How to count insurance period abroad for receiving a pension in Ukraine

The Government has recently adopted a resolution developed by the Ministry of Social Policy that is of fundamental importance for Ukrainians who have worked or are currently working abroad. From now on, they can take into account the insurance period gained outside the country when determining their pension in Ukraine.

For example, a person worked in Ukraine for 25 years and abroad for another 7 years. To receive a pension at the age of 60, they now need to have 32 years of insurance record.

If you add (take into account) 7 years of insurance experience outside of Ukraine to the experience in Ukraine, a person will be eligible for a pension at the age of 60.

TheMinistry of Social Policy notes that the insurance period acquired outside Ukraine is taken into account only for determining the right to a pension. It does not affect the amount of the pension (except for certain countries with which the relevant agreements have been concluded).

How to count work experience abroad

To do this, you need to obtain an official document in the country where you worked (each country has its own forms of documents to confirm insurance period). It will confirm that you worked officially and, accordingly, the period of work in this country can be included in the insurance period.

To obtain such a confirmation document, you need to contact the pension authority of the state in which you worked (for example, in Germany it is the German Pension Insurance Fund - Deutschen Rentenversicherung, in Italy - the National Institute for Social Security - Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale, etc.)

If it is not possible to obtain the document

If you are unable to obtain such a document (for example, you are currently in Ukraine), there is another way - to contact the nearest territorial office of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Then, to solve your problem, the Pension Fund will make a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, which, in turn, will send a request to the pension authority of the country where you worked.

In order for the pension to be granted on time, you need to take care of all the documents in advance - six months to a year before reaching retirement age (given that document flow between countries takes time).

It is worth noting that sometimes there may be cases when the pension authority of the country where you worked does not have complete information about you (for example, you worked at a time when modern digital information accounting systems were not put into operation). This situation is not critical and has a solution: in Germany, for example, you can provide the pension authority with paper documents such as an employment contract, payslips, a certificate of employment, or a certificate from your employer. And in Italy, you can provide employment contracts, payslips, certificates of contributions paid, or income tax returns.

It is worth checking with the pension authority of the country where you worked to find out which documents are relevant for confirmation. Also, find out whether the received proof document is recognized as valid in Ukraine or whether it needs to be legalized.

For example, there are the following options:

• The country in which you worked has a legal assistance agreement with Ukraine. Such agreements often provide for a complete exemption of documents from any additional certification. In other words, a simple notarization of the received document and an official translation will be sufficient (sometimes the translation must also be notarized).
• The country in which you worked is a party to the so-called Hague Convention of 1961. In this case, an apostille is used to legalize the document. This means that in order for a document to be recognized as valid in Ukraine, it must be affixed with a special stamp - an apostille. An apostille can be affixed by the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or other authorized body of the country, depending on the type of document to be certified.
• The country in which you worked does not have international treaties on legal assistance with Ukraine. In this case, consular legalization is required.

First, you certify the document with the competent authority of the country that issued it. This may be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice or another authorized state body. <span>Then you legalize it at a Ukrainian consular post abroad. The embassy or consulate of Ukraine certifies the authenticity of the signature of the official and the seal of the competent authority of the foreign state that certified the document. </span><span>After that, the document is considered legalized for use in Ukraine.</span>

Сергій Лозовський