Pension

You meet the requirements for entitlement to a pension in Belgium? If so, how should you apply for it and how can you collect it? Answers to all your questions are to be found on this page.

HAVE YOU WORKED IN BELGIUM?

If you are an employee or a civil servant, you are entitled to a Belgian retirement pension from your first day of work.

If you are self-employed, you are entitled to a retirement pension once you have paid social contributions for your main occupation for one quarter.

To determine your pension (your personal retirement or old age pension) as an employee or civil servant, we check the periods you have worked and certain periods you have not worked. This list gives you an overview of the periods not worked but regarded as working periods by the Federal Pensions Service website (in French).

For a pension as self-employed person, you may also request to have some of the periods during which you did not work to be taken into account for your pension (assimilation). Find out more on the page Which years are taken into account for my pension on the NISSE website.

More information on the calculation of:

HAS YOUR SPOUSE OR EX-SPOUSE WORKED IN BELGIUM?

If so, you may also be entitled to an allowance based on your (ex-)spouse's career:

SURVIVOR'S PENSION

The survivor's pension is a benefit for certain relatives - widow or widower, (ex-)spouse - of a deceased person who may or may not have already received a pension.

The amount depends on several factors, for example :

  • the number of persons entitled to the benefit,

  • one’s own pension rights.

Was your partner a salaried employee or a civil servant? Find more information on the Survivor's pension for employed persons page of the FPS website (in French)

Was your ex-partner a civil servant? Find more information on the Survivor's pension for civil servants page of the FPS website (in French)

Was your partner self-employed? More information can be found on the page about survivor's pension on the INASTI website (in French) and the page about transitional benefit for self-employed persons on the INASTI website (in French).

PENSION FOR A DIVORCED SPOUSE (ONLY ON THE BASIS OF A CAREER AS AN EMPLOYEE OR SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON):

Under certain circumstances you are entitled to a retirement pension on the basis of your former spouse's career as an employee or self-employed person.

The calculation of the retirement pension for a divorced spouse happens on the basis of the professional career of his or her ex-spouse during the marriage.

For more information about the pension for a divorced spouse on the basis of a professional career as an employee you can consult the page Pension for a divorced spouse on the FPS website (in French).

For more information about the pension of a divorced spouse on the basis of a professional career as an employee as a self-employed person consult the page Pension for a divorced spouse (on the basis of a career as a self-employed person) on the INASTI website (in French).

PENSION FOR A SEPARATED SPOUSE (ON THE BASIS OF A CAREER AS AN EMPLOYED OR SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON ONLY)

You may be entitled to a pension for a separated spouse if you do not have the same main residence as your spouse or if you are legally separated.

More information about the pension of a separated spouse (based on employed person) can be found on the page Pension for a separated spouse of an employed person on the SPF website (in French).

More information about the pension of a separated spouse (based on self-employed person) can be found on the page Pension on legal separation from a self-employed person on the INASTI website (in French).

YOU ARE AN ORPHAN AND ONE OF YOUR PARENTS WAS A CIVIL SERVANT IN BELGIUM

ORPHAN’S PENSION (ON THE BASIS OF A CAREER AS A CIVIL SERVANT ONLY)

Orphans of civil servants, may be entitled to a civil service survivor's pension.

The amount of the survivor's pension for orphans is derived from the survivor's pension. If there are children from another marriage who are also entitled to the survivor's pension, the pension is shared between both groups of entitled children.

For more information consult the Survivor's pension for orphans page of the FPS website (in French).

HOW TO APPLY FOR YOUR BELGIAN PENSION?

You have worked in Belgium, but now live in:

  • a country in the European Economic Area,
  • Switzerland or the United Kingdom,
  • a country with which Belgium has a bilateral agreement in matters of  social security.

Please consult the list of countries of the European Economic Area and the countries with which Belgium has a bilateral agreement on the page with addresses of the FPS website (in French).

You must submit your pension application:

  • in the country where you live, provided that you have also worked there;
  • in the country where you last worked, if you have never worked in your country of residence.

If you do not live in one of the above countries, you can apply for your pension directly:

  • for all types of pension via your online pension file mypension.be (in French).

Watch the tutorial on the pension application via mypension.be.You can use different digital keys to log in to mypension.be:

  • Your Belgian eID and an eID card reader;
  • the itsme application;
  • a security code sent by e-mail or via a mobile app;
  • a method of electronic identification recognized throughout Europe.

More information about digital keys can be found on the CSAM website.

Currently, mypension.be is available in French, Dutch and German.

  • to the Federal Pension Service for the employed person’s or civil servant’s pension;
  • to the INASTI for the self-employed person’s pension;

 

You can submit your pension application as follows :

  • at the earliest 12 months before the desired pension date;
  • at the latest within one month before the desired pension date.

You will receive our decision within 4 months of submitting your application. In some cases, it may take longer (mixed career, career abroad, etc.).

All information about the pension application can be found on the website of the Federal Pension Service (in French) .

Are you not satisfied with the quality of the service or do you disagree with the decision? You can find more information on the complaints and appeals page on the website of the Federal Pension Service (in French) .

HOW DO I ACTUALLY RECEIVE MY BELGIAN PENSION?

Please note, you cannot receive your Belgian pension everywhere in the world if you are not Belgian.

For more information on the payment of your pension and the countries where you can receive it if you are not Belgian, or for information on the Belgian pension abroad, visit the page Working and living abroad of the Federal Pension Service (in French).

The procedure information on this page was funded by the European Union.

Logo Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU

Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

FEDERAL PENSIONS SERVICE

  • Address: Tour du Midi - Esplanade de l'Europe, 1 - 1060 Brussels - BELGIUM
  • Telephone:
    • from Belgium: 1765
    • from abroad : +32 78 15 1765 (at the rate set by your provider)
  • Website : www.sfpd.fgov.be (in French)

The National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE)

  • Address: The National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE)
    Quai de Willebroeck 35, 1000 Brussels, BELGIUM
  • Telephone:
    • from Belgium: 1765
    • from abroad: +32 78 15 1765 (at the rate set by your provider)
  • Website: www.nisse.be/en