Applying for pension from abroad

If you have lived or worked abroad, be sure to also apply for the pension you have earned abroad. How you should apply for pension depends on your country of residence.

You must apply for pension earned abroad

Be sure to apply for your pension earned abroad. How you should apply for the pension depends on the country in which you have worked.

Start by checking below into which category your country of employment belongs and read the instructions for each specific situation below.

EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Switzerland and the UK have concluded a separate agreement with the EU countries, which means that the EU regulations are applied there as well.

EEA countries: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Social security agreement countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Province of Quebec and the USA.

Non-agreement countries: All countries other than the EU and EEA countries, the UK, Switzerland and social security agreement countries are so-called non-agreement countries.

I live in Finland and am applying for a pension earned abroad

  1. The way you have to apply depends whether you 

    1. wish to apply for pension from Finland and abroad at the same time
    2. only wish to apply for a foreign pension.

    1. I wish to apply for pension from Finland and abroad at the same time

    Fill in the Finnish pension application. You can do it conveniently in MyPension. By doing it on MyPension, you don't need to attach separate Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad) to the application. This is because the application contains the necessary information about your residence and employment. You must include the following information in your application:

    • the country from which you are applying for a foreign pension
    • the date as of which you are applying for the pension
    • other required information on your residence and employment abroad.
    Log in to MyPension

    If you do not have online banking credentials, fill in the printed application form. You have to attach the Appendix U (Living and working abroad) to the application. Go to the forms.

    2. I only wish to apply for a foreign pension

    Fill in a printed application form. You have to attach the Appendix U (Living and working abroad) to the application. Go to the forms.

    Once we have received your application

    Once we have received your application, we will submit it to the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The Finnish Centre for Pensions will forward your application abroad. Although processing times abroad may be long, it does not slow the processing of your pension matter in Finland. You will receive the pension decision on your pension accrued in Finland as normal.

    The foreign pension institution will issue its own pension decision to you and pay the possible pension you have accrued abroad into your account. The pension will be granted and paid in accordance with the legislation of each country of employment.

    Further instructions on how to apply for pension from abroad (tyoelake.fi)

    Do you have questions about your foreign pension application?

    If you have any questions about the processing of your pension application abroad, please contact the foreign pension institution in question directly.

  2. When applying for pension from a non-agreement country, you must apply for it yourself from the country in which you have worked.

    Your pension will not necessarily be paid to Finland, but this depends on the case.

    Additional information is available from the Finnish Centre for Pensions (etk.fi)

    Further instructions on how to apply for pension from abroad (tyoelake.fi)

I live abroad and am applying for pension accrued in Finland

  1. Apply for the pension through the pension institution of your country of residence. Fill in the pension application of your country of residence and state in the application that you are applying for pension from Finland. The pension institution of your country of residence will submit your application to Finland for processing. Pension is applied for through the pension institution of the country of residence, even though you are not yet applying for pension from your country of residence.

    How does the process work?

    1. Contact the pension institution of the country you live in.
    2. The pension institution of your country of residence will send your application to Kela or to the Finnish Centre for Pensions, depending on your country of residence.
    3. Kela or the Finnish Centre for Pensions will forward your application to us at Ilmarinen.
    4. We will issue a pension decision to you and pay the possible pension you have accrued in Finland into your account.

  2. If you live in a so-called non-agreement country, apply for pension directly from Finland using a Finnish application form. Apply for pension conveniently in MyPension. When you apply in MyPension, you don't need to attach a separate Appendix U to your application.

    Log in to MyPension

    If you don't have Finnish online banking credentials, apply for the pension using a printed application form. In this case, you need to attach the Appendix U to the application. Go to the forms.

How your country of residence influences where you should file your pension application

What is your country of residence when applying for pension? In which countries have you lived and worked? To which country should you file a pension application?
Finland In an EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country To Finland, to your own pension company
Finland In a non-agreement country (other countries) To the pension institution of the country in question
EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country In Finland To the pension institution of the country of residence
EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country In an EU or EEA country, Great Britain in Switzerland or a social security agreement country To the pension institution of the country of residence
A non-agreement country (other countries) In Finland To Finland, to your own pension company

Consider the following things before applying for pension from abroad

  1. If you are already being paid pension from abroad, it does not prevent you from receiving earnings-related pension from Finland, but it can affect the amount of earnings-related pension paid from Finland.

    As a self-employed person, your obligation to insure ends if you are granted statutory old-age pension from abroad. If you wish, you can take out voluntary self-employed person’s pension insurance.

  2. A pension paid from abroad may affect the amount of social benefits paid from Finland. Social benefits include, among other things, unemployment benefits, sickness allowance and social assistance. You can check the impact of a foreign pension on benefits by contacting the payer of the benefit directly. 

Retirement ages abroad

Find out how the retirement age is determined in different countries (etk.fi)