If there is any way you can change her date of disability to when she retired for medical reasons from her job, then she will in effect have enough credits. I don't know how that works though, or even if it's possible to do. I do know I've been denied then my appeal was denied and I'm awaiting the decision on the reconsideration of my appeal, but I retired due to disability with no problem at all from my company. If there is any way you can re-open her original application for benefits and appeal the decision that would be the best. If not, the only way to go IMO would be to set her date of disability somewhere that falls back far enough to encompass the required credits to apply. SSI won't be of any use to you if she's getting a pension since it is needs based, unless that pension is less than what the SSI benefit would be and her assets are less than 2 grand in the bank. I think she's allowed to own a car and home. Since she was effectively out of work due to disability during this entire time, it probably would have been better to keep on the original claim for benefits and seek counsel (hire an attorney specializing in SSDI law), but what's done is done. The same advice still holds water though. A competent attorney will know when you should set the date of disability for and if there is a strong enough case for them to take it on then it usually means that you will probably win at some point. It's wrong of SSDI to deny people who can't work because they are legitimately disabled, especially when there are medical records and cat scans or mri s to back up the claimants testimony. The one upside is that once she is finally approved, there may be some backpay coming to her which will help in the short term to catch up on bills or buy a new car or make the home more handicapped accessible or whatever it is you need. I wish you both all the best and hope everything works out!