Hello! I am a citizen of Russia, but due to the geopolitical situation, I currently live and work in Kazakhstan, how are the issues related to my pension provision being resolved?
In accordance with the Treaty on the EAEU dated May 29, 2014. pension provision for workers ofthe EAEU member states and family members is regulated by the legislation of the state of permanent residence, as well as in accordance with a separate international agreement between the EAEU member states. Such an international treaty is the Agreement on Pension Provision for Workers of the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union dated December 20, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement), which entered into force on January 1, 2021.
The main purpose of the Agreement is to form the pension rights of workers of the EAEU Member States on the same conditions and in the same manner as citizens of the state of employment, that is, each EAEU Member State must guarantee citizens of other EAEU Member States the scope of rights to pensions equal to scope of rights granted to its citizens under similar conditions.
The norms of the Agreement apply to the length of service acquired by the worker in the period after the entry into force of the Agreement, subject to the official employment of citizens of the EAEU Member States temporarily engaged in labor activities on the territory of another EAEU Member State with the conclusion of an employment or civil law contract with the employer of the state of employment and with mandatory payment of pension (insurance) contributions to the pension system of the state of employment.
At the same time, subparagraph 2.3 of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Agreement establishes that in the Republic of Kazakhstan the Agreement applies to pension payments from UAPF at the expense of the formed pension contributions:
1) upon reaching retirement age;
2) when establishing disability of the first and second groups, if the disability is established indefinitely;
3) lump sum payment to heirs.
Thus, in the Republic of Kazakhstan:
from January 2021, when calculating the income of citizens of the EAEU countries engaged in temporary labor activity on the basis of a concluded labor or civil law contract without obtaining a residence permit for a foreigner in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the employer is obliged to withhold and transfer pension contributions (CPC/COPC) to UAPF. At the same time, individual pension accounts (IPA) for recording CPC and (or) COPC will be opened in UAPF automatically when the primary amount of CPC/COPC received from the employer is credited;
in case of termination of the employment contract or civil law contract with the employer, the right to pension payments from UAPF for these persons will arise only upon the occurrence of the conditions provided for in subparagraph 2.3 of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Agreement.
At the same time, citizens of the EAEU countries, including the Russian Federation, will have the right to apply for a pension payment to UAPF, which is the competent authority in Kazakhstan for the implementation of the Agreement, or to the competent authority of the state of residence, for example, to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation with the provision of documents established by the Republic of Kazakhstan.