Applying for pension from abroad

If you have lived or worked abroad, be sure to also apply for the pension you have accrued abroad. Find out what to do on this page.

Applying for pension from an EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country, when you live in Finland

If you are applying for pension from an EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country and you live in Finland, all you need to do is fill in a Finnish pension application. State in your application the country from which and the date as of which you are applying for a foreign pension, and provide the necessary information on your residence and employment abroad.

The most convenient way to apply for pension is in our MyPension service. The service is currently available in Finnish and Swedish. When you apply for pension via our MyPension service, you do not need to attach to the application a separate Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad), because our online application contains the necessary questions about your residence and employment.

You can also apply for pension with a paper form. If you fill in a paper form, attach an Appendix U to the application. You can find the forms here.

Once we have received your application, we will submit it to the Finnish Centre for Pensions on your behalf. The Finnish Centre for Pensions will confirm the information on your application and forward it to the foreign country. 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. Pension is accrued and the pension is granted according to the own legislation of each country of employment.

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

You can ask for the contact information of foreign pension institutions from the Finnish Centre for Pensions (etk.fi)

Applying for a pension in brief

  1. Fill in a pension application in the MyPension service or in a form.
  2. We will send the application to the Finnish Centre for Pensions on your behalf.
  3. The Finnish Centre for Pensions will confirm the information on your application and forward it to the country from which pension is being applied for.
  4. The foreign pension institution will issue a pension decision to you and pay the possible pension you have accrued abroad into your account.

Applying for pension from a non-agreement country when you live in Finland

If you live in Finland and you are applying for pension from somewhere other than from an EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country, you must take care of applying for the pension from the country in question yourself.

Your pension will necessarily not be paid to Finland, but this should be looked into on a case-by-case basis. Additional information is available from the Finnish Centre for Pensions (etk.fi).

Applying for pension accrued in Finland when you live in an EU, EEA or a social security agreement country

If you live in an EU or EEA country, Great Britain, Switzerland or a social security agreement country, apply for Finnish 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.

Applying for a pension in brief

  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.

Applying for pension accrued in Finland when you live in a non-agreement country

If you live in a so-called non-agreement country, apply for pension directly from Finland using a Finnish application form. Attach an Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad) to the application. If you have Finnish online banking credentials, you can also apply for pension through our MyPension service. In that case, you do not need to fill in a separate Appendix U.

Applying for a pension in brief

  1. Fill in a Finnish pension application and an Appendix U (Residence and employment abroad). If you have Finnish online banking credentials, you can fill in the application in our MyPension service.
  2. Send your application to us at Ilmarinen.
  3. We will issue a pension decision to you and pay your possible pension into your account.
  1. 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

  2. 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.

  3. 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) >

EU, EEA and social security agreement countries

The EU’s social security regulations are applied in all EU and EEA countries, Great Britain and Switzerland. In addition, Finland has concluded bilateral social security agreements with certain countries.

The general rule in the EU’s social security regulations and social security agreements is that those working abroad are covered by the social security system of the country of employment. They also guarantee the payment of benefits from one country to another.

EU and EEA countries

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

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

Social security agreement countries

The countries with which Finland has a social security agreement are Australia, Canada (Quebec), Chile, China, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Non-agreement countries

All countries other than the EU and EEA countries, Great Britain, Switzerland and social security agreement countries are so-called non-agreement countries.

  1. Payment of pension abroad and taxation

    Information about the payment of pensions abroad and their taxation can be found on our page ‘Payment of pensions’.

    Read more about the payment of pensions

  2. Working abroad

    Are you planning on working abroad? You can read more about insuring work abroad on our website.

    Read more about insuring work abroad

  3. Self-employment abroad

    As an entrepreneur, you need to insure yourself also outside Finland’s borders. You can find information on that from our page 'Working abroad as an entrepreneur'.

    Read more about self-employment abroad