SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Former Soviet Union 
State Pension Fairness Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the 2009 American Commu-
nity Survey, over 1.1 million immigrants from the 
fifteen states of the former Soviet Union currently 
live in the United States. 
(2) Many such immigrants worked for decades 
for state-run industries in their countries of origin. 
(3) As a result of such years of hard work, such 
immigrants earned government pensions in their 
countries of origin. 
(4) According to the 2009 American Commu-
nity Survey, 37 percent of such immigrants are out 
of the labor force, 18 percent are aged 65 and over, 
and 17 percent live below the poverty line. 
(5) Many such immigrants are elderly, retired, 
and poor, living on fixed incomes. 
(6) Many such immigrants are Jews who fled 
due to religious persecution. 
(7) Many of such immigrants who are Jews 
were forced to give up their citizenship before being 
allowed to leave their country of origin. 
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(8) The United States has negotiated agree-
ments with 24 countries, often called ‘‘totalization 
agreements’’, to coordinate comprehensively public 
pension coverage and benefits across countries. 
(9) The 24 countries with which the United 
States has totalization agreements are Australia, 
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, 
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ire-
land, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the 
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Swe-
den, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. 
(10) The United States does not pay Social Se-
curity benefits to noncitizens residing outside the 
United States for more than six consecutive months 
(‘‘alien nonpayment provision’’) unless certain excep-
tions are met. 
(11) One exception to the alien nonpayment 
provision, under section 202(t) of the Social Security 
Act, is if the alien is a citizen of a country that has 
a social insurance or pension system which meets 
certain criteria, including having a system under 
which benefits are paid to eligible United States citi-
zens who reside outside that country. 
(12) The United States has arrangements with 
71 countries under section 202(t) of the Social Secu-
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rity Act, in which the United States pays a foreign 
country’s citizens who earned Social Security while 
working in the United States but have since moved 
abroad because that foreign country pays United 
States citizens who earned pensions in that foreign 
country but have since moved abroad. 
(13) According to the Social Security Adminis-
tration, these 71 countries are Albania, Antigua and 
Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, 
Belgium, 
Belize, 
Bolivia, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 
Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, 
Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech 
Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, 
Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gabon, Gre-
nada, Guatemala, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Ja-
maica, Jordan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, 
Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Marshall Islands, 
Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, 
Montenegro, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Panama, 
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, St. Kitts and 
Nevis, St. Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slo-
vakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Swit-
zerland, The Netherlands, Trinidad-Tobago, Turkey, 
United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela. 
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(14) Not all persons from the states of the 
former Soviet Union who now live in the United 
States are paid pensions that they worked for and 
earned while working in such states. 
(15) The Secretary of State and the Commis-
sioner of Social Security have worked with the gov-
ernments of the states of the former Soviet Union 
to encourage such states to adopt policies that would 
allow receipt of pensions for all individuals who 
worked in any such state and earned a pension and 
currently reside in the United States. 
(16) In June 2009, the House of Representa-
tives by voice vote adopted House Amendment 185 
to H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization 
Act, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which stated it is 
the ‘‘sense of Congress that the United States 
should continue working with the states of the 
former Soviet Union to come to an agreement 
whereby each state of the former Soviet Union would 
pay the tens of thousands of beneficiaries who have 
immigrated to the United States the pensions for 
which they are eligible and entitled.’’. 
(17) In October 2009, the Constitutional Court 
of Ukraine ruled that its law barring pension pay-
ments to those who lived in Ukraine or lived in 
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countries with which Ukraine had a pension treaty 
was unconstitutional. 
(18) To allow Ukrainians in the United States 
to receive the pensions they earned pursuant to the 
decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, its 
decision has to be implemented through legislation. 
SEC. 3. DIRECTION TO SECRETARY OF STATE AND COMMIS-
SIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY RELATING TO 
PENSION 
POLICIES 
OF 
STATES 
OF 
THE 
FORMER SOVIET UNION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 
Commissioner of Social Security are authorized and di-
rected 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. 
(b) PRIORITY IN U.S. FOREIGN POLICY.—The Sec-
retary of State is authorized and directed to continue to 
make the adoption of policies described in subsection (a) 
by the states of the former Soviet Union a priority in the 
conduct of United States foreign policy with such states. 
SEC. 4. REPORT. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
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