Can Employment in Bulgaria Be Counted Towards a Pension in Ukraine?

Today, Ukrainians are increasingly mobile, and many Ukrainian citizens live and work abroad for significant periods of their lives. Some subsequently return to Ukraine upon reaching retirement age, while others remain abroad. In both situations, an important question arises: how will foreign employment and insurance periods affect their pension rights?

Entitlement to an old-age pension in Ukraine depends on reaching the statutory retirement age and having the required insurance record. But what happens if part of a person’s insurance record was accumulated outside Ukraine — for example, in Bulgaria? Can Bulgarian insurance periods be taken into account when determining pension rights in Ukraine?

International social security agreements governing pension rights may generally be based on different coordination principles. Under the territorial principle, responsibility for pension payments may depend primarily on the pensioner’s country of residence. Under the proportional principle, each contracting state generally calculates and pays the part of the pension corresponding to the insurance periods accumulated under its own legislation.

Pension and social security relations between Ukraine and Bulgaria are governed by the Agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Bulgaria on Social Security, signed on 4 September 2001. The Agreement is based on the proportional principle and establishes rules concerning equal treatment, applicable legislation and the coordination of social security rights between the two countries.

The first important principle is that each country is generally responsible for calculating and paying the part of the pension attributable to the insurance periods accumulated under its legislation. For example, if a person has accumulated 15 years of insurance record in Ukraine and 15 years in Bulgaria, their pension rights may consist of two separate components: Ukraine calculates and pays the pension attributable to the Ukrainian insurance periods, while Bulgaria calculates and pays the component attributable to the Bulgarian insurance periods.

At the same time, insurance periods accumulated under the legislation of both countries may be aggregated for the purpose of determining entitlement to a pension, provided that the relevant periods do not overlap.

This distinction is particularly important. Aggregation of Ukrainian and Bulgarian insurance periods does not mean that one country is required to pay a pension for all periods worked in both states. Foreign insurance periods may be taken into account to establish whether the person satisfies the qualifying conditions for a pension, while each country generally calculates its own pension component according to the periods completed under its legislation.

The Agreement also contains provisions concerning insurance periods associated with special pension rights. Where entitlement to a particular type of pension depends on employment in a specific occupation or activity, periods accumulated in the other contracting state may be taken into account if they relate to the same or a corresponding occupation or activity.

This may be particularly relevant to persons who have worked in occupations giving entitlement to preferential or special pension benefits, including certain types of mining work. If the accumulated special service is insufficient to establish entitlement to a special pension, the relevant periods may still be taken into account, where permitted by the applicable rules, for determining entitlement to a pension under the general conditions.

The Agreement also establishes special rules for relatively short insurance periods. For example, where a person has accumulated less than one year of insurance record in Bulgaria and that period does not independently give rise to entitlement to a Bulgarian pension, the period may, subject to the conditions established by the Agreement, be taken into account by Ukraine when determining pension entitlement.

Special coordination rules may also apply where the insurance periods accumulated under the legislation of one of the contracting states are insufficient, on their own, to establish entitlement to a benefit. The purpose of these provisions is to prevent a person from losing pension rights merely because their employment history has been divided between the social security systems of Ukraine and Bulgaria.

The scope of the Agreement is also important. Not every type of pension or social security benefit is necessarily covered by its coordination rules. In particular, special pension schemes for military personnel and certain other categories of persons may be governed by separate legislation and may fall outside the general social security coordination mechanism established by the Agreement.

Therefore, persons receiving or seeking a military pension or another special pension should separately determine whether the relevant benefit falls within the material scope of the Ukraine–Bulgaria Social Security Agreement.

Another important guarantee concerns the payment of pensions after a person changes their country of residence. Moving permanently from Ukraine to Bulgaria, or from Bulgaria to Ukraine, does not in itself deprive a pensioner of an already acquired pension right.

As a general rule under the international social security framework, pension benefits covered by the Agreement may continue to be paid where the beneficiary resides in the territory of the other contracting state, subject to the rules applicable to the particular benefit and the relevant payment arrangements.

For Ukrainians who have worked in Bulgaria, it is therefore important to retain documents confirming employment and insurance periods in both countries. When applying for a pension, the competent Ukrainian and Bulgarian institutions may exchange information and confirm the relevant insurance periods in accordance with the procedure established by the Agreement.

Thus, employment and insurance periods accumulated in Bulgaria may affect a person’s pension rights in Ukraine. Ukrainian and Bulgarian insurance periods may be aggregated to determine entitlement to a pension, while each country generally calculates and pays its respective pension component in accordance with the periods accumulated under its legislation.