In 2016, the Association of Americans Resident Overseas estimated that there were 8.7 million U.S. citizens were living abroad, and the Social Security Administration reported that more than half a million people living outside the United States receive some type of Social Security benefit, including Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.
Although disability insurance companies do not typically publish statistics regarding the number of policyholders or applicants living abroad, it is safe to assume that at least a small percentage of U.S. citizens living outside the United States are also be eligible to receive long-term disability insurance benefits.
As with most questions regarding long-term disability insurance benefits, the answer depends on the terms of your insurance policy.
If your policy has a foreign residency restriction, you may not be eligible to collect benefits if you live outside of the United States for a certain period of time (usually six months or more), or your payments may be limited to a certain period of time while you continue to live outside the country.
Foreign residency restrictions are common in group and individual disability insurance policies, so be sure to obtain and carefully review your long-term disability insurance policy. You can obtain a copy of your policy by contacting your employer’s human resources department or the insurance company directly.
