Can Employment in Estonia Be Counted Towards a Pension in Ukraine?
At a certain stage of life, most people have to deal with the pension application procedure. This usually involves collecting a substantial package of documents and submitting them to the Pension Fund of Ukraine, which examines the documents and decides whether to grant the pension.
The situation becomes more complicated where a future pensioner has worked not only in Ukraine but also abroad. In such cases, foreign employment and insurance periods may be taken into account where the applicable international social security framework between Ukraine and the relevant foreign country provides for their recognition or coordination.
Ukraine and the Republic of Estonia have concluded an Agreement on Social Security that coordinates pension rights of persons who have accumulated insurance periods in both Ukraine and Estonia.
One of the fundamental principles is that if a person qualifies for a pension under the legislation of one state without having to take into account insurance periods accumulated in the other state, the competent institution determines the pension on the basis of the periods completed under its own legislation.
If, however, a person does not independently satisfy the qualifying conditions under the legislation of one country, insurance periods accumulated in Ukraine and Estonia may be aggregated for the purpose of determining entitlement to a pension, provided that the relevant periods do not overlap and subject to the rules established by the Agreement.
Each country generally calculates and pays the pension component corresponding to the insurance periods accumulated under its legislation, unless the Agreement provides otherwise.
This means that aggregation of Ukrainian and Estonian insurance periods for the purpose of establishing pension entitlement does not necessarily mean that one country becomes responsible for paying a pension for all years worked in both states. Instead, the competent institutions coordinate the periods, while each state determines its respective pension obligation under the applicable rules.
The Agreement also contains special provisions concerning relatively short insurance periods. Where the insurance period accumulated under the legislation of one state is insufficient to create an independent entitlement to a pension, special coordination rules may apply so that the period is not simply lost when the person’s overall pension rights are determined.
Separate rules apply to special and preferential pensions. Where entitlement depends on employment in a particular occupation, under specific working conditions or within another special pension category, the competent institution must determine whether the relevant foreign periods can be recognised for that particular type of pension under the Agreement and national legislation.
Therefore, recognition of an Estonian insurance period for an ordinary old-age pension does not automatically mean that the same period will qualify as preferential service in Ukraine. The occupation, nature of the work, working conditions and other circumstances giving rise to special pension rights may need to be separately confirmed.
If the relevant foreign periods cannot establish entitlement to a special or preferential pension, they may nevertheless be relevant to pension entitlement under the general rules, subject to the applicable legislation and the provisions of the Agreement.
An important practical feature of the Ukraine–Estonia social security system is direct cooperation between the competent institutions of both countries. A pension applicant is not necessarily required to independently obtain all official confirmation of their foreign insurance history.
After a person applies for recognition of insurance periods accumulated abroad, the competent institution of one state may send a request to the competent institution of the other state. The institutions then exchange the information and standardised forms required to confirm the relevant periods and determine pension entitlement.
For the Pension Fund of Ukraine, official confirmation received from the competent Estonian institution is particularly important when determining whether Estonian insurance periods can be taken into account. Therefore, the pension procedure may require the relevant international forms or other official confirmation of the periods completed under Estonian legislation.
At the same time, applicants should retain all available documents relating to their employment and insurance history in Estonia. Such documents may assist the competent institutions in identifying employers, periods of employment and other information required for international verification.
Thus, insurance periods accumulated in Estonia may affect a person’s pension rights in Ukraine. Ukrainian and Estonian insurance periods may be coordinated or aggregated to determine pension entitlement, while each country generally calculates and pays its respective pension component in accordance with the insurance periods for which it is responsible under the applicable international social security rules.
