Old-age pensions

The EU coordination rules shall be based on the following principles:

• Where a migrant person has gradually worked and has been insured in several Member States during his/her life, there shall be no transfer of the aggregated periods of insurance or insurance contributions paid under national pension regulations or such contributions shall not be paid back to the insured person within such States.
• Each Member State in which a person has been insured for more than one year shall be obliged to assess the conditions for the entitlement to an old-age pension, while taking into account also periods of insurance aggregated in other Member States. If a migrant person is entitled to a pension in each State where he/she has been insured for retirement, each State shall pay him/her (regardless of his/her place of residence) a pension equal to the length of the insurance and earnings earned in that State.

These principles guarantee that no one will be disadvantaged because he has worked in several Member States.

General rules

Aggregation of insurance periods: If the period during for which a person has been insured in a Member State is not long enough to be entitled to a pension in that State, all periods of insurance aggregated in other Member States shall be taken into account.

Insurance in a Member State has lasted for less than one year, that State shall not be obliged under the EU coordination regulations to grant a pension for such a short period unless it is sufficient to establish a claim under its national law. In such a case, the period of insurance shall be granted at the pension rate granted to the migrant person by the other Member State in which the right to a pension has been established.

Example:

The insurance in State A lasted 10 months and 35 years in State B. The insurance periods in State A, less than one year, will not be lost even if State A will grant the pension for such a short period of insurance in accordance with its legislation. State B shall also take into account this period of insurance during which the premiums were paid in State A.

Place of residence or stay abroad: Old-age pension will be paid regardless of place of residence or stay in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, without any restrictions, adjustments or suspensions.

If a person has been insured for retirement only in one Member State, the pension shall be calculated in accordance with the legislation of that Member State.

It is irrelevant, whether or not a person is resident in that State at the time of reaching the retirement age.