What one needs to know about receiving a pension in EEU countries

In accordance with the Agreement, the appointment and payment of pensions are carried out in the following order:

for work experience acquired after the entry into force of the Agreement, a pension is assigned and paid by the Member State in whose territory the relevant work experience was acquired;

for work experience acquired before the entry into force of the Agreement, a pension is assigned and paid in accordance with the legislation of the member States and the Agreement on Guarantees of the Rights of Citizens of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the field of pension Provision dated March 13, 1992, and for the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation – the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus on cooperation in the field of social security dated January 24, 2006.

Thus, citizens of Kazakhstan who did not work in the EAEU countries after the entry into force of the Agreement (from 01.01.2021) are not entitled to claim a pension under the Agreement.

The main purpose of the Agreement is to form the pension rights of workers of the EAEU member states on the same terms and in the same manner as for citizens of the state of employment. This means that each EAEU member State must guarantee citizens of other EAEU member States the amount of pension rights equal to the amount of rights granted to its citizens on similar terms.

So, before the Agreement came into force, that is, until January 1, 2021, workers-citizens of the EAEU member states could not apply for pension provision for periods of work in the territories of the member states without permanent residence.

Since 01.01.2021, according to the provisions of the Agreement:

• the formation of pension rights of workers – citizens of the EAEU countries is carried out at the expense of pension contributions on the same terms and in the same manner as the formation of pension rights of citizens of the state of employment;
• In the Republic of Kazakhstan, pension contributions include pension contributions to the UAPF.

Thus, citizens of the EAEU member states temporarily staying in the Republic of Kazakhstan for the purpose of working on the basis of labor, civil law contracts for the provision of services concluded with an employer in the Republic of Kazakhstan are obliged to form their pension rights, as well as citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, by transferring pension contributions to the UAPF at rates and in in accordance with the procedure established by the pension legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

For example, an employer who has attracted a worker from the EAEU countries (the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation) from January 1, 2021, regularly transfers mandatory pension contributions in the amount of 10% of the worker's monthly income (no more than 50 times the minimum wage) to the UAPF.

In the Republic of Kazakhstan on the implementation of the Agreement:

the authorized bodies are:

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The competent authorities are:

joint Stock company "Unified Accumulative Pension Fund" and its branches for the reception of workers (family members), heirs (legal successors) of pension savings or their representatives and documents from them, preparation, processing of information and documents, decision-making on the appointment (refusal to appoint) pensions, organization of payment (delivery) pensions, upon confirmation of the length of service of workers of the EAEU member States after 01.01.1998.;

The Committee of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan and its territorial divisions to confirm the work experience of workers of the EAEU Member States until 01.01.1998.

Here, on the Eurasian Economic Commission website, you can familiarize with the complete text of the Agreement. 

In accordance with the Agreement, the employee (family member) has the right to apply for the appointment and payment of a pension to the competent authority of the State of residence and (or) to the competent authority of the State of employment.

 In the Republic of Kazakhstan, regarding the appointment and payment of pensions under the Agreement, it is necessary to contact the UAPF directly. For example, a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, after the entry into force of the Agreement (from 01.01.2021), worked on the territory of the Russian Federation, and upon the onset of the right to a pension under Russian law, he does not have to apply to the competent authority of the Russian Federation to submit an application and relevant documents for the appointment and payment of a pension. It is enough to contact the competent authority of the country of residence, i.e. the UAPF. The same mechanism for submitting an application upon the onset of the right to a pension is also used in other EAEU member states.

In accordance with the Agreement, the exercise of the right to assign and pay pensions to workers (family members) is carried out under the same conditions as for citizens of the State of employment.

The types of pensions covered by the Agreement are defined in article 2 of the Agreement.

In the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Agreement applies to pension payments from the UAPF at the expense of formed pension contributions:

• upon reaching retirement age;
• when establishing disability of groups 1 and 2, if the disability is established indefinitely;
• one-time payment to the heirs.

Each EAEU member state will pay a pension according to its legislation for the length of service acquired by workers on its territory after 01.01.2021.

The right to a pension, with the exception of a funded pension, as well as labor (insurance) disability and survivor's pensions, in accordance with the Agreement arises if there are at least 12 full months of work experience acquired in the territory of the EAEU member State, according to the legislation of which the worker (family member) applies for a pension.

For example, an Armenian citizen who, after the entry into force of the Agreement (from 01.01.2021), worked for five years in Russia, three years in Belarus, one year in Kazakhstan and the remaining time in Armenia, will receive a pension from four countries based on the length of service acquired on their territory. Considering that each EAEU member state will pay the worker a part of the pension adequate to the period of work and pension contributions in the country of employment, it is necessary that workers-citizens of the EAEU countries formalize employment relations with employers in the EAEU member states, including in Kazakhstan, that is, they must conclude employment contracts in a timely manner. civil law contracts for the provision of services.

If the length of service of an employee acquired in the territory of one member State is not sufficient for the right to a pension (with the exception of a funded pension), then the length of service acquired in other EAEU member States, including before the entry into force of the Agreement, will be taken into account, except in cases where such length of service coincides with time. To do this, the competent authorities of the EAEU countries will exchange information on the employee's work experience through appropriate information forms developed by the authorized and competent authorities of the EAEU countries together with the EEC. Before switching to interaction through the integrated information system of the EAEU, the parties will use paper document management.

The list of documents for the appointment and payment of pensions is determined by the national legislation of each EAEU member State.

Pension registration is carried out through the competent authorities of the EAEU member States.