Pension rights of foreign nationals

Foreign citizens risk losing their rights in pension funds if they do not take the necessary action to protect those rights. The pension fund in question only rarely has information regarding residence abroad or email address when pension age has been attained

Pension fund members are advised to take the following measures:

• Supply the pension fund with their legal domicile and email address so that the fund can provide information such as a member’s statement and a reminder that pension age has been attained.
• When leaving the country fund members should file their departure with Registers Iceland so that their Icelandic domicile does not remain incorrectly registered.
• Apply for a retirement pension/disability pension/spouse pension, using Pan-European E202/E203 application forms at sister establishments of the Icelandic Social Insurance Administration abroad. Another option is applying through the website of the pension fund.
• In case of significant pension rights; that is, which are too high to be covered in a single payment, it is advisable to maintain or establish an Icelandic bank account when collecting the pension, since monthly pension transfers to foreign accounts are expensive.

Some foreign fund members can have their contributions refunded when leaving the country; that is, citizens of countries outside the European Economic Area, the UK and the United States; for further information, please consult lifeyrismal.is.  If those members do not apply for a refund on departure, they can utilise their rights at a later stage, similarly to other fund members and submit an application on the Stapi website.