*Poof* goes the safety net--help!!

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Wish I knew what to offer other than emotional support. Been in a roughly similar situation before and it can be very overwhelming. Some good suggestions thus far, tho.
I sincerely hope things look up for you soon.

Callista,

I didn't mean anything bad by it. I dislike the jerks ALSO, male and female, but I really wouldn't like to be in a world without women. Still, women ARE treated as a minority in the US. They tend to be te majority, and have most o the money, but they really are given a lot of benefits white men won't be.

Steve

BTW Callista,

If either of your parents is an american, or you were born here, you ARE an american! ALSO, naturalization should be simple in any event.

Steve

Here is a link to the agreement. You may have to copy and paste it in your browser:

[link]http://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/germany.html[/link]

Based on what I read, the only possible thing that is keeping you from getting disability benefits is work credits. I do not know your work history but from what I read, you need from 6 to 40 credits to collect. You earn a credit for a certain amount of earnings ($920/credit in 2005) and are awarded a maximum of 4 credits per year.

Callista, I wish you luck, you've gotten some very good suggestions thus far. I've been helping my Chiro, who was born in Canada, with her immigration problem. She's employed full time, has a degree, and is engaged to an American. AND she has problems getting through the red tape to be a US citizen!! My heart goes out to you, the attitudes in this country are unfathomable. We employ illegal immigrants by the thousands (at least here in the Southwest), but when someone is hard working, and capable, we still make it so difficult to become a citizen that they have to hire legal counsel to get the paperwork done ! !!

I hope you're doing well...

If, as lbouchard indicates, you are eligible for benefits through the US SSA system, even if you've not worked enough to receive SSDI, you may still be able to receive SSI. I know also that as long as you are here legally and have been here more than 5 years, you are entitled to benefits from DHS (food stamps, medicaid, etc.) based on your need.

And yes, non-matriculated basically means you take one or two classes at a time, which should help with your stress/anxiety levels, most schools do have a limit however on the number of credits you can obtain this way.

Based on your earlier reply callastia, if you have indeed been working 4 - 5 years, then you should have about 16 - 20 credits (and possible 24) as long as you made at least 3700 each of those years (which would be the equivalent of 4 months work at $5.15/hr at 40 hours/week). You may not be eligible for full benefits but I bet you probably are eligible for partial benefits.