Foreign employees and their right to pension in Belgium

Your foreign candidate reaches retirement age: what exactly does this mean?

Many foreign workers know that the Belgian pension system can be a real puzzle and often take the necessary steps in advance to gather information. They obviously do not want to lose their pension rights by moving to an employer in a foreign country. Even as an employer, it makes sense to get to the bottom of this tangle and know what his pension rights are....

The Belgian pension system: state, company and private pensions.

A constantly aging population implies an increase in the retirement age. In 2021, in order to claim make on a state pension, 65 years of age and presumably this limit will be increased. As an employer, you pay a contribution to this effect on your employees' salaries throughout their careers.

These public regulations are supplemented by company- and privatepensions. This first one flows, the name says it all, from your company and is highly subject to the stipulated contract conditions or the provisions of the competent joint committee. Unfortunately, company or sector do not always provide these, so it always makes sense for the employee to opt for his own private pension plan.

When is your employee eligible for a full pension?

After one day's work comes a official or employee eligible for a Belgian pension. For a independent is this 1 trimester. At the age of 65 with 45 years of service, one is entitled to the maximum state pension but voices are rising to raise that age to 66 and 67 in 2025 and 2030, respectively.

If the criteria cited here are not met and one receives a partial pension, one can always apply for additional compensation through the system of the income guarantee for the elderly (IGO) or through a private pension plan at a large bank.

How much does your employee receive?

The current amount awarded depends on the nature of employment: private sector, state or independent character. The monthly income is also a decisive factor. The higher the salary, the higher the pension. In 2020, the pension of an employee with 45 years of service was about 2,500 euros per month. For civil servants, this quickly rises to 6,700 euros and decreases to 1,800 euros for the self-employed.

Your foreign worker's pension

If your employee is eligible for retirement in his or her home country, he or she must pay the Submit Belgian pension application in the pension institution of this country. Within the European Union, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, this process is more than adequately organized: the authorities in these home countries contact the Belgian Pension Service to calculate his or her pension. Keep in mind that this involves some research and thus takes time. Therefore, it makes sense to file the application at least one month before the effective retirement age.

When residing in a country, which has a bilateral agreement has with the Belgian government, but so outside the EU is located, existing pensions can be transferred to Belgium. This applies to residents of Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Croatia, India, Israel, Japan, Macedonia, Philippines, South Korea, Morocco, San Marino, Tunisia, Turkey, USA, Uruguay and Yugoslavia.

Would you like more information regarding pension calculation? Contact the Federal Pension Service or mypension.be if your employee is still working for you.

If you really can't figure it out, Link2Europe is always ready to lend a helping hand!