How to Count Your Foreign Insurance Record for Pension Eligibility in Ukraine

The Government 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 count their insurance record obtained outside the country when applying for a pension in Ukraine.

For example, a person worked in Ukraine for 25 years and another 7 years abroad. To qualify for a pension at age 60, one currently needs 32 years of insurance record.

If you add (count) 7 years of foreign insurance record to your Ukrainian record, the person becomes eligible for pension at age 60. Please note that a foreign insurance record is only counted for determining pension eligibility. It does not affect the pension amount (except for certain countries with which Ukraine has relevant agreements).

So, what should you do if you need to count foreign insurance records toward your Ukrainian pension eligibility?

1. Obtain an official document from the country where you worked (each country has its own document forms for confirming insurance records). This document should confirm your official employment, meaning this work period can be counted toward your insurance record.

To obtain such a confirmation document:

- Contact the pension authority of the country where you worked (for example, in Germany – Deutsche Rentenversicherung [German Pension Insurance], in Italy – Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale [National Social Security Institute], etc.)

If you cannot obtain this document yourself (for example, if you're currently in Ukraine), there's another way:

- Contact your nearest regional office of the Ukrainian Pension Fund. The Pension Fund will then send a request to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which in turn will contact the pension authority of the country where you worked.

To ensure timely pension approval, we recommend preparing all documents in advance, 6-12 months before reaching retirement age (considering that document exchange between countries takes time).

Please note that sometimes the foreign pension authority might not have complete information about you (for example, if you worked before modern digital record-keeping systems were implemented). This situation is not critical and has solutions:

In Germany, for example, you can submit paper documents to the pension authority, such as:

• Employment contract
• Pay slips
• Work history certificate
• Employer's reference

In Italy:

• Employment contracts
• Pay slips
• Contribution payment certificates
• Income declarations

Which specific documents are relevant for confirmation should be checked directly with the pension authority of the country where you worked.

Don't forget to verify whether the confirmation document needs to be legalized for use in Ukraine.

Reminder: Legalization gives a document legal force in another country. For countries with which Ukraine has international agreements, legalization follows simplified procedures or may not be required at all.

Possible scenarios:

1. If the country where you worked has a legal assistance agreement with Ukraine (list of such countries available via link):

- Such agreements often exempt documents from any additional certification

- Only standard notarization of the document and official translation are needed (the translation may sometimes also require notarization)

2. If the country where you worked is party to the 1961 Hague Convention (full list available via link):

- The document must be apostilled (special stamp)

- Then translated into Ukrainian and notarized

3. If the country has no legal assistance agreement with Ukraine:

- Consular legalization is required:

a) First, certify the document with the competent authority of the issuing country (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, or other authorized state body)

b) Then legalize it at a Ukrainian consular office abroad

- The document must then be translated into Ukrainian and notarized

After completing these steps, submit the document to the Ukrainian Pension Fund to have your foreign insurance record counted.

Reminder: In 2025 alone, with WFP support, over 300 social sector professionals from across Ukraine received training for effective work in the UISSS.

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