth registrar to issue them in this way. When you give us evidence, we examine it to see if it is convincing evidence. This means that unless we have information in our records that raises a doubt about the evidence, other evidence of the same fact will not be needed. If the evidence you give us is not convincing by itself, we may ask you for additional evidence. In evaluating whether the evidence you give us is convincing, we consider such things as whether: (a) The information contained in the evidence was given by a person in a position to know the facts; (b) There was any reason to give false information when the evidence was created; (c) The information in the evidence was given under oath, or with witnesses present, or with the knowledge that there was a penalty for giving false information; (d) The evidence was created at the time the event took place or shortly thereafter; (e) The evidence has been altered or has any erasures on it; and (f) The information contained in the evidence agrees with other available evidence including our records.
Title 20: Employees' Benefits
PART 408—SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN WORLD WAR II VETERANS
Subpart D—Evidence Requirements
General Information
§ 408.401 What is this subpart about?
§ 408.402 When do you need to give us evidence?
§ 408.403 Where should you give us your evidence?
§ 408.404 What happens if you fail to give us the evidence we ask for?
§ 408.405 When do we require original records or copies as evidence?
§ 408.406 How do we evaluate the evidence you give us?
Age
§ 408.410 When do you need to give us evidence of your age?
To qualify for SVB you must establish that you were age 65 or older on December 14, 1999, the date on which Public Law 106–169 was enacted into law. If we have already established your age or date of birth in connection with your claim for other benefit programs that we administer, you will not have to give us evidence of your age for your SVB claim. If we have not established your age or date of birth, you must give us evidence of your age or date of birth. In the absence of information to the contrary, we generally will not ask for additional evidence of your age or date of birth if you state that you are at least age 68, and you submit documentary evidence that is at least 3 years old when the application is filed and supports your statement.
§ 408.412 What kinds of evidence of age do you need to give us?
For a description of the kinds of evidence of age you may need to give us, see §416.802 of this chapter.
§ 408.413 How do we evaluate the evidence of age you give us?
In evaluating the evidence of age you give us, we use the rules in §416.803 of this chapter.
Military Service
§ 408.420 What evidence of World War II military service do you need to give us?
(a) Kinds of evidence you can give us. To show that you are a World War II veteran as defined in §408.216, you can give us any of the documents listed in §404.1370(b)(1) through (5) of this chapter that were issued by a U.S. Government agency. However, depending on the type of document you give us and what the document shows, we may verify your military service, or the dates of your service, with the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. If we do, we will use the information in NPRC's records to determine whether you meet the military service requirements for SVB.
(b) What the evidence must show. When you file an application for SVB, you must give us evidence of your World War II military service. The evidence you give us must show:
(1) Your name;
(2) The branch of service in which you served;
(3) The dates of your military service;
(4) Your military service serial number;
(5) The character of your discharge; and
(6) If your service was in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (including the organized guerrilla forces), the period of your service that was under the control of U.S. Armed Forces.
SSI Eligibility
§ 408.425 How do we establish your eligibility for SSI?
To qualify for SVB, you must have been eligible for SSI for the month of December 1999, the month in which Public Law 106–169 was enacted, and for the month in which you filed your application for SVB. You do not have to submit evidence of this. We will use our SSI record of your eligibility to determine if you meet these requirements.
Other Benefit Income
§ 408.430 When do you need to give us evidence of your other benefit income?
If you tell us or if we have information indicating that you are receiving other benefit income that could affect your qualification for or the amount of your SVB payments, we will ask you to give us evidence of that income as explained in §408.432.
§ 408.432 What kind of evidence of your other benefit income do you need to give us?
As evidence of your other benefit income, we may require a document such as an award notice or other letter from the paying agency or written notification from the former employer, insurance company, etc. The evidence should show the benefit payable, the current amount of the payment, and the date the payment began.
Residence
§ 408.435 How do you prove that you are residing outside the United States?
(a) General rule. To establish that you are residing outside the United States for SVB purposes, you must give us all of the following:
(1) Evidence of the date on which you arrived in the country in which you are residing;
(2) A statement signed by you showing the address at which you are living and that you intend to continue living there; and
(3) Evidence that you are actually living at the address given in your signed statement.
(b) Evidence of the date you entered the foreign country. To establish the date you arrived in the country in which you are residing, you can give us evidence such as:
(1) A visa or passport showing the date you entered that country;
(2) Your plane ticket showing the date you arrived in that country; or
(3) An entry permit showing the date you entered that country.
(c) Evidence of your actual place of residence. To establish your actual place of residence, you can give us evidence such as:
(1) A lease agreement showing where you live;
(2) Rental or mortgage receipts;
(3) Utility or other bills addressed to you at the address where you live;
(4) A signed statement from a local official showing that he or she knows where you live, when you began living there and how he or she knows this information; or
(5) A Standard Form 1199A, Direct Deposit Sign-Up Form, showing your address abroad and signed by an official of the financial institution after the date you arrived in the country in which you will be residing.
§ 408.437 How do you prove that you had good cause for staying in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month?
(a) General rule. If you believe that you meet the requirements in §408.234 and that you should continue to receive SVB payments even though you have been in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month, you must give us evidence that you had good cause for staying in the United States.
(b) Circumstances prevent you from returning to your home abroad. To prove that you had good cause for staying in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month, you must give us evidence of your good faith effort to return to your home abroad before the 1-month period had elapsed and of the circumstances/event which prevented your return to your home abroad.
(1) Evidence of your good faith effort to return to your home abroad. Evidence of your plans to return to your home abroad can include, but is not limited to:
(i) A plane ticket showing that you intended to return to your home abroad before the expiration of 1 full calendar month; or
(ii) Notice from a travel agency or airline confirming the cancellation of your reservation to return to your home abroad on a date within 1 full calendar month.
(2) Evidence of the circumstances preventing your return to your home abroad. The evidence we will accept from you to support the circumstance or event that prevented you from returning to your home abroad will depend on the reason you are staying in the United States. It can include, but is not limited to, a:
(i) Newspaper article or other publication describing the event or natural disaster which prevented your return; or
(ii) Doctor's statement, etc. showing that you are unable to travel; or
(iii) Death certificate or notice if you are staying in the United States to attend the funeral of a member of your family.
(c) You are appealing a decision we made. To establish that you had good cause to stay in the United States for more than 1 full calendar month because you want to appear in person at the appeal of a decision on a claim filed under a program administered by the Social Security Administration, you must submit evidence of this. The evidence must identify the appeal proceeding and the dates you are scheduled to attend.
(d) When we may ask for more evidence. If you stay in the United States for several months, we may ask you to give us more evidence to prove that you are still unable to return to your home abroad.
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