Rights to pensions in more than one country

Periods of pension cover abroad

If pension insurance periods were acquired in another EU country or in a country with which an agreement exists in the area of pension insurance, these periods must generally be taken into account for the entitlement to a pension.

Under Regulation (EC) 883/2004, only the social security systems are coordinated, not harmonised, i.e. national eligibility requirements generally apply. Examples include different waiting periods for pension entitlement and different retirement ages. Regulation (EC) 883/2004 applies to all EEA countries and Switzerland. In relation to the UK, rules with the same content from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement apply.

Social security agreements covering pension insurance exist with the following countries:

Albania
Australia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chile
India
Israel
Japan
Canada (and Quebec)
North Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Philippines
Republic of Korea
Serbia
Tunisia
Turkey
Uruguay
United States of America

Advice

Insurance periods completed in a country where Regulation (EC) 883/2004 does not apply and with which there is no social security agreement are not taken into account.

Pension application

When applying for an old-age pension with insurance periods in several countries, the application must be submitted to the last competent pension insurance institution in the country of residence or the country in which the last insurance periods were acquired. It must be pointed out there that insurance periods were also acquired abroad. However, it is not necessary to apply for a pension separately in each contracting state. The pension insurance institution to which the application was submitted will automatically initiate the inter-state pension determination procedure. If the eligibility requirements are met, each country will pay a separate pension in accordance with the relevant provisions once the person concerned has reached the relevant retirement age.

The pension periods acquired must be added together by all countries in order to determine whether the waiting period required for a pension entitlement in each country has been fulfilled. Please note that processing times for pension claims in several countries can be long.

Benefits must be provided by all countries in which insurance periods have been completed if, after adding up the periods in accordance with the respective national law, there is an entitlement to benefits.

Exception: If a pension period of less than twelve months has been acquired in one of the states, the pension insurance institution is not obliged to take insurance periods from other Member States into account for the fulfilment of the minimum insurance period. However, this does not apply to benefits from the pension account under the APG (General Pensions Act).

Pension calculation

According to EU law and the agreements concluded by Austria, the pension is calculated as follows:

If the pension requirements (with or without combining insurance periods for entitlement) are met, the following principle applies:
The Austrian pension is always calculated solely on the basis of Austrian insurance periods (i.e. Austria does not take foreign insurance periods into account). The pension calculated in this way is paid out by the Austrian pension insurance institution. The foreign pension insurance institution proceeds in the same way. If there is an entitlement in both countries, the person receives a so-called partial pension from each country.

Tip

Information on cross-national pension insurance can be found on the Austrian insurance providers’ portal and in other places.