I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2494 

To authorize and direct the Secretary of State and the Commissioner of 

Social Security to continue to work with the governments of the states 

of the former Soviet Union to encourage such states to adopt policies 

that would allow receipt of pensions for individuals who worked in any 

such state and earned a pension and currently reside in the United 

States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 11, 2011 

Mr. NADLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize and direct the Secretary of State and the Commissioner of Social Security to continue to work with 

the governments of the states of the former Soviet Union 

to encourage such states to adopt policies that would 

allow receipt of pensions for individuals who worked in 

any such state and earned a pension and currently reside 

in the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Former Soviet Union 

3 State Pension Fairness Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) According to the 2009 American Commu7 nity Survey, over 1.1 million immigrants from the 

8 fifteen states of the former Soviet Union currently 

9 live in the United States. 

10 (2) Many such immigrants worked for decades 

11 for state-run industries in their countries of origin. 

12 (3) As a result of such years of hard work, such 

13 immigrants earned government pensions in their 

14 countries of origin. 

15 (4) According to the 2009 American Commu16 nity Survey, 37 percent of such immigrants are out 

17 of the labor force, 18 percent are aged 65 and over, 

18 and 17 percent live below the poverty line. 

19 (5) Many such immigrants are elderly, retired, 

20 and poor, living on fixed incomes. 

21 (6) Many such immigrants are Jews who fled 

22 due to religious persecution. 

23 (7) Many of such immigrants who are Jews 

24 were forced to give up their citizenship before being 

25 allowed to leave their country of origin. 


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1 (8) The United States has negotiated agree2 ments with 24 countries, often called ‘‘totalization 

3 agreements’’, to coordinate comprehensively public 

4 pension coverage and benefits across countries. 

5 (9) The 24 countries with which the United 

6 States has totalization agreements are Australia, 

7 Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, 

8 Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ire9 land, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the 

10 Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Swe11 den, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. 

12 (10) The United States does not pay Social Se13 curity benefits to noncitizens residing outside the 

14 United States for more than six consecutive months 

15 (‘‘alien nonpayment provision’’) unless certain excep16 tions are met. 

17 (11) One exception to the alien nonpayment 

18 provision, under section 202(t) of the Social Security 

19 Act, is if the alien is a citizen of a country that has 

20 a social insurance or pension system which meets 

21 certain criteria, including having a system under 

22 which benefits are paid to eligible United States citi23 zens who reside outside that country. 

24 (12) The United States has arrangements with 

25 71 countries under section 202(t) of the Social SecuVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:47 Jul 12, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2494.IH H2494

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1 rity Act, in which the United States pays a foreign 

2 country’s citizens who earned Social Security while 

3 working in the United States but have since moved 

4 abroad because that foreign country pays United 

5 States citizens who earned pensions in that foreign 

6 country but have since moved abroad. 

7 (13) According to the Social Security Adminis8 tration, these 71 countries are Albania, Antigua and 

9 Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, 

10 Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 

11 Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, 

12 Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech 

13 Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, 

14 Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gabon, Gre15 nada, Guatemala, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Ja16 maica, Jordan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, 

17 Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Marshall Islands, 

18 Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, 

19 Montenegro, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Panama, 

20 Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, St. Kitts and 

21 Nevis, St. Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slo22 vakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Swit23 zerland, The Netherlands, Trinidad-Tobago, Turkey, 

24 United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela. 


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1 (14) Not all persons from the states of the 

2 former Soviet Union who now live in the United 

3 States are paid pensions that they worked for and 

4 earned while working in such states. 

5 (15) The Secretary of State and the Commis6 sioner of Social Security have worked with the gov7 ernments of the states of the former Soviet Union 

8 to encourage such states to adopt policies that would 

9 allow receipt of pensions for all individuals who 

10 worked in any such state and earned a pension and 

11 currently reside in the United States. 

12 (16) In June 2009, the House of Representa13 tives by voice vote adopted House Amendment 185 

14 to H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization 

15 Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which stated it is 

16 the ‘‘sense of Congress that the United States 

17 should continue working with the states of the 

18 former Soviet Union to come to an agreement 

19 whereby each state of the former Soviet Union would 

20 pay the tens of thousands of beneficiaries who have 

21 immigrated to the United States the pensions for 

22 which they are eligible and entitled.’’. 

23 (17) In October 2009, the Constitutional Court 

24 of Ukraine ruled that its law barring pension pay25 ments to those who lived in Ukraine or lived in 


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1 countries with which Ukraine had a pension treaty 

2 was unconstitutional. 

3 (18) To allow Ukrainians in the United States 

4 to receive the pensions they earned pursuant to the 

5 decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, its 

6 decision has to be implemented through legislation. 

7 SEC. 3. DIRECTION TO SECRETARY OF STATE AND COMMIS8 SIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY RELATING TO 

9 PENSION POLICIES OF STATES OF THE 

10 FORMER SOVIET UNION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 

12 Commissioner of Social Security are authorized and di13 rected to continue to work with the governments of the 

14 states of the former Soviet Union to encourage such states 

15 to adopt policies that would allow receipt of pensions for 

16 individuals who worked in any such state and earned a 

17 pension and currently reside in the United States. 

18 (b) PRIORITY IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY.—The Sec19 retary of State is authorized and directed to continue to 

20 make the adoption of policies described in subsection (a) 

21 by the states of the former Soviet Union a priority in the 

22 conduct of United States foreign policy with such states. 

23 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

24 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

25 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 


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1 and the Commissioner of Social Security shall jointly sub2 mit to Congress a report on the implementation of this 

3 Act for the preceding year. Such report shall include a 

4 detailed description of the progress that has been made 

5 to encourage the states of the former Soviet Union to 

6 adopt policies described in section 3(a). 

7 SEC. 5. STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION DEFINED. 

8 In this Act, the term ‘‘states of the former Soviet 

9 Union’’ means Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, 

10 Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, 

11 Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uz12 bekistan. 

Æ 


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