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Refund or pension: what your citizenship decides
Written by
Janine El-Saghir
Janine El Saghir is an editor at How-to-Germany.com, where she specializes in the practical aspects of daily life and integration for expatriates. With years of...
Reviewed by
Erkan Boga
Erkan Boga is the founder and CEO of qmedia GmbH, the publishing house behind How-to-Germany.com. He established the platform with the clear vision of creating...
- By default nothing is lost. Your contributions stay on your account, and from five years on they pay a pension for life, also abroad.
- A refund is the exception. It needs 24 months outside German compulsory insurance and no right to pay in voluntarily, which rules out Germans and other EU, EEA, Swiss and UK citizens, moves within Europe, and US or Indian citizens with five or more years.
- A refund is final. You get back only your own share, without interest, and every claim from those years ends.
Most expats who leave Germany ask the same question: can I take my pension contributions with me? Sometimes yes, often no, and the answer depends on two things, your citizenship and the country you move to. If you are staying a few more years before you go, the private pension guide shows which savings travel well, and the broker comparison covers depots you can keep after a move.
Refund or pension: the common cases
| Your situation | Refund possible? | If you keep your contributions |
|---|---|---|
| Citizen of Germany, another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the UK | No. A refund is possible only once you reach retirement age with fewer than 60 months of contributions, counting periods in other EU countries. | Pension from retirement age, once you have five years |
| Other nationality, moving to an EU country or the UK | As a rule no. With one German contribution you may keep paying in voluntarily, and insurance in your new country can count like German insurance. | Years in both countries are added up, each pays its own pension |
| US citizen moving outside the EU, under 60 months of German contributions | Yes, after 24 months. Being insured in US Social Security does not stand in the way. | Years in both countries can be added up under the US agreement |
| US citizen, 60 months or more | No. You may then pay voluntary contributions, which rules out a refund. | German pension from retirement age, paid to the US |
| Indian citizen moving to India | From 60 months on, no refund. Under 60 months a refund may be possible, but insurance in India can count like German insurance and rule it out, so ask first. | Years in both countries can be added up under the agreement |
| Other nationality, moving to a country without a social security agreement | Usually yes, after 24 months, even with five or more years. Not for US or Indian citizens with 60 months, who may keep paying in from any country. | Pension from retirement age if you have five years |
| Moving to another agreement country and insured there, Turkey for example | Possibly not: insurance there can count like German insurance. | Years in both countries can be added up |
| Sources: Deutsche Rentenversicherung, refund brochure and country brochures for the US, India, Turkey and countries without an agreement, legal guidance on refunds; retrieved 8 November 2026. Your own case depends on your record, so ask the Deutsche Rentenversicherung before you apply. | ||
A refund can be the better deal when your German years will never reach five and no other country’s years can be added to them. Then they would never pay a pension. In every other case, compare first: your pension statement shows what you have earned, and the Deutsche Rentenversicherung will calculate a trial pension on request.
How much a refund pays
You get back only what you paid yourself. For an employee that is the employee half of each contribution. The employer’s half, credits for child-raising years and contributions the employment agency paid for you are not refunded. Contributions you paid as a self-employed person or voluntarily come back at half. No interest is added.
Example: three years at €4,000 gross a month. You paid €372 a month, so the refund is about €13,392. Your employer’s €13,392 stays in the system.
The refund always covers all refundable contributions on your account. You cannot take back some years and leave others. And it cannot be reversed: once paid, the years are gone for good, including for a later return to Germany.
How and when to apply
- Wait 24 full calendar months after your last day of compulsory insurance in Germany. The period ends on the last day of the 24th month. If you take up insured work in Germany again in the meantime, the 24 months start over.
- Apply in writing. From abroad, an informal letter in your own language is enough. Send it to any office of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung or hand it in at a German embassy or consulate.
- Quote your insurance number in the application and in every later letter.
There is no deadline for the application. Nothing happens automatically, though: without an application your contributions simply stay on your account.
Keeping your pension instead
Pension points from work in Germany are paid in full wherever you live, including in countries without an agreement. The same goes for child-raising credits and voluntary contributions. Only some special periods, such as those credited under the rules for ethnic Germans from abroad, may not be payable outside Germany. Inside the EU you usually receive the full pension, exactly as in Germany.
The money arrives monthly, either on a German account or on an account in your country. The Deutsche Rentenversicherung pays the transfer to the first bank, while currency conversion and bank fees are yours. Once a year the pension service of Deutsche Post sends you a life certificate to confirm. In some countries, among them Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, deaths are reported automatically and the certificate is not needed. If you move while already retired, tell that pension service at least two months before the move so the payments do not stop.
If you have worked in several EU or agreement countries and live in one of them, you file one application there, and it counts for the others too. Each country then pays its own pension. For a country without an agreement, contact its pension authority yourself. Which countries add up periods is on social security agreements, and how the pension is taxed when you live abroad is on pension taxes.
Before you go
- Ask for your insurance record (Versicherungsverlauf) and correct gaps while you still have German paperwork at hand.
- Keep your insurance number. You need it for every later contact, including a pension claim decades from now.
- An occupational pension stays yours if your employer’s promise existed for three years and you are over 21. Contributions from your own salary are yours from the start.
- State-subsidized pension contracts have their own rules for a move abroad. They are on the private pension guide.
Bottom line
If you have five years or will collect them in an agreement country, keep the contributions and let the pension follow you. Consider a refund only if your German years will never turn into a pension, and get a trial calculation before you sign anything.
Part of the German pension system. Related: statutory pension · Germany vs. the US · moving to Germany.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. When you apply, the 24 calendar months must have passed, and you must not have become compulsorily insured in Germany again in the meantime.
No. A refund ends your insurance relationship completely, and no claims remain from any period up to then. You start again from zero, and only the new years count toward the five-year minimum.
If you had fewer than five years of contributions, your survivors can apply for a refund of your contributions. With five years or more, your spouse or children may be entitled to a survivors’ pension instead.
No. Every pension has to be applied for. If you live in an EU country or an agreement country, file the claim with the pension insurance there, and it counts for Germany too. From any other country, apply directly to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung.
Sources and legal basis (as of 8 November 2026)
Sources and legal basis (as of 8 November 2026)
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Beitragserstattung (brochure, 21st edition 6/2026, in German): conditions, what is refunded, the application; FAQ on refunds for foreign nationals (in German).
- Social Code Book VI (SGB VI), § 210: refund of contributions; § 7: right to voluntary insurance; Deutsche Rentenversicherung, legal guidance on § 210 (in German).
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung, refunds under the agreement with the USA (in German) and the brochure Work and pension in Germany and the United States.
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Work and pension in Germany and India; Arbeit und Rente in Deutschland und der Türkei (in German).
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Working in Germany and in non-contracting states: voluntary contributions from abroad, refund application, pension payments abroad.
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung, International: pensions in the EU, bank transfers, life certificate, notice before a move; Benefits: pensions only on application.
- Company Pensions Act (BetrAVG), § 1b: vesting of occupational pensions.
The refund example is our own calculation with the 2026 contribution rate.