Consular Services

Federal Benefits

The Federal Benefits Unit provides assistance with Social Security and Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, to include the following:

• Filing Social Security claims for retirement, survivors and disability benefits;
• Filing Department of Veterans Affairs claims for compensation, pension, education, survivor and burial benefits;
• Assist beneficiaries of pensions from the Office of Personnel Management, Washington, D.C. and the Railroad Retirement Board;
• Beneficiary status change transactions, i.e., notice of changes of address, non-receipt of payment, etc.;
• Medicare enrollments and cancellations;
• Earnings record inquiries;
• Appointment of representative payees for incapable beneficiaries;
• Assistance in obtaining birth, marriage, divorce and death records and medical evidence when necessary for claims; and
• Social Security Number Applications: For a first-time applicant, one must submit an original birth certificate as well as proof of U.S. citizenship. A parent may apply for a child under eighteen (18) years of age, in which case, the parent's identification must be verified by a passport or Hungarian ID card. An original marriage and/or change of name certificate must be submitted in change of name cases. All first-time applicants eighteen (18) years or older must appear in person at the Embassy. For replacement SSN cards, a U.S. passport is generally sufficient for re-application.

Last updated: 08/12/2005