Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits you must have worked and paid taxes into Social Security. (Some people are also eligible for benefits as a dependent or survivor on another person's Social Security record.) There is also a program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits that are available to people who have not worked and who have not paid taxes into Social Security. Both of these programs are explained in greater detail in the "SSI" and "SSDI" sections of this web site.

To be eligible for disability benefits you must have worked and paid taxes, which entitled you to Social Security "credits." In the year 2003, you earn one credit for each $890 in earnings you have--up to a maximum of four credits per year. (The amount of money needed to earn one credit goes up every year.)

Under Social Security Disability Insurance most people need 40 credits (10 years of work) to qualify for benefits. There are certain situations where you do not need this many credits to qualify. One example would be if you are a young person or if you are trying to collect survivors benefits of a family member that has died.

During your working lifetime, you probably will earn more credits than you need to be eligible for Social Security. These extra credits do not increase your eventual Social Security benefits. However, the amount of income you earn may increase your total benefits.

Supplemental Security Income is a program designed to help people that have limited resources and very little or no income. The eligibility requirements for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are as follows:

-You must be aged (age 65 or older) or

-You must be blind or disabled

-You must have limited income and limited resources

-You must be a a U.S. citizen or one of certain categories of aliens

-An alien who is subject to an active warrant for deportation/removal does not meet the citizenship/alien requirement.

-A resident of one of the 50 States, including the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands

-You can not be absent from the country for a full calendar month or more than 30 consecutive days

-You must agree to apply for any other cash benefits for whom you or someone else may be entitled

-You must meet certain other requirements
  
Blindness:
The following are requirements that must be met in order for the Social Security Administration to consider a person blind. The Social Security Administration defines "statutory blindness" as central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of correcting lens. An eye, which has a limitation in the field of vision so that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees, is considered to have a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.

Disabled Child:
The Supplemental Security Income program is also designed to benefit disabled children. The Social Security Administration defines a disabled child as under age 18; and has a physical or mental condition or conditions that can be medically proven and which result(s) in marked and severe functional limitations; and the condition(s) must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 months or end in death. If the individual is age 18 or older, the adult definition of disability is explained in both the SSI and SSDI portions of this web site

FIND OUT IF YOU ARE ELIGBLE:
The Social Security Administration provides a tool that enables a user to determine if her or she is egilble for benefits.  The Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) is a tool that you can use to find out if you could be eligible for benefits from any of the programs Social Security administers. This tool will give you eligibility information based on answers you give to the questions on the following pages; however, BEST is not an application for benefits and:

will not give you an estimate of benefit amounts.
does not know, or ask for, your name or Social Security number.
does not access your personal Social Security records.
 
CLICK HERE To find out if you are eligble for benefits using SSA's "B.E.S.T."tool.