US Social Security Administration Lists 31 Countries Covered by Bilateral Agreements

• The US Social Security Administration published a full list of 31 countries whose citizens benefit from Totalisation Agreements with the US
• The agreements protect workers from paying into two social security systems at once and allow them to combine work credits from both countries
• No African country features on the list, leaving workers from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa outside these bilateral protections

The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) has released a comprehensive list of 31 countries whose citizens are covered under bilateral social security arrangements with America, drawing renewed attention to who qualifies for these cross-border worker protections.

The agreements, officially called Totalisation Agreements, serve two core purposes: they prevent workers from being taxed into two separate social security systems at the same time, and they allow individuals to combine their work credits earned in both countries to qualify for benefits they might not otherwise access on their own.

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Full List of Countries With US Social Security Agreements

The SSA's official international agreements overview reveals that these partnerships span several decades of diplomatic and economic cooperation. The 31 countries currently covered are

Here is the alphabetically ordered list of the countries:

1. Australia
2. Austria
3. Belgium
4. Brazil
5. Canada
6. Chile
7. the Czech Republic
8. Denmark
9. Finland
10. France
11. Germany
12. Greece
13. Hungary
14. Iceland
15. Ireland
16. Italy
17. Japan
18. Luxembourg
19. the Netherlands
20. Norway
21. Poland
22. Portugal
23. Romania
24. the Slovak Republic
25. Slovenia
26. South Korea
27. Spain
28. Sweden
29. Switzerland
30. the United Kingdom
31. Uruguay

Romania is the newest country to join the arrangement, with its agreement coming into force on 1 September 2026, bringing the total number of participating nations to 31.

African countries absent from the list

One detail that stands out in the SSA's published list is the complete absence of African nations.

Countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa do not appear anywhere on the roster, which means workers from these nations who move to the United States, or American workers based in those countries, do not benefit from these bilateral social security protections.

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For Ghanaians and other Africans working in the US, this means they may be required to contribute to social security systems in both countries without the mechanisms that Totalisation Agreements provide to avoid such overlap or combine work histories when claiming benefits.

Source: YEN.com.gh