Last updated: Feb 15th, 2023
Having worked in Germany you might ask yourself if getting a pension refund is related to your nationality. It actually is in a way – though not as a no-go criteria, as many people misunderstand – depending on the mutual social security agreements your country has with Germany. What makes your nationality important in this equation is the combination of your nationality and where you reside at the moment you apply for a refund.
Germany has bilateral social security agreements with EU-member states, members of the EEA (European Economic Area), Switzerland, the UK and 23 non-European countries as follows:
European Union Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
European Economic Area:
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
Switzerland
Non-European Contracting States:
Albania, Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada/Quebec, Chile, China (only posting employees), India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Philippines, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom (after Brexit), Uruguay, United States of America and soon: Ukraine
If you currently reside in one of the above mentioned countries you are covered by social security agreements. Find out if you are eligible or how you can become eligible for a refund in this article.
LEGAL DEFINITION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR A REFUND
The German Social Security Law defines who is eligible for a refund, and who is not. There are two main criteria and – you will be surprised – both of them have nothing to do with either your nationality or the amount of time (more or less than 5 years) you worked in Germany and paid contributions into the German statutory pension scheme.
First criteria: You cannot get a refund, if you are obliged to pay contributions into the Germany pension scheme.
This is the case, as long as you live and work inside Germany. Contributions are mandatory and will be paid automatically by your employer, after they were taken out of your paycheck.
Second criteria: You cannot get a refund, if you are given the option to pay voluntary contributions into the German statutory pension scheme.
This is the case, as long as you reside in one of the above mentioned countries. The German Pension Office allows you to keep paying contributions adding to your pension savings, even though you are not obliged to do so (because you live and work in a different country.) For some people that is helpful, e.g. if they consider moving back to Germany after a short period abroad, and plan to retire there. They might want to keep their pension amount growing and avoid payment gaps that will reduce the total of the monthly installments that will be paid to you reaching the German age of retirement (67).
These two criteria define who is not able to apply for a refund.
Everybody (nationality and contribution time are irrelevant) who is NOT OBLIGED TO PAY CONTRIBUTIONS and NOT ALLOWED TO PAY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS is eligible for a refund.
The reason is quite simple. Pension installments are supposed to guarantee your lifestyle when you are old and serve as a common sense reward for a lifetime spent working. If you have qualified for receiving German pension installments in the future but paying into the system for 5+ years only, your retirement payments will be extremely small. So, you are given the opportunity to grow them voluntarily to an amount that allows you to live on. But once you reside in a country that is not part of the bilateral system, you cannot get any benefits from the German Pension Office and more importantly, you are no longer given the right, to pay into your pension account voluntarily. So it is just fair to pay this money back to you, in order to grow a reasonable pension somewhere else in the world.
”You CAN get a refund, if you are no longer obliged to pay contributions, and you are not allowed to pay voluntary contributions to the German pension scheme”
Now we will check step by step if you are eligible for a refund based on the legal requirements and if you are not – we will show you under what circumstances you will become eligible:
EUROPEANS
1) If you are a national of a European member state, your German pension contributions can later on be merged with the contributions you pay in the country you currently reside. (Note: this requires your action!).
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system at the time being, but you are given the option to pay voluntary contributions worldwide: you are not eligible for a refund.
2) Your German Pension contributions will ”wait” for you in Germany. You will get pension installments when you reach the German retirement age (67), if you have contributed to the German Pension scheme for at least 60 months / 5 years, which qualifies for future pension installments. If you have worked for less than 5 years, you can apply to get your contributions paid back to you (without interest) at the age of retirement.
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system anymore, but
you are given the right of voluntary contributions: not eligible for a refund.
”Europeans CANNOT get a German pension refund before reaching the German retirement age.”
CONTRACT-STATE NATIONALS (NON-EUROPEAN)
1) If you are a national of a Non-European contract state, and you reside in an EU country, your German pension contributions can be merged with the contributions of that European state if you apply for that.
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system anymore, but
you are given the right of voluntary contributions: not eligible for a refund.
2) If you return to your home country or reside in a non-EU country, and the social security agreement between your home country and Germany does not allow you to pay voluntary contributions where you currently reside, you can get a refund of your contributions after the 24 months mandatory waiting period.
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system anymore, and
not allowed to pay voluntary contributions: eligible for a refund.
NON-CONTRACTING STATE NATIONALS
1) If you are a national of a non-contracting state, and you reside in a European country, your German pension contributions can be merged with the contributions of that European state if you apply for that.
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system anymore, but
you are given the option of voluntary contributions: not eligible for a refund.
2) If you return to your home country or reside anywhere outside the EU, you qualify for a refund of your German pension contributions after waiting for the mandatory 24 months period before you can apply for a refund.
Legal check:
You are not obliged to pay contributions into the German system anymore, AND
as a non-contracting state national you are NOT given the option of voluntary contributions in both contracting and non-contracting states: YOU QUALIFY FOR A REFUND!
”Nationals of non-contract states are eligible for a refund of their German pension contributions 24 months after leaving if they currently reside outside the EU. (Contribution period is irrelevant).”
In any case – eligibility always requires that the mandatory 24 months waiting period has passed before applying for a refund, unless you have already reached the German age of retirement (65-67, depending on your date of birth).
Having read this, you know more than 99 % out there..
Feel free to contact us if you have questions regarding your eligibility for a refund.
If you are looking for help to get a refund of your German pension contributions – we are happy to help you. We have more than 14 years experience in the field helping expats get a complete refund.
We take care of the entire end-to-end communication in German language with the Deutsche Rentenversicherung – meanwhile you lean back and relax until the complete refund is on your bank account.
We offer free consultation and evaluation of your case.
We DO NOT charge any minimum or up-front fees.
You only pay our commission if and after you successfully got your refund.
Last note: What we refer to, when we say ”complete refund”, is the amount of money that was taken out of your paycheck automatically when you were obliged to pay contributions while being employed in Germany. Your Employer paid the same amount of contributions for you as you did, but this money cannot be refunded (often referred to as "employer contribution". If at some point you were no longer obliged, but you voluntarily paid into the system, you will only get back 50% of those contributions. With "complete" we refer to the full amount you can legally get back.
There are instances when the German pension office record of your contributions is incomplete. There might be a couple of months missing somewhere in the beginning, middle, or end. While you lived in Germany, they sent you a letter with your record once a year and likely asked you to contact them if you found any mistakes. If you did not reply, they kept the records as is in their system. We have had numerous clients find discrepancies once the refund statement was sent to them. But we will make sure that you get everything back, even if not listed.
You want free advice?
Feel free to ask us about your personal situation.